As California Goes, So Goes the Nation?
As California goes, so goes the nation? We had better hope not, since the state’s economy is imploding so swiftly that it threatens to take cities and towns from Eureka to San Diego down with it. Consider the plight of El Monte, a city of 125,000 in Los Angeles County that recently cut expenditures to the bone in order to close a $9.5 million budget gap for the fiscal year begun in July. Working frantically against an inflexible deadline, local officials furloughed most of the city’s 375 workers, laid off 17 police officers and closed down an aquatic center for all but four months of the year. Then they got the bad news: Sacramento…
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Junior Golds Offer ‘Ridiculous’ Leverage
(Following is the fifth in a series of article on gold by Chuck Cohen, a financial consultant and investor based in New York City. At bottom are some specific stock recommendations.)
Very few Americans own gold in any form. Even though gold’s price has risen each year since 2001, about the only time we hear gold mentioned is in the ubiquitous “cash for gold” TV commercials. Don’t you wonder who has any gold or jewelry left to sell? The way it’s shunned, you might think gold causes swine flu or greenhouse emissions. It is most baffling to me to see our profligate nation diligently avoiding the most rewarding investment of…
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Should They Risk Missing a Payment?
You can see the fine hand of government at work in the homeowner rescue package that has been struggling to get off the ground since its inception last spring. The goal was to reduce foreclosures by lowering mortgage payments for homeowners who were struggling. But struggling how badly? For would-be lenders, that can be a tricky question to answer, and they are understandably reluctant to commit to the program without clear guidelines from the federal government. As it stands, some homeowners are being told…
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Just Buy the Dips to Make Big Money
The lazy drift of stocks has become almost too boring to watch, although we dare not avert our eyes for fear of missing Wall Street’s next wilding spree. During the last four sessions, the broad averages have hit bottom early in the day after easing lower overnight. In each instance, the Dow Industrials were down about a hundred points before the selling dried up. Then, four hours worth of see-saw action ensued. Finally, in the last hour or so, with…
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NYSE Embraces a Ruinous Idea
Sadly, another venerable American institution has lost its way: the New York Stock Exchange. We read the other day that the Exchange is building a fast-trade hub in northern New Jersey that supposedly will help secure its future in an increasingly electronic world. But raising capital for companies that could conceivably help Build a Better Tomorrow is nowhere on their agenda. In fact, “fast trading” will be about as helpful in achieving that goal as placing five hundred slot machines in the NYSE’s lobby. Instead…
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