Seymour Zises, President and co-founder of Family Management, writes bi-monthly opinions on issues and observations of relevance to clients and investors.
This is the new word circulating on the internet used to describe our current political and governmental system. It is, perhaps, the system now in place in most developed westernized nations – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing; and, where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
…does lift all boats. At this point, even rising interest rates are lifting boats as we have watched the ten-year treasury note rise in yield (not price) from 1.95% on January 1, 2012 to 2.246% as of this writing. Although interest rates are higher than they were at the beginning of the year, they remain historically very low. Americans are buying more homes this year than in 2011. The Wall Street Journal reports that the pending home sales index was up 9.2% in February from the same month last year.
You are probably asking yourself, “What is that?” It is the fear of Friday the 13th, which is considered to be an unlucky day. This year there are three of them! That, however, is probably the last thing an investor should be worried about. Let’s instead list some of the justified concerns. There is an
We lost him and we need them. It was a sad day when Steve Jobs passed. He was one of the great, if not, the greatest, innovators America has ever seen. Indeed, he was also one of the greatest job creators the world has ever seen. We will miss him may he rest in peace.
As the world turns, we are now faced with pessimists almost everywhere we look. It is as if we have never faced large deficits and high unemployment before. Solutions exist to the economic problems we face, but there is little, if any, debate about the sociological changes this country has undergone and what the impact of these changes has been. I call our current state of affairs “The Era of Me.”
