Monthly July, 2011
Characterizing Debt Whether it be the USA, or Greece, or Ireland, or Italy, debt is never repaid in short order. The trick is to stabilize the debt and essentially make it appear as a non-issue, What happens is that the political will in a country changes from an attitude of “if there is a need,...
Obama v John Boehner Last night we watched the two most powerful political leaders in the USA each make a speech imploring the public to side with their version of how the impasse over raising the Debt Ceiling should be resolved. The Differences Between Them Both seemed to agree on the amount of debt reduction...
We review many writers daily and it seems that everyone is predicting a further massive rise in the value of gold. The view seems to be almost universal. Mr Market Remember that when everyone is sure about some direction in the market, Mr. Market waits for his OPPORTUNITY to take everyone’s wealth away and teach...
In a recent blog, I expressed the view that ETF’s were better investments than many mutual funds. A recent report on Mackenzie Financial Corp Canadian Shield Fund illustrates the point. Nat’l Post July 13, 2011 This fund started up late 2009 and raised more money subsequently totaling just under $200 million. The fund was seeking...
Diversification in Your Portfolio A Supposed Truism – “Mitigate Risk by Investing in Different Sectors” We are constantly barraged with advice from our financial advisors insisting that the way to make money and to minimize risk, is to widen your scope of investing. We are constantly advised that having a percentage of your portfolio in...
Are we really applying common sense to the way we govern, or are we laying the seeds of our own destruction? The issue here is that free society continually strives to protect the rights of the individual in the belief that if we protect each of us individually, then we protect society against dictators, despots...
Supposed Basic Rights in Democratic Societies In democratic societies, we feel that we have a moral obligation to protect the rights of the individual. This basic belief pervades most of our rational thought and puts a slant on many of our decisions. If only life were that simple; that one concept was universally applicable. Unfortunately,...
An Incredible Rise, Followed by a Fall in Price What always amazes is how something can rise 400% in value which is really quite astonishing, and then when it retreats a bit, the headlines are all about the percentage fall. I suggest the reader examines the comparison of where silver is now, compared to where...