STOCK MARKET.....A couple of times today, Brinker pointed out that the stock market has tripled over the past 8 years.
Honey here: I'm no mathematician and don't have time right now to do the math, but a large percentage of that gain has happened since January 20th, 2017.
- January 20th, the Dow closed at 19,827 - Friday, it closed at 21,575.
- January 20th, the S&P 500 Index closed at 2271.31 - Friday, it closed at 2471.70.
NO VANGUARD WELLESLEY FUND IN MARKETIMER PORTFOLIOS.... Caller Cathy in Ventura made the statement that Brinker has Wellesley Fund in Marketimer, and she wanted to know his opinion of it.
Brinker emphatically replied that he did not have any Wellesley in his Marketimer portfolios anymore because he felt the duration was too long at this time.Honey EC: However, Brinker does continue to list Wellesley in the very long and repetitious list of "recommended mutual funds" - in Marketimer.
A FIRST TIME MARKET PROMISE FROM BOB BRINKER:
Brinker said: "If I get to the point where I believe we are going into a bear market, or I believe we are going into a major correction, then I would consider that possibility. If I got to that point. Today, I am not at that point.Honey EC: I believe that is a first for Brinker to say that he would raise cash if he believed "we are going into a major correction." Note that Brinker considers declines of more than 20% a bear market. So he is actually saying that he would raise cash for declines under 20% - which he has never before done.
DO NOT BORROW MONEY TO INVEST.... Caller Larry from Boston asked about his 40 year-old son's plans to borrow money on his home and invest in stock market.
Brinker became a bit agitated and exclaimed that he never recommends doing that - and especially not right now with the market having gone up so much "since his buy signal in February 2016."Honey EC: So which is it Mr. Brinker - a nine year triple, or just a climb since your useless buy signal February 2016? You know, the last one you made where there was no cash raised to take advantage of it.
==> Thanks to dRahme, here is an audio clip about borrowing to invest in stock market.
WEAK DOLLAR SINCE FIRST OF YEAR.....Brinker talked about the fact that the value of the dollar vs the Euro has declined this year. He explained how that is a good thing for US merchandise sellers, but not a good thing for those buying goods out of the country. In other words, it's good for US exports.
==> Thanks to dRahme, an audio clip about the weak dollar.
ALL REQUIRED MINIMUM WITHDRAWALS FROM IRAS, ETC..... have to come from IRAs,, ETC....It cannot be made from any other source.
FRANKJ'S MONEYTALK SUPER-STAR GUEST SUMMARY
Investment Icon Charles
Ellis was Bob’s guest today on the July 23, 2017 edition of MoneyTalk. Mr. Ellis’ book “Winning the Loser’s Game is
in its 7th edition and the guest’s latest book is “The Index
Revolution,” published last year. Mr.
Ellis has been a guest before, according to the Blog Research Staff, his last
appearance was March 1, 2015.
After Bob gave a glowing introduction, there were a few tense moments while Ravi cleared the gremlins out of the wires, then the guest came through 5 X 5.
“Winning the Loser’s Game,” was published in 1975. Bob asked if Charles was gratified that his messages in the book turned out to be correct. He said he was very gratified that he didn’t turn out to be wrong. From here, they moved onto hedge fund performance, a drum Bob has been beating for some time now.
Bob’s thesis is, with the Federal regulatory authorities looking closer, hedge funds are having a harder time posting great numbers. The implication being that the hedgies can’t use inside info like they have in the past. Charles Ellis pointed out the fees are high and that contributes to mediocre (or worse) performance.
What has changed over the years in the fund business besides the highest front end loads going from 8.25% to about 5%?
The guest said the assets held by financial firms increased dramatically. Investment styles haven’t changed that much. The amount of information out there is massive compared to 1975 and it available almost instantaneously.
Don’t call it Passive.
Bob used this term in contrast to “active” investment and Mr. Ellis seemed to object. Passive implies sitting back doing nothing, going with the flow, etc. I guess he doesn’t want to characterize indexing this way. Bob has had an “Active/Passive” portfolio for quite a while. Active management has to overcome costs and fees that index funds don’t have. These can be 1.5% to 2.5% (costs) and 0.5% or higher expense ratios according to Mr. Ellis.
Everyone wants to be above average.
Charles Ellis said you can be an above average investor by simply investing in index funds. He quoted a study that found on 16% of active funds beat their self-imposed benchmark over a 10 year period! Index funds for the ten year period were consistently in the top 25% in performance. And the results were similar in the UK, so it is not a US market phenomenon.
The interview touched on Bernie Madoff.
Again, Bob had a thesis he seemed to want Charles Ellis to back, which was the people sucked in to Madoff’s scheme should have been more conscious of diversification. Ellis said (not in Madoff’s defense) that the investors felt they were being admitted to a special club. You had to be recommended by someone already in. You had to accept the fact that Madoff was NOT going to explain the investment process. They were told “if we tell you what we’re doing and it gets out, others will do it and our returns will decline.”
Bob’s idea of an excellent return is 7%.
He pointed out this would consist of about a 2% dividend plus 5% price appreciation. Charles Ellis disagreed. Then Bob pointed out that he was comparing that return in equities to the current 2% (or so) yield on a risk free, 10 year Treasury. Mr. Ellis agreed that Bob’s 7% would be “excellent” compared to that. This led to a discussion of international diversification. Bob uses 20%, Ellis uses 40% in his portfolios.
Ellis is a partner (advisor?) in a company called Rebalance IRA. They offer 4 investment programs from conservative to moderately aggressive. Burton Malkiel is a partner too. Here is their website if you’re curious: https://www.rebalance-ira.com/. The guest gave 4 ideas for improving 401K programs:
- · Auto enrollment: you can opt out if you want to.
- · Auto match: I didn’t get this completely, it sounded like he was saying you would automatically match the employer’s maximum match.
- · Include target date funds and make them the default choice. Again, you could opt out.
- · Auto escalation feature. You get a raise, a percentage of that raise automatically gets diverted to your 401K.
Bob ended the interview at 3:52.
Honey here: Thank you for that (according to Brinker) Super Star Guest summary. Brinker really thinks highly of Ellis and his books. I was fascinated by Brinker's rather hard attitude of the Madoff victims. It would not surprise me if he was thinking that if all of them had listened to Moneytalk, they would not have been sucked in..... I will zip my lip now because I could easily document a lot of victim's who got sucked into some of Brinker's really bad advice.
==> Thanks to dRahme, audio clip of what's coming out on Wall Street.next week.
Radio Station with live streaming:
KKOB770
79 comments:
WNTK is live also.
MikeE...I have trouble getting that to work. Would you send the exact link that you use?
I punch in WNTK.com and click on listen live, but I now notice it is kind of choppy.
Honey: WNTK has not been working well for some months now -- for me anyway.
I'm on the Monterey station, link here.
Bob Brinker talks about sharks and cheaters but does not clearly state when he is presenting a previously heard or pre-recorded show.
KION claims to be running Brinker live.
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Sounddogs - Bob Brinker has never stated or informed the audience, in any way, that he EVER takes time off - before, during or after the show.
Yes, I certainly consider that a Shark Attack - he has been extensively advertising Moneytalk on Demand without informing listeners that they are paying full price for reruns.
Holy Petunias Batman, $80k annual pension for a firefighter - wow if that is normal across the nation these cities/states will all be broke or have unfunded pension liabilities.
Unbelievable.
smile
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I can get KION on my radio and it is not Brinker right now. I'll check the next hour.
Now you know why Illinois is so jacked up. That and they didn't fund the pension funds.
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Steven that firefighter that gets and $80K pension, plus huge Social Security (which he said he didn't use), was in Eugene, Oregon.
Oregon is like California. What BB didn't have the nerve to ask is how many years he had worked. He sounded youngish to me. I'd guess he worked maybe 20 to 25 years.
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Gee, I find KNUS to be the most reliable and easy to use, also.
Typically it's 2% for every year of service so if the fire fighter worked 25 years it's 50% of final salary. He must have grossed $160k per year. Wow for a fire fighter.
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Kevin....In CA, most public employees can back-end load their pensions by working overtime and saving up sick leave etc. The pension is then based on those ending paychecks. This is a huge and unfair liability for taxpayers who are already being gouged.
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KION is not broadcasting Brinker. It's some kind of game. Guess any kind of sports trump's Brinker.
Another part of the California pension system is that if someone happens to "get injured" just before retirement, they get a lifetime of disability payments too. And the disability part isn't taxable. The "disability" can be emotional, soft tissue, etc.
In my case, our police chief suddenly developed a ton of stress and had to go out on "stress leave". This is the head guy, for pete's sake, who can't handle the stress. I live in a city of about 15,000. There were no gang killings or terror attacks here. Just normal police work like tickets. The guy pulls down $22,000 per month. And has announced his retirement.
Meanwhile, the state goes to hell. Its a horrible scam thse unions and Democrats have foisted on us.
John from SF said:
I listen to all 3 hours live streaming from KKOB-AM 770 Albuquerque, NM.
John from SF said:
It seems that some internet streaming stations may not be directly accessible with a web browser. Some of them may be accessible through another service like the Tunein or iHeartradio apps or through Reciva.com (Reciva.com is the "app" behind Grace Digital internet radios).
kkoh reno has been working well for me. WNTK pooped out on me a few months ago like someone else mentioned. Google: kkoh Reno.
From the summary HB wrote:
STOCK MARKET.....A couple of times today, Brinker pointed out that the stock market has tripled over the past 8 years.
Honey here: I'm no mathematician and don't have time right now to do the math, but a large percentage of that gain has happened since January 20th, 2017.
smile here: No mathematician needed to know that a large percentage of that triple gain did not occur since January 20th, 2017 and in fact occurred prior to 1/20/17.
from the bottom @ 3/9/2009 to 1/20/17 the following % gains occurred:
s&p +335.73% representing 91.86% of the gain to date from the 3/9/09 bottom
dow +302.84% representing 91.88% of the gain to date from the 3/9/09 bottom
nasdaq comp +437.90% representing 86.97% of the gain to date from the 3/9/09 bottom
I'm banking these gains too.
from 1/20/17 to 7/21/17 the indexes went up an additional:
s&p +8.9%
dow +8.8%
comp +14.98%
How sweet it is!!!
The market only cares about growth and I second that emotion.
smile
Ellis and Vanguard recommend 40% of international in equities. Rather interesting!
Gabe
My father was a firefighter for 40 years and collected a pension for over 30. His pension eventually was more per year than he was making while working. Become a fireman.
.
Okay, Smile...thanks for those statistics.
I don't think anyone has mentioned the caller who had a simple question. All his assets, retirement savings were in a tax deferred account. He asked how to take a 4% withdraw rate. Blinker's answer included every possible permutation without directly answering the caller's question. That man loves to hear himself talk.
It galls me that his newsletter is called market timer because in 17 years I have seen any market timing in it.
Off topic warning but may be interesting for any who shop at Walmart.
I tried the scan & go option at Walmart ck out and loved it. This cut my ck out time in half at least and saved me from lifting my items out of the cart and squeezing them into those plastic bags which always seem to fight me to open. I'm sure they have controls in place to catch abusers (thieves).
I also noticed some items I normally purchase have jumped in price. Good for Walmart not the consumer. Since I own WMT I say goodonya! I hope the stock finally makes it into the 100's.
On the negative side I made an online purchase recently, and went to store to pickup where they have touch screen checkin for online purchases store pickup, I checked in, screen said an attendant will be out with your item, I waited for maybe 10 minutes and gave up went to the aisle where product was and checked out (purchase #2 of that item). They said in the email for online pickup if you don't pickup your online purchase by x date the item cost is automatically credited back to your account. Not so, I had to call the Walmart credit card customer service and dispute the charge and since the purchase item was less than $25 they instantly gave me credit. All tolled it was a bad experience in need of much improvement. They need to work on this if they want to compete anywhere near the level of Amazon.
smile
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Diogene505....I think that Brinker was using that call about taking RMD's out of tax-sheltered account to do a bit of bragging - which of course he says is a terrible thing to do.
I usually only cover the calls where Brinker's answers add value (or interest) for my readers - otherwise it is a waste of my time and theirs.
I'm sure Cathy, subscribers, and a lot of listeners were confused with that answer Brinker gave about the Wellesley Fund. He basically said that the fund was on his "recommended" list but is not recommended. What sense does that make? Many people think that those funds on the recommended list are considered suitable substitutes if investors cannot or choose not to buy the funds in model portfolios. If that fund is not suitable right now he should remove it from the list.
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Jim...I agree that unless you knew exactly what Brinker's two-step on Wellesley was all about, it would be very confusing.
For those who don't subscribe, here is the exact wording on the three pages (printed in landscape mode) that are repeated with very little change every month:
BOB BRINKER'S RECOMMENDED LIST OF NO-LOAD FUNDS
These may or may not be part of his portfolios - most are not. Neither does Brinker take any responsibility for their performances in his official record - that he touts so much.
The Wellington fund, symbol VWELX is one of the oldest mutual funds in the US, beginning operations in 1929. The fund is offered by Vanguard, and managed by Wellington Management Co. LLP. Vanguard and this firm have had a long relationship.
Wellington would be considered a "core" fund for a portfolio, being balanced approx. 60% stock, 40 fixed income. Currently it is 65% in stocks. It is an actively managed fund.
Yield 2.47%. Assets: $101 billion. Turnover: 31%. Exp. ratio .25%. No load and no 12b-1 fees. The equity style is large cap value and on the bond side the duration is 6.4 years. Average credit rating of holdings is "A."
The past performance gives this a top rating of 5 stars for Morningstar, and their forward looking rating is Gold.
It's fine to say investing x amount of dollars monthly over forty years at 8% will grow, say, to one million dollars. But how much will $1,000,000 be worth at that time? I've always based projected values at four percent (factoring inflation) to estimate that future value in today's dollars.
Reading the third hour recap I would concur with Messrs Brinker and Ellis that a seven percent total return is excellent at a time when that exceeds the 10 yr treasury by over 4 1/2%.
Honey, hope your recent hospital visit was uneventful and a pleasant one, if that is possible.
Interestingly, the Balanced Index Fund Admiral has about the same 10 year performance as the Wellington and Wellesley at Vanguard. Bond holdings differ somewhat in all 3 funds.
Years ago, Brinker included Wellesley in his fixed income portfolio for some time.
Gabe
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It's good to hear from you, Birdbrain - excellent points.
Four days in the hospital is about the worst torture I'd ever want to experience. I had 3 very invasive internal tests.
The good news is, they found nothing. All arteries clear, and Endoscopy showed nothing in stomach except some healing inflammation.
The bad news is that the diagnosis is that once again, my body was infected with antibiotics - which I am deathly allergic to.
This time it was a dentist and done without my knowledge - even though I told her up front I would not take any prescribed antibiotics. Guess she thought putting them into a hole she removed an abscessed tooth from would be okay - NOT!
Still getting my sea-legs by walking in the sun - further each day.
I know, that's too much information. :)
Honey: Glad to see you're doing okay. "We" were worried (Mr. Pig and I -- and others I'm sure).
Stock market returns: I did listen to that yesterday but I don't recall if they were talking about "returns" or "real returns," which is net of inflation -- very important.
The S&P has returned right around 10% since 1926, and inflation averaged right around 3% -- so the real return was 7%. That is probably about a percent higher than the global average going back to the Roman Empire. As some people today believe, the US has been in a slight bubble the past century and may well return to the mean.
Will it go below a 7% real return for the next decade, decades, or century? Will the US have a prolonged bear like Japan? As Bobby likes to say, "We shall know in the fullness of time." Well, none of us probably will, but somebody will.
Bonds took it on the chin today. Equities did fine.
Gabe
Google got hammered today! Down almost 3%.
Gabe
I do not think it is worthwhile to look back to 1920's to judge the S&P 500. I would look at the past 20 to 30 years as that represents the major investment period for an average worker and investor. The last 20 years, the S&P 500 has seen an annual appreciation of about 2.75%, that is from around 1400 points to 2400 points. Add a 2% annual dividend, and that results in an annual total return of 4.75% compared to average annual inflation of 2.5%.
AD
AD: A few decades really doesn't mean much. Read some of the books on the history of investing. I guarantee you will learn some interesting things that you didn't know.
AD: rather than one fixed 20 or 30 year periods a series of rolling 20 or 30 year periods would be better.
AMZN will have a blowout earnings print tomorrow!
Gabe
Off topic-
I've been upgrading my investment skills. If this helps or contributes to the discussion, it may be valuable. My thinking is in flux, so may change.
1. Bob's info is rather basic, but interesting especially with the quality of his guests. All good stuff and source for continuing education. Same with the Larry Kudlow show with financial guests. His economics and guests make for good insight.
2. Maximizing Social Security is good stuff. If you like annuity safe guards, well none better than SS. Delaying benefits is more attractive than stock market return. The tax status of SS income would make it attractive as well. Even if the payments are trimmed in future, it is just good insurance to maximise this benefit. Same with life expectancy concerns, as the SS provides insurance of the biggest fear of retirees, running out of money at old age. If you die early, your die early and have no need for money anyways. Your spouse will do better nonetheless.
3. There is a growing risk both nationally and internationally of a severe depression or stagnation. The debt load will have a damping effect on GNP growth as well as interests rates. We are entering Japanese stagnation period of tepid wealth gain. Sure, their will be winners, but the tide won't lift all boats. This is the twenty year cycle to reset our economic clock. Note, that nothing I see makes me comfortable that our politicians are up to the task. This belt tightening and unpopular medicine will not occur, much like how Greece, Illinois, California, or Venezuela have failed to stem the tide early. The second and only other option is a economic reset. This has occurred within our history and we are talking of another Great Recession reset. This one will be more severe as the phenomenon will be international. Know, that this threat is a reality and yet to be determined.
4. Safe guards per #3 above. Choose the safest bank per S&P rating. During the GD not all banks went under. Note, that the government insurance upon such a calamity is pretty much worthless as the impact is sudden and government actions will proceed within Darwinian time. May I suggest TD bank. They are rated within top ten safest banks in world. Note, they have bought Scott trade.
5. Cash is king when in tough times or when funds needed to invest in lucrative market. It really isn't good advice to always stay invested 100%. You need cash reserves in a solid financial institution. Also, if ever concerned of #3, put your money in short term T bills at the .gov site. That is the best safeguard on the planet for having a cash alternative. Also, you may lose cash value upon inflation, but when in low inflation times the opportunity cost more than make up for it.
6. I need to go, but a brief conclusion. Vanguard appears to be very trustworthy and high moral character worthy of it. EFTs are a superior index fund to invest with as well as individual stocks. My thinking is just a few stocks and one EFT. Make sure everything is paid off. That is the most lucrative wealth investment. HSAs should be maxed and any matching 401ks while still working. Saving money is more lucrative return than any investment. Poor people, especially, need to maximise this economic force as they can achieve a higher return than Warren Buffet could dream of.
YIKES!
Gabe
Yikes at what Gabe? The market or the long dissertation?
.
Good question, MikeE.
I wish that Gabe would show a little more respect for the readers and my time than to send one word comments that no one understands.
Honeybee, all:
I believe Gabe's "YIKES!" comment references back to his prior post, i.e.
"AMZN will have a blowout earnings print tomorrow!"
I think (to Gabe's dismay) that his forecast worked out to be as accurate as some as Bob's forecasts.
To wit:
"Amazon did not meet earnings expectations of $1.42 per share, not even close. It reported earnings of 40 cents per share, a 78% miss (net income of $197 million). It generated $38 billion in revenue, a slight beat, $4.1 billion of which came from its cloud-computing unit Amazon Web Services, also slightly higher than expected. This time last year, Amazon did $30 billion in sales and booked $857 million in net income."
Full article
https://goo.gl/sMc8kF
Sorry Gabe, maybe you should keep the horses in their stalls this weekend. ;-)
JC
JC: Exactly!
HB: I am dismayed at your comment! I have the utmost respect.
Gabe
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Gabe...Don't worry about it. But it does help if you give us a clue what you are referring to...Not everyone wants to read back through your posts and try to figure it out.
All is well....
frankj is spot-on; VWINX is a no brainer..what sucks is a $76 fee every time
to add to it though..(hope they come to their senses and stop charging that fee.)
Haha, Larry Swedroe's latest column is about the never-ending subject of market forecasters.
Yes, Bob Brinker is in the mix. Read the article to see how he measured up. There are several other names that most people here will know.
Brad said...
frankj is spot-on; VWINX is a no brainer..what sucks is a $76 fee every time
to add to it though..(hope they come to their senses and stop charging that fee.)
Would you (or someone) please elaborate on the " $76 fee every time to add to it"
Thanks
Brad, thanks. I like being spot-on ... what was I spot on about?
VWINX is Vanguard's Wellesley Fund. A mirror image of the Wellington Fund. Wellesley is 40% Stock, 60% Bond. The percents are flipped for Wellington.
$76 fee? Can you elaborate?
frankj
Re: VWINX $76 fee
I believe that Brad is referring to the "Transaction Fee" for online purchases of VWINX charged by Schwab, Fidelity and other "outsideers". The fee relates to buy orders only, not sell orders. However, if the fund is sold short-term, additional fees are assessed.
JC
PS: This is one (of several) reasons why I no longer buy mutual funds. I now trade only ETF's, many of which are even commission-free.
JC if you don't mind sharing which etf's do you trade
smile
smile: Although I'm a LT investor -- not a trader -- I have seven ETFs through Schwab.
There are ETFs available for probably anything you want to cover, from total stock or bond markets to obscure, highly-specialized sectors.
Schwab has dozens of his own ETFs with very low ERs; these are free to trade -- other ETFs are $4.95 per trade.
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Bluce...Thanks so much for that article! So Bob Brinker can't even time the market 50% of the time, according to Larry Swedroe.
Brinker will have a cow when he reads that. He bashed and dumped Swedroe when he CORRECTLY said the stock market was going into a bear in 2008 - and had the audacity to say on Moneytalk to Brinker's face.
Brinker ridiculed Swedroe after Swedroe was off the air and did it again the following week.
It must worry Brinker something fierce to think that is archived back on my former blog.
I don't doubt for a moment the accuracy of Larry Swedroe but I wish I'd know all the forecasts from Brinker that he used to arrive at 46% since Brinker seldom makes major forecasts. Brinker was wrong about the market in the late 1980's going to cash at the wrong time. He made a good call in 2000 but then got crushed with the QQQ trade. His high point was the 2003 buy signal but then he was wrong again in 2008. He's been wrong about the bond market since 2013. Maybe he gave Brinker credit for a few gift-horse buying opportunities to arrive at 46%.
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I'm with you, Jim......I don't know how Swedroe arrived at the 46% number. I disagree with it 100%.
The only way that Brinker has a chance of reaching 46% is to credit him for the buy-signals that he gave where he raised no cash in advance.
But to do that, he has to also debit him all of those buy-signal in 2008-09 that Brinker made, then covered up because the market kept dropping like a rock after each one of them.
As you know, I have ALL of them documented in my files - and the Marketimers to back them up.
Of course, none of the bad calls were ever mentioned again in Marketimer or on Moneytalk.
smile,
Most of the time I am not an "investor." Instead, I am a usually a short-to-mid term trader. Currently I have NO ETF positions and am mostly in cash.
But here are a few that I held at various intervals during Q1 and Q2. Please note that I am NOT recommending any of these:
Fidelity:
ITOT
IXUS
IEMG
FTEC
SCHWAB:
SCHB
SCHF
JC
Honey: You're welcome, of course.
I agree with you and Jim: I don't know how Larry calculated all of this; there's certainly a lot of gray areas. But even giving Brinker passes here and there, he's still worse at market timing than flipping a coin.
Bluce,
Please tell me it isn't so!
You sold your "Da Brink" Magic Silver Dollar (the one that always lands heads-up)?"
JC
Thanks JC & Bluce, I need to do some ETF screening at Schwab.
smile
Jerrod: No, actually I still have it although I have no more use for it, but I can tell you it works very well -- I'm one of those clueless multi-millionaires that calls MT on occasion. Here is a call from a few months ago:
"Hi Bob, I'm Bluce from Dollarville, USA."
"Welcome to Moneytalk."
"Bob, thanks to you and your 'Da Brink Magic Silver Dollar,' my portfolio is around twelve million, and I have an additional two million in cash and I can't decide where to stick it."
"Well Bluce, I can tell you where I'd like you to stick it . . . "
. . . and he hung up on me. I think he got mad cuz I mentioned on air about having his secret coin. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about it when I bought it from him, but I slipped. Oh well.
Are you interested in buying it? I can't let it go cheap, but I'm sure we can come to some agreement on price.
Prior to BB taking the call from Dave in Napa, BB spoke of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and how those in Congress missed a golden opportunity in, having made a stupid decision, not to vote to pass this legislation.
BB went on to say that we could have eliminated 18,000 tariffs on American exports to eleven foreign nations with 40% of world trade covered by the countries that would have formed the partnership.
BB went on to say that there were all kinds of protections for American workers in the partnership and that it was the very best trading agreement the USA could have ever had.
BB did not cite the source of the aforementioned colloquy. If someone, perhaps a BRT member, could cite the source document on the TPP, I would very much like to make my own evaluation of this “missed golden opportunity”.
.
Jester....I did not agree with one word Brinker said about the TPP, but in order to avoid his obvious political slams at the President, I was not willing to cover it, since I did not want to become political myself.
However, I do not mind if it is discussed here as long as both sides are presented.
But that said, I make it a practice to avoid Bob Brinker's politics as much as possible - especially that I know for a fact are half-truths or false.
He clearly has an intense "dislike" for President Trump, but does not have the courage to directly criticize him.
I do not think blog readers what this turned into just another political forum.
Bluce asked:
"Are you interested in buying it? I can't let it go cheap, but I'm sure we can come to some agreement on price."
Bluce,
Thanks for the offer, but currently I am otherwise occupied. I have been trying to figure out how to use my Bernie Madoff Lucky Dice. Some years ago I received my order but they came without any instructions. Now it seems as if the telephone number has been disconnected with no forwarding number. Bad luck on my part I guess.
JC
This coming Tuesday, Apple has to report good earnings both top and bottom in order for the Market to take heed and move in the right direction. In essence, we need for the Nasdaq and the Russell to work in lockstep with the Dow and S&P. Too, it will add to my bottom line as well!
Four horses entered today and Monday!
Gabe
It may be prodent to be more than 50% in equities. My best guess, is to be in cash and stocks. Cash can temper any big stock drop. Meaning a 20%-50% loss will provide a good investment opportunity and average the loss. All is good as your have insured yourself for loss. Be careful to add into the equation the cash you need within the next 2 years. Keep that money in simple bank investments.
I have seen no time in history where a the leadership within the country is so position to make a impact to turn the country around. I'm thinking Trump may go down as one of the greatest. Republicans, Democrats, lobbyists, and the usual water boy wannabes (media) within the business of politics that work in concert to jeopardising the countries future are getting a spanking. They are arrogant and full of rage that an outsider could so easily gain the reigns of power without the normal a-ss kissing and royal rights of political prowess. Meaning the art of corruption of the Soviet style of elite politburo style of DC life long investments.
What does this all mean? Stay invested as this is historical times and realise the "make America great" may be more than a slogan. Put some of this in historical perspective and we are upon a very positive brink. Punk intentional.
Jerrod: Cool dice! I didn't know anything about them. I wonder why the phone number doesn't work anymore . . . ? Probably made in China.
Honey: You've mentioned before about having all of Brinker's market calls, back-pedaling, and cover-ups documented. I love it!
TPP: Wasn't surprised at Brinker's stance on this. We know he despises President Trump, and Republicans in general.
The MyIRA program, brainchild of the previous administration will be put to rest by the current administration. Intended to get people to open IRAs, it offered Treasury securities as investments. Only 20,000 people signed up. The gummint devoted $70 million to the program, for what I don't know. Most gummint programs go on forever but not this one, thankfully.
Bluce and Jerrod,
Speaking of Madoff dice and the Brinker Silver Dollar I never received my Bob Brinker personally autographed QQQ bulletin that I ordered. I wanted to frame it and put it on my wall. It must have gotten lost in the mail. Since it's been a while since I ordered maybe I'll write and see if he still has any unsigned copies left.
MyRA WOW! Another Bama Brain Fart!
$70 million in operating costs for the first 3 years (or avg. of $23.33 million per year).
Anticipated annual operating costs of $10 million per year for year 4 and forward (had the program continued).
$34 million in individual contributions into their accounts.
30,000 individual accounts (10,000 accounts with Zero Balance).
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So, "the government" paid (read: The TAXPAYERS PAID) $70 million in operating costs so that workers (without employer-sponsored 401K programs, etc.) could "invest" $34 million into a super-safe, interest-bearing account backed by the U.S. Treasury. (They would have realized about the same amount if they stuffed the money under their mattress).
Maybe it's just me, but does this strike anyone else as yet another example of a ludicrous, moronic, born-to-fail gummint program?
Maybe it IS just me, because several educators are already screaming from their Ivory Towers about how unfair it is to discontinue this program, such as:
“Wow. Treasury to kill the myRA program. So no pensions, no state plans & now no myRA. Good luck retiring, America.” — William Birdthistle, Chicago-Kent College of Law professor and author of Empire of the Fund, a takedown on IRAs."
William Birdthistle ??? Seriously ??? Any chance he might be a "Progressive" ??? Just asking.
PS: Any CPA's out there? Please tell me how I can claim a Capital Loss on my tax return for my "Tax Contribution" towards this FAILED, HAIR-BRAINED waste of money.
Thank you
frankj: The MyIra story -- remarkable! As you said, government programs never die. Actually the more they fail, the more money they get. But this story is a first!
Jim: You might want to ask Our Beloved Bacon Boy about getting a copy of that QQQ thingy.
MAD: Maybe the MyIra was nothing more than a scheme to entice people to buy Treasuries, the result which was to give politicians more money to buy votes with?
No! Obama and his "fellow travelers" would have never done anything like that!
For years, the GDP hovered about 1 to 1.4%.
Now this:
BREAKING: US economy expanded at 2.6 percent rate in April-June period, more than doubling first quarter growth.
Two horses ran out of the money today! Hopefully, Monday is a better day.
Gabe
Honeybee said...
"For years, the GDP hovered about 1 to 1.4%.
Now this:
BREAKING: US economy expanded at 2.6 percent rate in April-June period, more than doubling first quarter growth."
Actually, the GDP Growth rate for 2014 was +2.6%. For 2015 it was +2.9%. But last year, 2016, it did come in at +1.5%.
https://www.thebalance.com/us-gdp-by-year-3305543
Wonder what our beloved CBO will estimate the cost will be to discontinue MYIRA, maybe $140 TO $210 million?
Mad as Hell: I puzzled over the $70 million figure. The short article in the WSJ did not elaborate on how it was spent referring to it only as a cost. I do not think that the $70MM or any part of it went into people's accounts though.
It was truly a "fix" in search of a problem.
Bob kept teasing a guest today, but I never heard one?
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