There is a general level of unease in the stock market today. Investors are not panicking but everyone is wondering, how long can this stock market rally continue? As the chart at the bottom shows, this current Bull Market is the longest in history. A big shoe has got to be about to fall or […]
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Can We Find a Cure for Aging?…
According to Joseph Coughlin, an expert on aging and founder of MIT’s AgeLab, there are two simple questions that can determine how well you’ll navigate your later years: “Who’s going to change the light bulb, and how are you going to get an ice cream cone?” These appeared in a recent New Yorker article by […]
The Yield Curve as Recession Predictor…
Economists and policy makers are spending a lot of time talking about the yield curve these days. This bond market metric plots the yields investors receive for different maturity bonds. Because they demand more compensation for holding longer-term debt, the yield curve typically slopes upward to the right (see chart below ). On rare occasions, […]
Is The U.S. Overdue For a Recession?…
I will do my best economist impersonation here and answer – yes and no. The yes part has to do with age. This recovery is nearly ten years old and if we keep going past July, as we almost certainly will, it will be the longest recovery in history. But age alone does not kill […]
Best to Sit for This Ovation…
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra recently concluded the longest labor strike in its prestigious 128 year history. The issue at the heart of the dispute was the future of the pension plan offered to musicians. While pensions have become quite scarce in the private sector, they remain a cornerstone among the nation’s leading orchestras. Earlier this […]
Let’s Look at This Straight in the Eye…
In conversations on Value Investing, references to the 1962 New York Mets have been coming up more often, and that’s not a good thing. The 1962 Mets are beloved for losing a staggering 120 games — a record for the history books that spurred then-manager Casey Stengel to despair, “Can’t anybody here play this game?” […]
5G, Not Just Another Phone Upgrade…
Industry experts expect great things from 5G, the latest generation of wireless technology. To understand why, it helps to know a bit about how cell phones function. Cell phones convert voice and data into electrical signals and then transmit those signals over radio waves to the nearest cell tower. The cell tower then passes the […]
The All China Edition…
I spent the month of March in China, travelling from the deep south to the mid section of Shanghai/Hangzhou/Zhoushan. My economic thoughts are detailed on pages 2 and 3, my reflections on culture and life on page 4. And here is my ‘Lonely Planet Guide’ to the not-miss sights. 1. Wherever you go use the […]
“China is a Great Country But the People Are Poor…America is a Very Disorganized Country But the People Are Rich”…
This line from a cab driver in Hangzhou, China. The implication is that China is organized and safe and even though the people are still poor, the country is on the march. America on the other hand is wealthy but unorganized and it will suffer because it cannot move as quickly or as efficiently as […]
Piecing it Together, Understanding the New China …
A month in China gave me plenty of time to see the sights but also time to see some of the unique and yes, quirky aspects of Chinese culture. Here are a few. 1. A great place to go both early morning and at dusk is a public square or park. Older Chinese congregate in […]
Technologies That Will Change the World in 2019…
By all accounts we are living in a period of robust technological improvement. Innovations from smart phones to artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing lives and altering the way business is done across a wide range of industries. Historically, technological innovation has been the “secret sauce” that has fueled economic growth and the rising living standards […]
The Times They Are A Changin’…
This past summer, Vermont became the ninth state to legalize marijuana and the first to do so via state legislature. Once a taboo topic, cannabis is going mainstream. A 2018 Pew Research Poll found that 62% of Americans believe that cannabis should be legalized; this is the highest number in the last 50 years. There […]
