The Great Computer Chip Shortage of 2021 is Just Heating Up

Posted on September 3, 2021 by MN Gordon

The great computer chip shortage of 2021 will likely get worse before it gets better.  This conclusion was reached following brief study and anecdotal review.

Moreover, while COVID lockdowns may have initially triggered the shortage, several decades of shortsighted decisions and simmering geopolitical tensions make it much more than a matter of fixing a few broken links in the supply chain.  Here’s why…

The world’s top two leading chip companies are Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.  These two Asian firms, combined, control more than 70 percent of the semiconductor manufacturing market.

The U.S., which was once a leader, lags behind in chip manufacturing after major – and shortsighted – shifts in the business models in the semiconductor industry over the last 15 years.  But this could change…assuming the U.S. government can bend the semiconductor market to better meet its will.

The global semiconductor shortage and geopolitical tensions with China have now prompted Washington scrutiny of the supply chain. Continue reading →

Posted in MN Gordon, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

Don’t Take Me for Granted

Posted on August 27, 2021 by MN Gordon

“Screw your freedom.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger, August 11, 2021

Freedom Lost

Freedom in America, and throughout the world, is in decline.  In fact, it has been in decline for many years.

Perhaps a little freedom lost in exchange for security and comfort may seem like a fair trade in certain cases.  But caution is advised.  As the idea of what freedoms are acceptable to give up expands, the air of freedom becomes polluted.

Small losses of freedom, whittled away incrementally, add up.  You may not notice it from day to day.  Yet over time the sum losses have resulted in a world that’s dramatically less free.

Compulsory seatbelt requirements or drivers licenses may not be a big deal.  One could argue this government regulation is a small sacrifice that’s intended to provide public safety.  Yet maybe the world would be a better off without it.

And what about body scan searches to board an airplane?  Or proof of vaccination to enter an indoor business or to cross state lines?  What about vaccine passports? Continue reading →

Posted in MN Gordon, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 35 Comments

“Where is the Outlook Most Miserable?”

Posted on August 20, 2021 by MN Gordon

Things are not always as they may appear…

In 1939, a decade into the Great Depression, and the year Hitler’s Blitzkrieg invaded Poland, investor sentiment had reached extreme pessimism.  Newspaper headlines provided daily confirmation the world was coming to an end.  And to a certain extent they were right.

The New York Times front page headline from September 1, 1939, shouted in all caps and italics:

GERMAN ARMY ATTACKS POLAND;
CITIES BOMBED, PORT BLOCKADED;
DANZIG IS ACCEPTED INTO REICH

Indeed, the prospects for acquiring and building wealth appeared bleak.  The unemployment rate in 1939 was at 17.2 percent.  Widespread bank runs had decimated people’s savings and trust in financial institutions.  The most logical strategy at the time was to stuff your money in a mattress.

Many people did.  But not everyone… Continue reading →

Posted in MN Gordon, Stock Market | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Why Big Government Statists Despise Gold

Posted on August 13, 2021 by MN Gordon

Did you get a 5.4 percent raise this year?

If you answered no, then your income is being systematically diminished by the federal government’s coordinated policies of dollar debasement.

You see, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices increased 5.4 percent over the last 12 months.  So if your income didn’t increase by a commensurate 5.4 percent, then you are earning less than you were just one year ago.

The fact is price inflation acts as a hidden tax.  It’s the government’s underhanded way to increase spending without overtly increasing taxes.  Yet the tax still takes place, as the dollars in your biweekly paycheck become worth less and less.

The primary culprit of rising prices is the over issuance of federal reserve notes by the Treasury via deficit spending.  This debt based money enters the economy through government transfer payments and other spending programs.  There, it competes with the existing stock of money to buy goods and services.  Prices rise, accordingly.

Through the first 10 months of Washington’s fiscal year, which ends on September 30, the federal government has run a budget deficit of 2.54 trillion. Continue reading →

Posted in Inflation, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , , | 32 Comments