Your Survival Guy enjoyed this story in the WSJ: “The Koch Brothers Are Sitting on a Real Estate Empire Worth Hundreds of Millions” Katherine Clarke writes (abridged): Billionaire brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch became known for their financial support of conservative and arts causes. But they, and their two brothers, Bill and Frederick, quietly built another legacy: hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high-end real estate. The four brothers have amassed some of the world’s most spectacular private homes, including a large waterfront compound on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod … [Read more...]
The Bloomberg-led Anti-Gun Movement Could Backfire at the Polls
Led by billionaire gun controller, Mayor "Mini" Mike Bloomberg, and Governor Ralph "Blackface" Northam (VA), Democrats are bent on taking away Americans' right to bear arms. The feeling among Democrats was best encapsulated by presidential candidate Congressman Beto O'Rourke when he told a debate audience, "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47." The reason to believe this tactic may backfire on Democrats is that the suburban female demographic they're relying on to win in 2020 is the same demographic that has been driving increases in the sales of guns and firearms training … [Read more...]
Don’t Let Your Retirement Dream Community Become a Nightmare
When it comes to your living situation in retirement, there are developments (literally) that may turn your idyllic retirement community into an “anywhere in the USA” suburb. As liberal states like California, crush the middle-class, neighboring states such as Idaho, and towns west of Boise like Star, pick up the slack, explains Dan Frosch in the WSJ: Over the past nine years, Star’s population has doubled to more than 10,000. Most of the growth has come from people like the Turnipseeds who uprooted from the West Coast to the greater Boise area—known as the Treasure Valley—drawn by the … [Read more...]
Cutting Carbon Emissions Won’t Stop Forest Fires
This week, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told investors that his company, the world's largest asset manager, will make "sustainability"--corporate code for climate change reactionism--the "new standard for investing." Holman W. Jenkins explains in The Wall Street Journal that the climate change hysteria surrounding weather phenomenon like the Australian and Californian forest fires is misplaced. He writes: What about Australia’s and California’s wildfires? Some won’t want to hear it, but climate policy is not a solution for the problems of forest management, especially the need for controlled … [Read more...]
Democrats Are Unknowingly Working for Team Trump
In a variety of ways, big and small, Democrats are working hard to get President Trump reelected. The best covered example of Democrats' misguided plans is the impeachment circus in Washington, which has proven to one and all that the party puts politics ahead of progress every time. But while that grand show plays out on the national stage, Democrats are upsetting voters in swing states on more local levels. Their recent push for gun control in Virginia has created an explosion of anti-Democrat feeling in the state. Second Amendment supporters rallied in Virginia in massive numbers … [Read more...]
Virginia is for (Gun) Lovers
Votes, like politics, are a lagging indicator. If you stir the pot and rile up enough voters, they’ll make sure to see you at the polls in a couple of months. That might be the best news for President Trump as we’re learning that Virginia is for (gun) lovers. Monday’s peaceful pro-Second Amendment rally in Richmond showed America that more than 20,000 supporters (of your constitutional right to bear arms and protect your family) are now motivated voters. Look out, because they’ll be telling everyone they know how great it was to be with brothers in arms on Monday. Talk about the power of … [Read more...]
You May Not Be Able to Trust the World’s Largest Asset Manager
Be careful who you let run your money because they might have their best interests in mind, not yours. Despite his fiduciary duty to clients, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, is focusing the company's efforts on achieving his own social goals, rather than on profits for investors. The Wall Street Journal reports: BlackRock is a fiduciary and as such is legally obligated to act in its clients’ best interest. This is ostensibly why BlackRock has voted against more than 80% of the climate resolutions on proxy ballots by activist shareholders. But suddenly Mr. Fink is prioritizing the interests of … [Read more...]
Value Stocks are Nearly the Cheapest They’ve Ever Been…
“Value stocks are nearly the cheapest they’ve ever been compared with growth companies,” writes Jason Zweig in his WSJ column Intelligent Investor referencing a study by Research Affiliates. The study finds that value stocks aren’t necessarily inexpensive relative to their own earnings and assets, but they are when compared to growth companies. It looks like this is another example of an emotionally charged market. When it will end? Nobody knows, but it may not be pretty when it does. Zweig writes: Financial logic says cheap stocks should ultimately earn higher returns than expensive ones; … [Read more...]
You Want to Live Where Your Money is Respected
You meet a lot of people when you ski, especially on a crowded holiday weekend like this last one. We shared a chair with two brothers from Vermont who were none-too-pleased with Bernie Sanders. “He’ll give the whole state away if he can,” said one of the brothers. The other nodded, “Yup.” There was an excellent essay in Saturday’s WSJ: “Boomer Socialism Led to Bernie Sanders: Government policies limit millennials’ prosperity, Harvard economist Edward Glaeser argues. Will they realize more of the same isn’t the answer?” Mene Ukueberuwa wrote: Mr. Glaeser, 52, argues that young people have … [Read more...]
