The Unemployment Rate Goes Down – What A Surprise
This morning the government reported that the unemployment rate for September dropped to 7.8% from 8.1% the prior month (and 8.3% the month before that). This is the lowest figure since March 2009. Hard to believe the government would report such a favorable number a month before the election, right? Hmmmmm. As reported by the household survey, the number of unemployed persons was 12.1 million,...
Read MoreGovernment Lies (and Statistics)
The government is lying to us. I know this isn’t exactly news, because they lie to us all the time. But in this case, I’m talking about inflation. According to the most recent “official” government announcement by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on September 14, “The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.6 percent in August on a seasonally...
Read MoreI’m Mad As Hell
Last night I took my girlfriend and my kids to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey. It was an amazing three and three-quarter hours of music. As a singer, songwriter and live artist, Bruce is simply without peer in the annals of rock and roll history. As I was there with my family, singing at the top of my lungs, I marveled at Bruce’s talent...
Read MoreMore on Gold
For those of you new to my writings you may be unaware that I’ve been bullish on investing in gold since 2001 when the price was only about $270/oz. In fact, on my first appearance on the Fox News channel in December 2002 (you can view the clip, and all my appearances in the WAM in the Media section of my website: www.waminvest.com), one of my recommendations was Newmont Mining, then...
Read MoreQE3
About 30 minutes ago Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, as expected, announced another round of quantitative easing (QE3) in a futile attempt to stimulate our moribund economy. This is simply throwing good money ($40 billion per month) after bad. In addition to the aforementioned bond buying program he guaranteed that rates will remain exceptionally low until at least 2015. While this is great for...
Read MorePending Taxastrophe
Notwithstanding the chance that anything can change between now and January 1, we are facing a devastating barrage of tax increases next year. We face the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch, numerous tax extenders and various economic stimulus programs. If our elected officials do nothing between now and the end of the year, which is unfortunately...
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