A nice supporting article to our June 3rd post ("You Call This Change?") is available in today's Wall Street Journal. David Skeel, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, builds on the points we made about the GM/Chrysler bailout charade by tackling the long-term impact of government intervention on politically sensitive industries.
If you're one of the many longtime friends and clients of Apollo Wealth Management ("Apollo") then you know of our frustration with the amount of garbage that passes for clever commentary and prescient thinking. All too often there's an inverse relationship between the volume of information and its value. Conversely when intelligent voices are able [...]
Interesting? Useless? Both? Neither? Whatever the value here's a summary of employment changes over the past 20 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Net Increase/(Decrease) Health Care 7,000,000 Financial & Business Services 6,400,000 Education 4,000,000 Leisure & Hospitality 3,900,000 Trade & Retailing 2,600,000 Government 1,100,000 Services (other) 1,200,000 Mining & Construction 600,000 Manufacturing (5,500,000) [...]
With no bonds and no stocks... In your little safe deposit box... You can never be affected by inflation. If you enjoy Broadway theatre, starred in your high school's drama club or are a fan of the original 1933 "talkie" then you certainly recognize these lyrics from Sunny Side to Every Situation - one of the many [...]
A wonderful opinion piece appeared on Bloomberg a couple of days ago with an interesting perspective on entitlements and how to pay for them. It's a quick read worthy of a couple of minutes out of the day. Click here to read the op-ed.
Lately we've heard a great deal about the aggregate level of Federal debt. At just north of $14,000,000,000,000 (yes, that's trillion with a "T") we're lookin' at a whole lot o' zeros! Concerns are plenty. Is the debt too high? Is it crowding out private investment? How will we afford the interest payments? Is it [...]
The Obama administration's proposed budget includes myriad items that, if enacted, would impact individual taxpayers. Some of the key proposals include: a 3 yr AMT "patch" a limit on the rate at which "high income" earners could itemize deductions such as mortgage interest and real estate taxes an increase in the dependent-care tax credit Additional details of [...]
Microsoft? Google? Facebook? Forget about it. If you want to break the bank forget about pre-IPO investing. Instead nationalize an entire company. Today AIG is expected to report earnings. The focus will be on performance at SunAmerica and Chartis - the life/annuity and P&L operations being counted on for future growth. What will likely be [...]
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office ("CBO") now estimates our Nation's fiscal 2010 deficit at over $1.3 trillion. A whopping sum to be sure. As President Obama takes to the airwaves tonight to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq it's an interesting time to look at the cost of military action. The CBO estimates [...]
Last week McDonald's came to market with a $450 million primary offering of 10 year debt securities yielding 3.5%. A similar Treasury backed by the taxing authority and full faith and credit of the US government yields roughly 3.0%. Why does McDonald's get such favorable terms? Strong Demand - Savers averse to equity market risk [...]