Have you been living in a big blue blob city and thinking, "Get me outta here!" each day? Americans face a choice between living in states and cities where politicians protect their freedoms and seek to minimize government's burden on their lives, and places where politicians seek to use the power of government to bend residents—and their wallets—to the will of their own political agendas. Many states are digging residents and future residents deeper into debt, and raising the tax burden in order to fund politicians' dream projects. At the Cato Institute, Chris Edwards has exposed the … [Read more...]

Your Survival Guy’s September RAGE Gauge is in, and it’s not pretty. What did you expect me to say? The reality is what it is. It’s the world we’re living in right now. Americans are feeling unsure about the direction of the country. The presidential debate did provide a bit of optimism, but not much. Because the feeling on the ground—on Main Street, USA—is one of concern about whether this will be a battle between Biden and Trump. There’s downright fear about what this will look like. The dividend yield on the Dow Jones Industrial Average is hardly encouraging, like an anchor dragging … [Read more...]

With my RAGE Gauge at full tilt, I want to point you to this timeless piece. The story of Ronald Read is one that every potential investor should know. Steady compounding and saving til it hurts are tried and true ways to amass a fortune. Read did it better than most. Most Americans are simply not saving enough. In May, Elizabeth Renter reported in Nerd Wallet that most Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 emergency out of pocket. She wrote: About 9 in 10 Americans (89%) save on a regular basis, according to a new NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll. And although … [Read more...]

Your Survival Guy's RAGE Gauge for July is still pegged at maximum risk. Americans are troubled about the state of play in their country today. With an uncertain war in Europe, an uncertain economy at home, and a government that seems determined to encroach on their liberties, is it any wonder? Dissatisfaction with the state of the country is high, despite low unemployment, which would usually dampen Americans' worries. What does it mean when people are fully employed and they still don't feel like things are going the right way in America? It's not a good sign, historically … [Read more...]

My RAGE Gauge is in, and it isn't good. All month Your Survival Guy monitors risk in America, and there's one that far outweighs the others. That's a miscalculation by the Federal Reserve. For years the Fed has jumped from one unprecedented policy to another, reacting to each move of the market like it's putting a candle out with a firehose. Now the Fed is driving up rates and, for the first time in history, creating a sustained decline in the M2 money supply. You've seen what's going on in the banking system. The Fed's moves are uncovering its bad actors. The risk is that there are too … [Read more...]

What’s most disturbing about a black swan event is how it affects the rest of us. What will this non-bailout, bailout of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature usher in? Will we have a new way of banking where the Fed gets to call the shots? Will digital dollars be their way to control us? Risk perception is once again pegged to the maximum on my RAGE Gauge. Is it any wonder? War in Europe, inflation at home, the potential for a rerun of the global banking crisis that happened in 2008 and was supposed to be a "once in a century" event. And the government wants you to believe that digitization of … [Read more...]

You can feel the tension. Americans are not happy, and they see the mounting risks facing them in the future. My RAGE Gauge, a measure of risk in America, has been pegged at the maximum for a long time now, and it's hard to see that changing anytime soon. Faced with inflation, the prospect of nuclear war, a flood of illegal immigration, and crime spiking to rates not seen in decades, is it any wonder Americans are worried? One of the biggest worries Americans face is what they'll do about retirement. If this was forwarded to you. Join the club. Sign Up here for my weekly email. OK. … [Read more...]