November 24, 2024

If You Don’t Have Rich Parents, Forget About Being Successful?

For many people, America no longer seems like the land of unparalleled opportunities.  The mainstream press seems to be full of stories about people losing their jobs, college graduates moving back in with their parents and broken down penniless retirees forced to eat Alpo for supper. The entire world seems to currently be in a […]

Clint Eastwood, American Icon, Really Does Not Like Omaba

After giving a speech at the Republican National Convention last week, tough guy Clint Eastwood was both widely praised and condemned by partisans from each side of the aisle. Many viewers wondered whether Eastwood’s speech had been impromptu or if it had been vetted ahead of time by Romney’s aides.  Speaking from his home in […]

It’s Not Your Imagination – Our Living Standards Are Collapsing

No one likes earning less this year than last year.  If the weekly paycheck is a scoreboard on how well we are doing – then we are all in deep trouble.  The Center for American Progress recently published some shocking charts that portray the American middle class besieged by lower income, higher costs for essential […]

Are You A High Income Achiever? Only Half Make Over $43K Per Year

Are Americans overly obsessed with making more money than their neighbor?  You may never find out exactly what your neighbor earns per year but you can find out where you stand on the income scale compared to the national average. The Wall Street Journal ran a neat interactive that calculates your income percentile based on […]

Will Apple Become A $2,000 Stock?

The increase in the market value of Apple stock over the past couple of years has been astonishing.  Price gains this week have put Apple into the history books as the largest company in U.S. history as measured by market capitalization. The previous record holder for market valuation was Microsoft which attained a market value […]

If You Shop At Wal-Mart, You Probably Live Paycheck To Paycheck

Wal-Mart recently announced an increase in both sales and profits for the second quarter.  Earnings increased to $1.18, up 8% from the prior year’s quarter and total quarterly revenue increased 4.5% to $114.3 billion. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) is the world’s largest retailer and its annual sales of almost $500 billion exceed the gross domestic product […]

U.S. Drought Conditions Are Reaching Epic Proportions

Virtually the entire country is in a severe drought.  Americans can’t catch a break between sky high oil prices, collapsing real estate, declining incomes, unemployment and the threat of another recession.  Now we face the prospect of a major increase in food prices due to the destruction of food crops due to the drought – […]

The National Debt Will Probably Hit $16 Trillion By The Time You Read This

The national debt has become the biggest threat to America’s future financial security.  No one has a workable solution on reducing the debt.  Where we go from here is anyone’s guess but throughout history, the consequences for hopelessly over indebted nations has been the same – outright default or massive money printing that ultimately destroyed […]

Crashing Chinese Stock Market Is A Red Flag For World Economy

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average approaches all time highs, the Chinese stock market is flashing a bright red warning signal about the world economy.   Since China is the world’s second largest economy after the United States, a recession in China is almost certain to negatively impact the global economy. One look at the iShares […]

Canada’s Massive Housing Bubble Will Not End Well

Guest post by Vin Maru Bank of Canada may be ahead of all its peers in ensuring its banks meet the Basel capital requirements. And it may have done a better job in regulating the banking sector, but they are not innocent of allowing bubbles in Canada to form.  Even Mark Carney feels that the […]