News/Trends

Protesting at the Tea Party!

Posted by on April 16, 2009 at 1:59 pm

The wife and kids are out of town visiting family this week, so I decided it was time to let loose and get a little crazy. Yes, I and thousands of other rightwing extremists attended the Houston Tea Party protest yesterday! Unless you are watching Fox News or reading some blogs, you may not have [...]

What an economic collapse may look like…

Posted by on April 6, 2009 at 12:13 pm

With all of the runaway government spending and borrowing and the Fed wrecklessly pumping money into the financial system, many seem to think that we may soon find our currency devalued or we default on our debt, or both. But what would that mean to the average citizen? History is often the best guide, and [...]

Investing in metals, specifically copper-jacketed lead

Posted by on March 23, 2009 at 2:17 pm

While many are now talking about investing in gold and other precious metals, others seem to be investing in other metals. As said my one of my readers dubbed Amazing Larry, “I too have been buying alot of metal recently, but mostly just copper-jacketed lead“. Yes, Virginia, Larry is talking about ammunition! As people are [...]

Charts that should scare the crap out of you!

Posted by on March 20, 2009 at 10:20 pm
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I just came across these charts, which were referenced in an opinion piece in Canada’s Financial Post. The piece poses the question if the political shenanigans we are seeing here in the US will be the end of our country, or at least its status as a financial powerhouse. But the most disturbing part is [...]

“Game Over”: The end of the world as we know it?

Posted by on March 16, 2009 at 12:01 pm

Readers of this blog know I’ve been in a relatively pessimistic mood recently, and would not be surprised to find out my current read is Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy by Stephen Leeb, PhD. The book outlines the theory that the world will soon face an economic crisis that could lead to [...]

Obama’s mortgage bailout: still nothing for the responsible

Posted by on March 11, 2009 at 12:17 pm

If you made responsible financial decisions over the last several years and were hoping there may be something in Obama’s mortgage bailout for you, keeping hoping. As far as I can see there is nothing for my family in the bailout (even after my wife’s layoff earlier this week), and you’ll likely come to the [...]

Warning: Don’t depend on any personal finance advice from this blog!

Posted by on March 9, 2009 at 10:30 am

The economic events of the last several months, and the “response” to those events by our government have been troubling me greatly recently. For a while it didn’t make any real sense to me as to why it was so troubling. I have what I consider to be a good job, modest expenses, considerable savings, [...]

Will your credit card company and reward points still be there tomorrow?

Posted by on March 3, 2009 at 10:49 am

Frequent readers of my blog know that I am an accountant (note: I don’t offer accounting or investing advice; please consult your own accountant and/or financial advisor). In the corporate accounting world, one of the hot topics is discussion of counterparty risk, which is basically the risk that the people you do business with will [...]

City of Houston considered paying deadbeats’ credit card bills!

Posted by on February 24, 2009 at 4:18 pm

Where will the insanity end? A proposal under consideration under the name ”Credit Score Enhancement Program“, the City of Houston would use surplus funds from a program to repair Hurricane Ike storm damage to pay off debts for first-time homebuyers to help raise their credit scores so they could better qualify for a mortgage. The program would have provided [...]

“The government is promoting bad behavior” – Rick Santelli for President!

Posted by on February 19, 2009 at 9:37 pm

Is there actually a voice of dissent in the media about what Obama and the Democrats are doing to this country? CNBC reporter Rick Santelli expresses his outrage over the mortgage bailout plan and is applauded by traders on the floor of the CBOE. He sums up my feelings about this pretty well. Here’s a [...]