The late great baseball legend, Yogi Berra, is credited with this quotation: It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future! If there were a perfect field for applying this, investing must be it. Our viewpoint (and that of our favorite economists at First Trust Advisors, LP) remains that [...]
A recent survey from Bankrate made headlines recently with some startling new information about the financial condition of the average American. According to the study, a record number of people now have more credit card debt than they have emergency savings. In fact, over a third of all respondents (36%) [...]
This probably won’t come as a shock to those of you who regularly read my column, but I am a big fan of talk radio. While making the commute to and from work each day I enjoy getting information about what is happening both locally and nationally through this medium. [...]
The promises of ESG do not match the performance Ours is a world of paradox. Things like facts you recently thought were settled long ago are now suspect or judged to be incorrect based upon eyes of the beholders. (We will not dwell upon the fact that the most recently [...]
As our economy has increasingly become globalized over the past several decades there have certainly been many winners and many losers here in America. While I would argue that increased international trade generally has been a net positive for the prosperity of our nation, it is also a fact that [...]
In the 20th Century, many important investing principles developed including asset allocation for diversity and the efficient market hypothesis. More recently, politics has risen to cause a shift in the desired measurement of economic welfare. The trendy newcomer is ESG. What is that? ESG is the acronym of Environmental, Social [...]
Years ago now, in 2009 and following, I joined a small minority of economists critical of the Zero Interest Rate Policy chosen by Ben Bernanke and others in charge of the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) to cure the Mortgage Bond crisis. The current crisis is a direct consequence of over [...]
As my friend, Ken Woodruff often says, There are two seasons in Iowa and places north. Winter and tough sledding. The groundhog saw his shadow, but there is an end soon coming to physical winter. The current bear market, not so soon. More tough sledding, until the fourth quarter would [...]
If you are a sports fan, it is an exciting time to be living in the KC metro. Over the past decade we have experienced more than our fair share of national championship victories from our local teams including, the Royals, Sporting KC, the Jayhawks and of course the Kansas [...]
For decades, commentators on the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) have referred to the action of raising federal funds interest rates as taking away the punch bowl at the party. After finally arousing from sleep after the inflation fire was already getting out of control, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has [...]
