Kinked

Kinked The debt ceiling impasse is, and will continue to, impact markets until a resolution is reached. The question is does it matter? As is often the case, the answer is yes and no. In the long term, yes, it matters. Our level of debt and continuing budget deficits present some problems that will need […]
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Rescuing America’s Safety Net

Rescuing America’s Safety Net A March 2023 survey found that more than 90% of Americans worry about the Social Security program, and about half of those said they worry a great deal.1 A separate survey the same month found that more than 80% of Americans worry Medicare will not be able to provide the same […]
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It’s the Punch You Don’t See Coming that Knocks You Out

It’s the Punch You Don’t See Coming That Knocks You Out The banking crisis has been in the news for better than a month now, but we suspect that the real crisis is ahead of us, not behind us. The ‘disappearing deposits’ problem, that brought down SVB, Signature, and most recently First Republic, could be […]
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SECURE 2.0 Helps Small Employers Help Their Employees

SECURE 2.0 Helps Small Employers Help Their Employees Approximately 78% of people who work for companies with fewer than 10 employees and about 65% of those who work for companies with 10 to 24 employees do not have access to a retirement plan at work. 1 That’s unfortunate, because workers with a retirement plan are […]
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Going Nowhere, Fast

Going Nowhere, Fast Many investors tend to get lost in the day-to-day ups and downs of the market and are often spooked or too excited about single days. Yes, there are, occasionally, single days that are important, but they are few and far between. What matters is how all those ups and downs add up. […]
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Implications of a Fracturing Global Economy

Implications of a Fracturing Global Economy Our comments each week typically revolve around shorter term issues but this week we want to spend some time thinking longer term, much longer term. The catalyst for this shift was a speech given this week by Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), which discusses the […]
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Gold is Money. Everything Else is Credit.

Gold is Money, Everything Else is Credit. Question of the week: If gold is an inflation hedge, why did it fail to perform well last year when inflation was rampant? And if inflation is receding now, why is gold now approaching new all-time highs? Bloomberg Markets Live produced an article this week answering that question; […]
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