Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Limoman:
Have you heard about 'paragraphs'? They are a wonderful invention.
As to businesses having the right to offshore (I 'think' that was you point???), OK. And the sovereign govt of the USA, given its authority by the people, have every rig…
MSF, I think there is a definite QUALITATIVE difference between outsourcing to Boise, vs. offshoring to Bombay, from the parochial perspective of the American economy and household incomes. In the former, the jobs, income, and taxing-base remain…
MSF, I certainly agree that health-insurance needs to be dis-entagled from employment.
But the bigger problem than health-insurance is healthcare COSTS (insurance is simply the intermediary). Obama consumed most (all?) of his political capita…
Without commenting here on the WFC situation, if you believe in corporate accountability, then of course the common-share owners of an enterprise should be held accountable -- to the extent they have an investment. After all, corporate decision-ma…
Not sure why an explicit FICA and Medicare tax is not levied on the value of all imports. -- the rationale being is that imports naturally displace American employee contributions into the SSI & Medicare.
Levying payroll taxes on imports strike…
Re the difficulty of outsourcing service jobs, its not that difficult. Basically anybody who sits behind a computer, their job can be outsourced. The primary constraint is facility with the English language. -- But their are several hundred mill…
The columnist doesn't seem to know how to read a stock-chart. The REIT ETF, VNQ peaked in price on 8/1/16. At that point, its price move YTD was 14% -- an outsized gain for a full year, let alone 2/3 of a year.
At that point, its price r…
Re the Krugman piece, consider if history had unfolded differently:
a) If DJT had been elected on 11/8, but the stock market fell persistently and deeply.
OR
b) if HRC had been elected on 11/8 and the stock market soared.
Would Krugman be simil…
David: "(Edmond), do you have wisdom on PDI?
REPLY: Wisdom? No. I've traded in/out of it over the years. It seems to often generate a special year-end divd. It goes ex-divd on 12/22 (if I recall) a rather substantial special divd. So NAV and p…
ZB, I think your initial choices (VWINX, etc) are all fine/good candidates.
You may also wish to consider, for some, limited portion of your portfolio, closed-end funds. CEFs are focused on delivering what you stated was your goal: income. Rig…
Wow! A manager of a managed-futures fund produces a survey which might spark interest in its fund... Yeah, no conflict of interest there...
Altegris' managed-futures fund (EVONX) is rated 5-star by M*, meaning it has among the best historical …
The thread is about Trump's pick for Secy of State...
Today, Aleppo fell. It's been labelled a genocide.
Red lines drawn. Red lines ignored. Speak toughly and carry a toothpick. Obama. HRC. Kerry. Handmaidens to the genocide. Not…
Joe, you may be right --- we may have delicate snowflakes who need to be protected from free speech. Oh, those delicate snowflakes...
(edit: Joe, its interesting to note the number of views this thread has, vs any number of others, which have ver…
Press: At best, Trump is deciding from a short list given to him. By who...is the question.
Reply: Probably whoever's opinion he values, based on a lifetime of networking with very successful people. DJT hardly strikes me as having a personality …
I would think the Wisdomtree divd-focused stocks would inherently "tilt value", even though they are marketed for their divids and not "value". But then investors don't buy the marketing, they buy the fund/ETF... DGS/DEM...
Minimum investment …
press, I don't think your comments are sour grapes at all. -- And are 'spot on' WRT the topic.
You say you don't understand. I don't understand either. But then the strategies, competency and effectiveness of ANY President's cabinet is not able …
@JohnChisum:
sour grapes, whining?
hank: I should have expected as much. FYI - Here's a few more put-downs you can fling in the direction of anyone who dares criticize Trump in the coming years.
REPLY: If memory serves, Hillary referred to most…
LB: Now you're starting to sound like a socialist: feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-trade
REPLY: So what! So really seem obsessed with labelling people.
I think (and thought) Bernie had some sound ideas on trade. There is no particular re…
LB: "And "Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela?"--aren't they on your protectionist "no trade" list?"
REPLY: I think this comment deserves some attention. First, I'm not advocating "no trade". I don't know any one who is. I'm for fair-trade -- an…
LB: I'm keen on the U.S. being energy independent just so long as the fracking facilities are near your home and not mine.
Reply: Sounds like we are in agreement, since I live in Big D. I guess you are a NIMBY-type -- but burn fossil fuels nev…
LB has the IEA made earlier prediction about when domestic oil supplies will decline? Have we already passed those dates? Has technology pushed out those dates before?
Further, the suggestion (again, I emphasize, not mine, but my colleague's…
I've no particular familiarity with Mr. Tillerson. Presumably one doesn't reach the chair of the world's largest publicly-traded energy company without formidable skill-set.
As it relates to oil, my colleague's father came up with an interesting…
The sovereign will of the people, expressed in the voting booth can be brutal too. Maybe the Aristocracy will have a few less bonbons. Oh the humanity!
David, capitalism can manifest itself in any number of permutations. Most developed Europe…
hank: Hmm ... If you liked 10 year bonds yielding 1.5% ... you should love them yielding 2.5%. No?
Reply: For good or ill, that is exactly my thinking. I've upped my FI allocation from the low-teens to ~ 40% in the last couple of weeks. A…
David thanks a bunch.
I never fail to be amazed a the number of Establishment shills willing to throw Americans out of work and move their jobs to the Chi-coms.
David, the think tank shills get paid a lot of money to construct biased 'evidence'. Get me a few dozen think-tanks and all their BALONEY evidence can be de-constructed. They constructed a whole dogma to support the offshoring of jobs and the d…
Exactly, the dirty political fact about Unfair Trade is that both parties' Establishments (aka the American Aristrocracy) support it..
The Repub Aristocracy supports it because it strips income from labor (households) and give it to shareholders a…
Yet another bit of 'conventional wisdom' (i.e. BALONEY) regarding unfair trade with PRC.
Metlzer explains, "a widening U.S. trade deficit has been correlated with rising GDP and lower unemployment—which Meltzer argues is associated with the econom…
The article is highly politicized.
The title "destroys.." is rather hyperbolic. Its a budget disagreement. No houses were bombed.
The author, Brent Arends, has been in the past (and may be currently, I've no idea) affiliated with DowJones/Barr…
LB "@Edmond That would eliminate trade with countries like China and Mexico completely. Bear in mind, that China owns $1.2 trillion dollars worth of U.S. debt. What do you think they might do if you started a trade war as your reforms most certainl…
"Please tell me how America can compete with the lowest wage countries for manufacturing in this bar chart without ripping the fabric of our entire society apart?"
OK: Hold imported manufactured goods & offshored service providers to the same …
Re the huppo article link...
huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-andrew-puzder_us_584739b0e4b0b9feb0da1b7c
Donald Trump To Choose Fast-Food CEO To Be His Labor Secretary
The man who’s helmed Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. could become the nation’s top…
I saw this matter addressed on some media outlet 4-9 months ago.
The long/short of that presentation was that the ""Yale model" still works quite well -- for Yale. Those who copied it have NOT had the same success.
That would lead me to deduce…
Reimportation doesn't provide a permanent fix. --- Drug makers will simply renegotiate with their counterparties in the countries which are the source of the reimportation (e.g. Canada et al), and place contractual restrictions on those counterpart…
I guess another way to look at it is there is an "over quota" of female spouses of male money managers.
With so many things we legitimately need to be worrying about, is this really something that should be "worrisome"? I think absolutely NOT.
I think PRPFX is a great vehicle to help investors think about diversification -- especially diversifying beyond standard stocks/bonds. That said, I don't plan to put any money in PRPFX myself. A couple things bother me about the vehicle:
a. Pe…
