At the end of World War I, the U.S. economy went through a major boom era known popularly as the roaring twenties. Rising incomes meeting up with rising technological advances created progressive lifestyles for many middle and upper class Americans. It also nourished the get-rich-quick attitude that has long pervaded American society. Those times and […]
THE 1920’s, AN ERA OF GET-RICH-QUICK SCHEMES Read More »
Mariupol in the Ukraine has made lots of news lately, most of which has been unfortunate owing to Russia’s recent invasion of the Ukraine. Prior to the devastation that has taken place there in the last five weeks, what type of city was Mariupol? Where was Mariupol located? What was so important about it? Founded
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MARIUPOL Read More »
Thanks to the war in the Ukraine and corresponding sanctions, crude oil markets have been roiled worldwide as traders in various parts of the world grapple with sharply higher crude oil prices. The trickle down has hit just about all phases of oil production to the retail level. The mayhem has reached the natural gas
THE FUTURE OF THE SANCTIONED CRUDE OIL MARKET Read More »
In Response to the military invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia has been sanctioned by numerous countries in an effort to force economic pain on the invaders. As an economic weapon in the face of military action sanctioning is not new—it dates back to 432 BC in Greece. It typically arises when a trading partner of
SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA—WHERE ARE INVESTORS MOST AFFECTED? Read More »
When World War I ended in November, 1918, Germany’s economy was in a shambles. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Germany was obliged to accept defeat and agree to pay a huge amount of money for reparations primarily to France and Belgium, owing to the great destruction and loss of life inflicted on those
INFLATION IN GERMANY AFTER WORLD WAR I Read More »
Today’s financial markets have shown considerable volatility that’s likely to unnerve many private investors. Much of the reason for it comes from the changing character of the economy due to the massive amount of government stimulus stemming from the pandemic. As this stimulus winds down in the face of inflation, financial markets have been shifting
HOW HEDGE FUNDS IMPACT TODAY’S MARKETS Read More »
Ninety-three years ago on October 24, 1929, the U.S. stock markets went on a sharp decline that eventually fell by 89% of the all-time high of 381.17 reached on September 3 of that year. On July 8, 1932, the bleeding finally stopped as the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed out at $41.22, and didn’t reach
THE 1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH Read More »
The Federal Reserve has all but guaranteed us that interest rate increases will be forthcoming, perhaps as soon as March of this year. Further, the process of quantitative easing, or increasing the money supply as the Fed buys government bonds, will be dialed back to zero. We know that interest rate increases should have an
WHAT INVESTORS SHOULD DO ABOUT INTEREST RATE INCREASES Read More »
In the early days of the United States, banking became a hot topic as some of the founding fathers were opposed to the establishment of a centralized national bank. Their reasoning came from Britain’s attempt to place the American colonies under the financial control of the Bank of England, that was seen as another act
CENTRAL BANKING IN THE UNITED STATES Read More »
Inflation is a problem that we have most fortunately not had to deal with for over forty years. The last great inflation took place in the 1970’s and reached double digits before being reined in by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. The influence of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman was prominent during the
INFLATION: A FISCAL OR A MONETARY POLICY PHENOMENON Read More »