Seymour Zises, President and co-founder of Family Management, writes bi-monthly opinions on issues and observations of relevance to clients and investors.
Who will get hurt if America falls off the fiscal cliff? We’re going to find out if the Bush-era tax cuts expire and nothing is done to replace approximately $1.2 trillion that comes out of the economy. The rich will pay more taxes (yawn if you’d like), the poor will continue to get subsidies (resent it if you’d like), and the guy in the middle… well, he will take it on the chin as always.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi announced that the bank would do anything to keep the Euro alive and well. How about specifics, please? We have heard so much discussion from Washington and Brussels about how they intend to save the economies of the U.S. and Europe. In the meantime, the rest of the world is watching them waste precious time.
This is the new word circulating on the internet used to describe our current political and governmental system. It is, perhaps, the system now in place in most developed westernized nations – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing; and, where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
…does lift all boats. At this point, even rising interest rates are lifting boats as we have watched the ten-year treasury note rise in yield (not price) from 1.95% on January 1, 2012 to 2.246% as of this writing. Although interest rates are higher than they were at the beginning of the year, they remain historically very low. Americans are buying more homes this year than in 2011. The Wall Street Journal reports that the pending home sales index was up 9.2% in February from the same month last year.
You are probably asking yourself, “What is that?” It is the fear of Friday the 13th, which is considered to be an unlucky day. This year there are three of them! That, however, is probably the last thing an investor should be worried about. Let’s instead list some of the justified concerns. There is an
