fbpx

Monthly Archives: May 2012

Eurozone Agonistes…Again

By |2012-05-20T17:41:52-04:00May 20th, 2012|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Thinking Things Over     May 20, 2012 Volume II, Number 20:  Eurozone Agonistes...Again  By John L. Chapman, Ph.D.     Washington, D.C. The tragedy of unemployment rates well north of 20% in Greece and Spain, 15.3% in Portugal, 10% in France and Italy, and so on is mirrored in negative GDP growth rates across most all of Europe, and massive loss of wealth: French [...]

Small Businesses get tax breaks too

By |2012-05-20T09:07:11-04:00May 20th, 2012|Markets|

Being in this business for 3 years now, which is not much, I can tell you that most people I have sat down with know what a 401(k) is, but rarely does anybody know that they have other options.  This rings especially true for small business owners.  The following is a great resource on how to choose the right retirement [...]

Exiting The Euro

By |2012-05-14T12:36:11-04:00May 14th, 2012|Currencies, Markets|

Guest post from friend of Alhambra, Brian Cronin: “The union of these States is perpetual. No state, upon its own mere motion, can get out of the union. The central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.” So said Abraham Lincoln in March of 1861. On the other hand: “to exercise self determination through secession is to blow apart [...]

Fundamental Monetary Reform Is Coming…(Part One)

By |2012-05-16T17:10:49-04:00May 13th, 2012|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Thinking Things Over    May 13, 2012 Volume II, Number 19: Fundamental Monetary Reform Is Coming...(Part One)  By John L. Chapman, Ph.D.      Washington, D.C.  The monetary system is to the economy what circulating blood is to the body: the former enables the latter to function.  If the former is plagued with a virus, the latter will degrade and ultimately break down [...]

A Closer Look: Commodities

By |2012-05-13T20:33:41-04:00May 13th, 2012|Markets|

The GSCI Commodity Index ((GSG)) consists primarily of Energy (71%), but also contains Agriculture (14%), Industrial Metals (7%), Livestock (4%), and Precious Metals (4%). The index fell below the 200-day moving average, falling to the 32.30 support level. With the dollar likely to strengthen further, and the index slightly below support, look for the index to breakthrough to the downside, [...]

European Elections – The End of Austerity

By |2012-05-14T12:42:58-04:00May 13th, 2012|Markets|

Guest post from friend of Alhambra, Brian Cronin: The problem with entitlements is that once they are in place, they are extremely difficult to amend or even take away. Many seniors in the US for example, once intitially fearful of the Medicare Part D drug plan, have come to accept it and enjoy its economies of scale. It was put [...]

What Could Have Been

By |2012-05-08T20:02:10-04:00May 8th, 2012|Economy|

The first order of business for the Obama administration after getting elected was to enact a stimulus plan. At the time, Christina Romer was in charge of devising the stimulus plan and I had high hopes for her. Her research had shown that tax changes had a much bigger impact on the economy than spending changes and I expected her [...]

Why does everyone complain about Mutual Funds?

By |2012-05-08T19:42:10-04:00May 8th, 2012|Markets|

I'll tell you why...They're expensive! That's one reason we use a lot of ETFs and other types of index funds here at Alhambra. Here's an excellent primer on ETFs from the Wall Street Journal: Exchange-traded funds, commonly called ETFs, are index funds (mutual funds that track various stock market indexes) that trade like stocks. As such, they have all of [...]

Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady

By |2012-05-06T19:47:46-04:00May 6th, 2012|Currencies|

Guest post from friend of Alhambra, Brian Cronin: I emigrated to the US in 1983 and became an American citizen in 1987. It was the second best thing I ever did though it confounded some of my British friends. There cannot be too many American citizens who can say they voted for Margaret Thatcher but I can certainly lay claim [...]

Weekly Economic & Market Review

By |2012-05-06T19:40:03-04:00May 6th, 2012|Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets|

Over the last couple of months I've dedicated a good portion of these weekly commentaries to the various headwinds I see facing the global economy and markets. Everyone, it seems, knows what the risks are and I'm beginning to wonder if, being so well known, the actual events may prove less jarring to sentiment than I've been expecting. There is, [...]

Go to Top