The whole process of simply paying employees has become increasingly politicized with competing agendas shifting the focus away from the fundamental idea of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. We have advocates for a higher minimum wage, federal, state and local versions, for a competitive wage, for a living wage and so on. … Continued
Over the last several quarters we have seen an increase in market activity by individuals who seem to take pride in how much they don’t know about the stocks they are trading. This is not investing. Perhaps it is trading, wagering or just plain “rolling the dice.” Over the short run, this may not be … Continued
China is putting forth a vision of continuing economic growth in conjunction with a reduction in greenhouse gas pollution. The plan calls for a peaking in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and net carbon neutrality before 2060. This may be difficult. We have previously discussed China’s dependence on coal. (See our blog dated 2019-2-13). China’s … Continued
While there are a number of specific strategies that can be considered to be momentum investing, the simple definition can be summarized as, buying stocks that have been going up and selling/shorting stocks that have been going down on the assumption that the existing trend will continue. It’s a little like being famous for being … Continued
In order to accelerate demand for electric vehicles (EVs), the world’s governments have been handing out a wide range of subsidies and incentives. But in nearly half of U.S. states, driving a battery-powered car now requires paying an additional fee. To date, 24 states have imposed special fees on EVs, usually through higher registration charges, … Continued
A February 4, 2019 article in the Wall Street Journal titled How to Invest When Markets Are Down noted that “If you have a lump sum to invest, rather than a small amount each month, you may be better off investing it all at once, mainly because keeping it on the sidelines in cash while … Continued
The U.S. consumer confidence index rose in October to an 18-year high, amid optimism about jobs and the economy, according to the New York-based Conference Board. It is also probable that improving consumer confidence may be, at least in part, attributable to broad gains in wages. Specific wage gain calculations are complex and single data … Continued
According to recent reports, for the first time since 2005, the U.S. Army missed its recruiting goal for the year, despite increasing its bonus pool by $200 million and approving additional waivers for bad conduct and health issues. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, with much smaller requirements, all met their recruiting goals for … Continued
A recent commentary written by Liz Szabo for Kaiser Health News discusses some of the issues relating to benefits and risks associated with cancer screening for the elderly. In her article, she states that, according to the American Journal of Public Health, nearly one in five women, with severe cognitive impairment, including older patients, are … Continued
Recently released global airline accident data indicates that not a single airline passenger suffered a fatality from a jet crash anywhere in the world in 2017. This is almost an unimaginable safety milestone, even though the average number of airliner accidents and fatalities has been declining since 1997. While there have been a few fatal … Continued
On September 7th, Equifax announced that the personal information of 143 million U.S. consumers was stolen from their servers. Hackers stole data that included full names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and addresses. This breach is one of the largest, and some say most damaging, to date. We understand that there are a lot of … Continued
In recent blogs we have noted that there has been an increase in large investor concerns over a trend toward a reduction in shareholders’ rights. Now we have the managers of the S&P 500 taking a stand in favor of shareholders’ rights by announcing a new policy that would bar new admissions to the index … Continued
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