Nestled in the shadow of Russia, Finland is a sparsely populated country of only 5.5 million souls. As Finland celebrates its 100th year of independence from Russia, it is focused on maintaining all the success it has had over the last century. Despite its small population, only 6.7% that of Germany’s, Finland can field a […]
A Risky Addition to an Otherwise Decent Dodd-Frank Reform: Part II
Yesterday I wrote to you about a risky change classifying municipal bonds as “high quality liquid assets.” That change, though simple, could lead to increased spending by states and cities. This is obviously a danger given many states’ indebted status, take for example the state of Illinois. A spiral of debt and taxes is driving […]
Check Out Finland’s Defense Forces!
Finnish Defence Forces – “Honour, Duty, Will” | Finnish Military Power 2017 HD
A Risky Addition to an Otherwise Decent Dodd-Frank Reform
Despite passing a major reform to the Obama-era Dodd-Frank financial regulation, Congress has unfortunately added a few unnecessary, and even risky, clauses to the bill. The one that worries me most classifies investment-grade muni bonds as “high quality liquid assets.” Some, repeat some, muni bonds are high quality assets. Many are not, even some of […]
Erdogan Drives Investors Out of Turkey by Playing Central Banker
Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spooked investors in Turkey by trying to dictate policy to the country’s central bank. With the currency plummeting, his meddling in the central bank process is only making things worse. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes: Turkey’s lira fell as much as 5% on Wednesday, and it’s lost […]
What Causes School Shootings? Join the Discussion
My friend Tim Jones, a.k.a. the Stissing Mountain Man, who I profiled for you last month, has a unique take on school shootings. Tim asked on his Facebook feed, what has changed at schools? In the 70s when he attended, students would bring their guns to school and store them in their lockers until they […]
A Warning for the Global Economy
The WSJ Logistics Report raises the red flag on a major warning sign for the global economy. Copper, known as Dr. Copper for having a Ph.D. in economics, has begun falling in price, even while other commodities are rising. Another early indicator of the direction of the world economy, the Baltic Dry Index, has plummeted […]
Wealth Shock! “All of a Sudden Their Wealth is Gone”
You simply cannot afford to take heavy losses in or near retirement. From a financial standpoint the arithmetic of losses is devastating—lose half your portfolio and you need a 100% gain (not likely) to get back to even. Now, a study has been done to show the impact of losing money on one’s health. And […]
Big Government and Globalism: Small Town America in Despair
Small-towns are the casualties of globalism. Industries have been shuttered. Big government, meaning both sides of the aisle, have failed America. Just take a look around on your next road trip. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School, explains in the WSJ’s Weekend Interview why he had students visit a failed middle America town: “I wanted […]
Rural Crime Surge Tests Local Police
Rising violent crime in rural areas, likely caused by an increasing use of drugs in those same areas, is stressing local police forces. Shibani Mahtani reports in The Wall Street Journal that local sheriffs and town police are being overwhelmed. This is all the more reason for Americans to get their guns and their training […]
Is Your State’s Pension System about to Collapse?
Katherine Loughead discusses state pension data from The Pew Charitable Trusts at The Tax Foundation. I’ve warned many times that states are under-funding their pensions and using unrealistic expected rates of return to hide their malfeasance (read here, here, here, and here). The low funding ratios are starting to bite. She writes: As of fiscal […]
Your Survival Guy: “My Car was Stolen”
Originally posted on April 27, 2017. “My car was stolen,” is the last thing I want to say to the authorities. Mine wasn’t, thankfully. But how vulnerable am I to car theft? Isn’t it cool that you can start your car with a push of a button? Technology is great. But what happens when the […]