Yarns, Mysteries, and the CPI

Posted on August 19, 2016 by MN Gordon

Several ill-defined economic waypoints were unveiled this week.  Namely, the Labor Department’s July consumer price index report.  According to the government data, on whole, consumer prices for the month didn’t change one iota.

Reportedly, energy prices went down, food prices were unchanged, and all other items slightly increased.  So when the official number crunchers tallied them all up, the subtractions washed out with the additions.  Thus, the reported CPI came in at exactly 0.0 percent.

This number is strictly scientific, of course.  Independent teams of research grunts could easily replicate it with precision.  No guess work.  No fudge factors.  All seasonal adjustments and hedonic regression estimates would align with complete accuracy.

All kidding aside, what does a CPI reading of 0.0 mean?  What does it tell us?  How can we use this information to our advantage?

Should we short treasuries and go long gold?  Should we acquire bags of pre 1965 junk silver coins? Continue reading →

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The Great Stock Market Swindle

Posted on August 12, 2016 by MN Gordon

Finding and filling gaps in the market is one avenue for entrepreneurial success.  Obviously, the first to tap into an unmet consumer demand can unlock massive profits.  But unless there’s some comparative advantage, competition will quickly commoditize the market and profit margins will decline to just above breakeven.

Unfortunately, finding and filling gaps in the market is much easier said than done.  Even the most successful serial entrepreneurs fail more than they succeed.  What’s more, success in one endeavor doesn’t guarantee success in another.

Anyone who has ever developed and marketed a new product from concept through sale knows how difficult it is to achieve profitability.  For every good idea there must be a hundred bad ones.  Yet the only way to really know the difference between a profit generating idea and a cash hemorrhaging fiasco is through trial and error.

Success and failure provide real feedback.  They deliver information – at a profit or loss – to businessmen and investors.  What’s working?  What isn’t?  What adjustments can be made to help eke out a profit? Continue reading →

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Laurence Kotlikoff for President

Posted on August 5, 2016 by MN Gordon

According to the Department of Commerce, U.S. gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2016.  This, unfortunately, isn’t indicative of the sort of robust economic activity that will grow the economy out of debt.  In fact, as growth is stagnating, deficits are increasing.

The U.S. fiscal year 2015 budget deficit was about $439 billion.  For fiscal year 2016, the federal government is projected to run a deficit of $616 billion.  The upsurge, of roughly $177 billion, amounts to about a 40 percent deficit increase from 2015 to 2016.

Presently, the federal debt is well over 100 percent of GDP.  Obviously, 1.2 percent GDP growth is wholly inadequate to shrink the debt.  To the contrary, 1.2 percent GDP growth in the face of a projected $616 billion deficit will further increase the debt as a percent of GDP.

As far as we can tell, neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump is talking about the U.S. debt problem.  What’s more, they’re economic platforms both include massive spending programs. Continue reading →

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Visions of Tomorrow from the Permanently High Plateau

Posted on July 29, 2016 by MN Gordon

Somewhere, someone first said “bull markets don’t die of old age.”  We suppose this throwaway phrase was first uttered in a time and place much like today.  That is, in the midst of a protracted bull market where stock prices had detached from the assets and earnings of companies their shares represent claim to.

Presumably, it was used as rationale for why stock prices should go higher.  Quite frankly, we don’t know why anyone would ever say such baloney.  But it likely makes the person who emits it feel content about their place in the world and the shallow intelligence of their wit and wisdom.

No doubt, the current old age bull market has gone mad as a hatter.  Who in their right mind would invest their hard earned savings into a business for the opportunity to receive $1 of current earnings for every $26 invested?  Aside from Swiss or Japanese bonds, or lottery tickets, we can’t think of an investment with shoddier long-term prospects.  Can you? Continue reading →

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