America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
In the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, February 13 there was an editorial titled “High-Speed Spending.” This discussed the dubious financial dynamics of a long-proposed “high speed” Orlando-to-Tampa rail project. I also heard of a proposal to do a similar project between St. Louis and Chicago. I have lived in the Chicago area for most …
On February 10th an editorial by Scott S. Powell appeared in Investor’s Business Daily titled “Greece’s Crisis: A Warning To Profligate U.S.?” The link can be found here. I am highlighting this editorial as it discusses many important issues, most of which I have previously mentioned on this blog. As well, it compares our current …
Over the last few years, there has been an inverse correlation between price movements of the US Dollar and many asset classes. This inverse correlation appears to be strengthening over time. This inverse correlation can be seen in the chart below. For the sake of simplicity, I am only comparing the USD to the S&P500 …
On Saturday The Wall Street Journal had an editorial titled “Escape from Taxation.” The link is here. In the editorial, it is mentioned that higher-income people are moving out of New Jersey as the tax rate is increased. In my article “America’s Trojan Horse” found at this link, I discussed the widely-held fallacy that debt …
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, here is a passage from Larry Summers’ March 13, 2009 speech that speaks of the importance of economic strength in achieving broader societal goals: “Our single most important priority is bringing about economic recovery and ensuring that the next economic expansion, unlike it’s predecessors, is fundamentally sound and not …
One aspect of our current period of economic weakness that lacks broad recognition is the impact on society. There are many different aspects of this societal impact, some of which I have already discussed on this blog. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, page A3 had stories that serve as examples of this societal impact of economic …
I have made various comments about Gold over the last few months. One aspect during Gold’s price increase that I have noted as disconcerting is the relative lagging performance of the Gold stocks. I use the HUI index as a proxy for Gold stocks. As one can see on the daily chart below, the Gold …
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on “This Week” on Sunday and made various comments. Here is the link: http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-transcript-treasury-secretary-timothy-geithner/story?id=9758951 I could make a lot of comments regarding this interview. However, I would like to focus on this one exchange: TAPPER: The Congress just voted to raise the debt ceiling to more than $14 trillion dollars. …
An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal presents a thorough summary of the situation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The article is titled, “No Exit in Sight for U.S. As Fannie, Freddie Flail.” Here is the link to the story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362004575001042824028862.html?KEYWORDS=no+exit+in+sight+for+us I’ve commented extensively on the U.S. real estate situation, and the national attempts …
Two measures of economic activity that I closely follow have been weak over the recent past months. This is notable, as they did enjoy a significant “boost” over the mid-2009 timeframe. These two measures have proven to be excellent indicators in the past. They would be considered “coincident” in nature. I view the weakness of …