Seeing Through the Mirage

Posted on April 26, 2013 by MN Gordon

Buried far below the headline’s reporting Apple’s quarterly earning’s report Tuesday evening was a most curious headline…

“Lance Armstrong sued by U.S. for post office sponsorship funds.”  CNN.com offers the particulars…

“The Justice Department late Tuesday formally filed its case against Lance Armstrong and his company Tailwind Sports for millions of dollars that the U.S. Postal Service spent to sponsor the cycling team.

‘“The USPS paid approximately $40 million to sponsor the USPS cycling team from 1998 to 2004,’ the court document says.

“The government said it was intervening to recover triple the amount of the sponsorship funds under the False Claims Act, which could bring a total of more than $100 million in damages.  The complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges that the use of prohibited drugs constitutes a breach of contract with the Postal Service.”

Obviously, Armstrong shouldn’t have cheated by using performance enhancing drugs.  What’s more, he shouldn’t have lied about it all these years. Continue reading →

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Do You Have the Conviction to Get Rich?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by MN Gordon

The May edition of National Geographic magazine has the cover story headline, “This Baby Will Live to Be 120*.”  Pictured below the headline is an adorable baby.  The asterisk’s footnote to the right reads, “It’s not just hype.  New science could lead to very long lives.”

We don’t doubt the possibility.  Less than 100-years ago, before sanitary sewer separation and Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, lifespans were much shorter.  Bacteria and infections would commonly wipe people out before they turned 50.

According to National Geographic, the next bull market in life expectancy may be in gene mutations found in people who are genetically isolated.  Somehow these mutated genes prevent life shortening diseases.

For example, Ashkenazi Jews have mutations that limit high blood pressure and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s.  Amish, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have a mutation that lowers fat in the blood.  Gene mutations found in Japanese Americans lessen the chance of heart disease and cancer. Continue reading →

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Will Obama’s Chained CPI Help Keep Inflation from Eating into Your Savings?

Posted on April 19, 2013 by MN Gordon

Will Obama’s Chained CPI Help Keep Inflation from Eating into Your Savings?
By Dennis Miller, Editor, Money Forever

This week we examine ways in which inflation nibbles away at your retirement income, especially in light of the President’s proposal for Chained CPI adjustments to Social Security.  The formal title is Chain-weighted Consumer Price Index and it’s a variation of how the government figures out what is what we would call “inflation.”  Either way, with the low rates on offer from CDs and other “safe” investments, investors who don’t take action fall behind every year.

Unfortunately, the numbers show what most people don’t want to face: the days of relying on Social Security plus a few stable bonds and CDs are long over.  To earn decent and sustainable returns, investors must search beyond traditional safe havens.

Adjustments to benefits are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) CPI-W Index, measuring prices for urban wage earners and clerical workers.  The idea behind the CPI-W adjustment is that since urban wage earners and clerical workers have constrained incomes, they will shop in a thrifty manner, similar to retirees. Continue reading →

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Get On the Road to Riches Today

Posted on April 16, 2013 by MN Gordon

It was bound to happen.  Yesterday’s selloff, that is.

Gold most notably laid a gigantic egg – in addition to the one it laid Friday – falling below $1,330.  The stock market took one look at the bullion market and then decided to take an enormous swan dive…the S&P 500 finished the day down 36 points and the DOW down 265 points.

On top of that, it was the 100-year anniversary of the income tax – what any thinking man will conclude is nothing short of government mandated property confiscation.  But then, just when it seemed the day couldn’t possibly get worse…it did.  A giant explosion went off at the Boston Marathon.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.

Certainly, we’ll continue to peer through our economic prism at the world around us as we connect the dots of apparent chaos…starting with today’s ruminations…

Have you ever heard of the spring swoon?

We never had…until last Friday.  From what we gather, it’s a name for what happens when, following a strong first quarter, the economy slumps over in the second quarter like a half empty flour sack on a bakery floor. Continue reading →

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