The Great Middle Class Debasement

Posted on August 28, 2012 by MN Gordon

More is revealed each and every day.  Whether you like it or not, the glut of information expands like the glut of Federal Reserve notes in foreign account balances.  Last week was no exception…many significant discoveries were made…

Samsung, for example, was found guilty of violating Apple’s patents in its mobile products.  So, too, Mitt Romney said he would replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke if elected President.  On top of that, photo documentation of Good Time Harry’s flagrante delictos in sin city was posted on the world wide web for everyone to ogle at.  But that’s not all…

The September issue of National Geographic said that “Rome’s border walls were the beginning of its end.”  What’s more, researchers at Columbia University reported they now believe the Mayan Empire collapsed because of corn crop induced droughts.  Can you believe it?

Here at the Economic Prism we’re not sure what any of these data points have to do with each other.  But we have an inkling that, somehow, someway, they’re related.  Connecting the dots takes creativity and imagination.  Correlations are nonlinear…and they’re dynamic too. Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Only Way to Win with Gold Stocks

Posted on August 24, 2012 by MN Gordon

The Only Way to Win with Gold Stocks
By David Galland, Casey Research

Buddha Investing

While I have read certain works on the life and ponderings of Buddha, I claim no deep knowledge of his philosophy.

Note that I didn’t use the word “religion,” because Buddha himself claimed no supernatural powers and even begged his followers not to deify him after his death.

Hardly had he drawn his last breath some 2,500 years ago, however, when the deification began – though most Buddhists won’t claim it as such.

Even so, there are Buddhist practices that I think are useful in this hectic world of ours – practices that don’t involve dressing in robes and refusing to swat flies.

For example, I rather like to meditate from time to time.

Nothing too involved, just ten or fifteen minutes of quiet, deep breathing as part of calming the mind and all that.

I also find a lot of wisdom in the training of the Zen archers, who seek to clear their minds of all internal dialogue not related to the simple process of releasing the arrow at the target. Continue reading →

Posted in David Galland, Stock Market | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fed’s Hands are Tied, For Now

Posted on August 21, 2012 by MN Gordon

The stock market’s on a six week win streak.  What’s more, from June 4 through last Friday the DOW’s up 9.7-percent.  Can you believe it?

We thought the stock market would meltdown this summer like Charlie Sheen following a weekend bender.  Instead it has melted up like a Great Plains heat wave.  Home Depot, PepsiCo, Chevron, 3M Co, Google, plus 42 other S&P 500 stocks have recently hit 52-week highs.

If this keeps up just about anything could happen.  In fact, the S&P 500’s a horse’s hair away from taking out its April high of 1,419.04, and reaching a new four-year high.  The way things are going, before long, the S&P 500 will take out its October 2007 all-time high of 1,565.

Ryan Detrick at Schaeffer’s Investment Research thinks stocks will continue to go up for two reasons: “First, price action continues to be constructive; and second, overall expectations are still too low.”

We’re not sure what Detrick means by “price action continues to be constructive.” Continue reading →

Posted in MN Gordon, Stock Market | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Errant Miscalculation of a Generation

Posted on August 17, 2012 by MN Gordon

Man’s desires are unlimited, as far as we can tell.  There’s always an upgrade or deluxe version of the latest doodads to chase after.  Some go after them with the stubborn resolve of a donkey going after a dangling carrot.  Others come up with resourceful ways to outflank their competitors.

Where money’s concerned, it doesn’t matter where an individual falls on the income scale…a little more is always yearned for.  A middle income earner may think a $10,000 raise would satisfy all their longings.  But after attaining this, they’ll come to find that another $10,000 is what’s really needed.  Similarly, for a successful business owner, if $1 million in profits is good…$2 million is better.

When it comes down to it, money is just a means to satisfy one’s desires.  But these desires amount to more than just stuff.  They also include experiences.

That’s why, time, above all, is the commodity par excellence.  One can always earn more money.  Once time is spent, it can never be regained.

Just ask 16th century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments