Our Preamble
The purpose of our blog is to provide ethical and endlessly curious views into the world of money and investing. Hopefully, as you read our blog posts, you will increase your knowledge about the use of money, improve your investment results, and reduce the risks and costs associated with the use of money. Our commentary is not crafted to support any political agenda, but will comment on the potential consequences of both current and projected actions of our Government (and others) on the economy, investments, and the efficient use of money.
We are neither focused on the individual investor, nor riveted on the professional. We will strive to deliver highly evolved commentary, fully digested concepts and rational projections in plain straight forward language that is easily palatable and useful to all.
We also strongly encourage all well-reasoned and civil-tongued readers to comment, question, and enlighten us with their knowledge and experience. Persistent synergistic discussion has the power to enrich us all.
Sincerely,
Art Zaske
President and Founder
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by Art Zaske on March 29, 2010
Our New Healthcare Act: Winners and Losers
Winner: The Insurance Companies: There will be more of us who will be forced to buy coverage because the central provision of the new healthcare law mandates that ALL individuals be insured. The health insurers have already beaten the Obama administration’s feeble attempts to hold back rate increases by already raising rates. Insurance premiums will continue to increase. Watch insurance profits and large company prices rise dramatically in the face of the legislation! Larger companies will command slightly greater premiums than previously experienced, and demand lower prices from providers. The inability to underwrite will drive the smaller out of business because they cannot negotiate the same lower prices from the Providers.
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by Art Zaske on February 16, 2010
The people at ThinkBigWorkSmall.com have offered a very interesting look (see video) at how poorly some U.S. Government regulations have been crafted… allowing those who acquire failed bank assets to make a fortune with no risk… and its your money they are stealing!!
Video: http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/23088/
by Art Zaske on February 9, 2010
I was fortunate enough to be present for a live interview of Presidents Bush and Clinton sponsored by TD Ameritrade. Frankly, I almost skipped the event, trying to convince myself that I had “better things” to do, but I went anyway, and left the interview totally overwhelmed. Though the group in attendance was far from intimate (approximately 1500 people), I was fortunate enough to be seated physically very close to them…close enough to see fine details of their facial expressions that one would not see on a flat screen. I have a long history of being exceeding critical of each of their Presidencies…and though the substance of my criticism has not changed, I am embarrassed at the tone I have taken in the past.
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by Art Zaske on February 6, 2010
At the beginning of 2010, the market moved up the first six days consecutively. The underlying fundamentals in the US economy continue to improve, but these have been trumped by global macroeconomic concerns over potential Sovereign Debt defaults by Greece, Spain and Portugal…sending the markets to a 10% correction Friday before bouncing back over 2% from the lows. Technically speaking, this market correction should be over.
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by Art Zaske on January 28, 2010
Many of us listened to President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night. The overwhelming desire was to hear what Government was going to do to get the economy started again. This seems to indicate a certain loss of confidence in the possibility or probability of a classic cyclic rebound based on pent up demand. Still, while Congress dithers, our population grows, wages slowly increase and inflation eats away at the sting of too much debt, whether held by individuals, corporation or government.
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by Art Zaske on January 24, 2010
In his January 23, 2010 Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman offers some advice to President Obama. The advice targets job creation and while the author exhorts Obama to abandon the backroom politics of Congress and revitalize “the amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected,” Friedman misses his own point.
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