The Independent Investor: Separating the Forest From the TreesBy Bill Schmick,
08:24AM / Friday, August 31, 2012 | |
— Neil Newhouse, founder of Public Opinion Strategies
and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's pollster
Billed as a choice between two distinct and opposing futures for America, the November presidential election candidates are neck and neck. At the center of the battle are two issues: the economy and jobs. Rhetoric aside, how far apart are these men on the issues?
Up until Aug. 12, the media was hard pressed to find much difference between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. The president was a democrat defending his track record of moderate 0 Comments
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The Independent Investor: Middle Class DilemmaBy Bill Schmick,
05:07PM / Thursday, August 23, 2012 | |
Two national statistics in the last month underscore the nightmare of being a member of America's middle class. The cost of raising a child is up again to $235,000, while the income generated by those same families is "suffering its worst decade in modern history."
That was a quote from the Pew Research Center study released this week. The study shows that families with household incomes ranging from $39,000 to $118,000 have seen their incomes falling backward for the first time since the end of World War II.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the costs of raising a child in 2011 increased 3.5 percent from 2010. But those statistics only include 0 Comments
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The Independent Investor: Is Krugman Right?By Bill Schmick,
12:13PM / Saturday, August 18, 2012 | |
Economist Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate and New York Times columnist, has suggested a solution to this Great Recession. It is a controversial suggestion and one that flies in the face of today's political wisdom. It just might work.
A common fallacy among Americans is that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's economic policies extricated the United States from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Others, with more knowledge of those times, recognize that it was the onset of World War II and the U.S. preparation to wage that war, which truly pulled us out of that economic mire. But stripping that truth down to its bare essentials leaves us with one fact.
To pull this country out of the Great 0 Comments
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@theMarket: Watching Thin Paint DryBy Bill Schmick,
07:27AM / Saturday, August 11, 2012 | |
This week I have had a hard time deciding what's worse: this summer's heat and humidity or the meandering markets. The averages barely budged over five days and the volume was, well, atrocious.
Of course, volume shrinks during the summer months anyway. Wall Street participants take three-day weekends or vacations while finding excuses to be on the golf courses whenever possible. For many, it is a genteel, less hectic time when junior traders man the turrets and talk to their friends via cell phone.
However, Securities Technology, an organization that monitors changes in stock and derivative volume, reports that the daily volume of trading stocks is down 16.9 percent from a year ago. 0 Comments
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The Independent Investor: Mars Is Only The BeginningBy Bill Schmick,
05:40PM / Thursday, August 09, 2012 | |
Hurrah for us. The Curiosity landing on Mars was the most complex landing NASA has ever attempted. The mission cost taxpayers $2.5 billion, but if history is any guide the economic payback to America will be much greater than that.
The purpose of this Mars mission is to perform a highly sophisticated scientific analysis of the Red Planet around the Gale Crater. Curiosity, the one-ton robotic rover, is loaded with an army of scientific instruments including high resolution cameras, infrared lasers, microscopes, X-ray spectrometer and even drills for retrieving samples of the surface for further analysis. If history is any guide, NASA probably has a host of other tools that are newly 0 Comments
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| Bill Schmick is registered as an investment advisor representative and portfolio manager with Berkshire Money Management (BMM), managing over $200 million for investors in the Berkshires. Bill’s forecasts and opinions are purely his own and do not necessarily represent the views of BMM. None of his commentary is or should be considered investment advice. Anyone seeking individualized investment advice should contact a qualified investment adviser. None of the information presented in this article is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at 1-888-232-6072 (toll free) or email him at Bill@afewdollarsmore.com Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill’s insights. |
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