Porter and I will be in Vancouver this week for Agora Financial's Investment Symposium. Porter will be presenting on Wednesday, July 21. If you're at the conference, be sure to say hello. And if you'd like to learn more about the symposium, click here...
OBAMA! made headlines over the weekend, damning Republicans for blocking jobless aid... "Too often, the Republican leadership in the United States Senate chooses to filibuster our recovery and obstruct our progress. And that has very real consequences," OBAMA! said in his weekly address. What OBAMA! failed to mention in his address is Republicans actually support extending unemployment. They just don't want to pay for it by increasing the deficit (which stands at a record $1.54 trillion). Instead, they want to use unspent stimulus funds. Earlier in the year, Democrats already extended national unemployment benefits to 99 weeks (that's almost two years!), up from the 26 weeks most states offer.
The core issue here – more than where the extra money should come from or how effective unemployment benefits are – is whether the federal government should be involved in paying people not to work. We would argue the more money you spend on unemployment, the more unemployment you have. At the very least, we'd say the states should make up their own minds. Socialist states like California and New York can have high unemployment benefits if they choose... We'd bet they'd have higher unemployment as a result.
Nancy Pelosi also weighed in on the unemployment topic in nauseating video. Pelosi argues "unemployment is one of the biggest stimuluses (sic) to our economy." She says the money is spent quickly, so it creates jobs faster than any other stimulus. What Pelosi fails to realize is taking money from one constituency and giving it to another isn't stimulating. It's just redistributing.
Earlier this month, Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire chairman of real estate investment trust Boston Properties, wrote a scathing letter criticizing OBAMA!'s stimulus efforts... Ironically, Zuckerman recently admitted he helped write OBAMA!'s speeches in the past. The letter, titled Obama Is Barely Treading Water, argues that the same "chicken-in-every-pot" rhetoric that made OBAMA! so popular in the first place is backfiring.
Based on his plummeting approval ratings, Zuckerman argues Main Street is waking up to OBAMA!'s fallacies. He preaches job creation, but there are no jobs. Despite the stimulus, many Americans still can't pay their credit-card bills or mortgages. People can't get loans. They're starting to save money. They're even starting to support fiscal discipline and deficit reduction. In other words, things are looking deflationary...
We have a small favor to ask of you today... We're preparing a new research report for you, which will show you how to write covered calls in your IRA to generate thousands of dollars in extra income, completely tax-free. As part of our research, we would like to know if you've ever tried writing covered calls in your IRA or in any other type of retirement account. If so, how much money have you made so far? Of course, we value your privacy, so if we print the details of your success anywhere, we will NOT list your real name or location. If you'd like to help us with our latest research efforts, please send your information here.
New highs: Keyera Facilities Income Trust (KEY-UN.TO), Managers PIMCO Bond Fund (MBDFX), Enterprise Products (EPD), Barnes & Noble (BKS), Entergy Texas (EDT).
In today's mailbag, a reader complains that we no longer publish Doc Eifrig's monthly health newsletter... Lucky for you, we've instead asked him to dedicate his time to teaching our readers the trading secrets of Wall Street's best banks... information that will make you a fortune. What's irking you today? feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
"I miss the more complete monthly S&A Health Letter, but I do appreciate the snippets in RM. I drink about a liter of green tea mixed with yerba matte daily... quite hot. I sip, but not sure if that really helps. Apparently the conclusion that hot tea is associated with higher levels of some throat cancers rests on a case control study (better than just case studies) of some people in rural Iran. How about the Chinese? Maybe it's the black tea the Persian are taking in.
"Whatever, I am letting my tea cool before drinking. It's a small step to take. And I am poaching my eggs again, mixing them with veggies for a delicious simple dinner. No more scrambled eggs nor many omelettes. Again, a small step to take to increase nutritional intake.
"Nice work, Doc. I still like the 'What do i do' part that sometimes is missing from the RM issues. Walking the talk, no?" – Paid-up subscriber Jim Pursley
Goldsmith comment: Doc will continue updating his Retirement Millionaire readers on health issues. But using him strictly for his medical knowledge just isn't what's best for our company... or our subscribers. As you may know, in addition to his medical training, Doc spent a decade on Wall Street, working for various banks... most notably Goldman Sachs. He worked on the trading desk every day, learning the tricks the world's most profitable bank uses to pocket billions in profits (regardless of the market's direction).
Luckily for us, Doc tired of Wall Street's profit-by-any-means mentality (which usually involved duping customers or "ripping their faces off"). And instead of using the trading secrets he learned on Wall Street just for personal gain, he's agreed to share them with our subscribers. If you're looking to improve your trading, we highly recommend you watch Doc's short video explaining some of his strategies. To see it, click here.
"Our CEO joined us for a group picnic just now. During table chatter, he mentioned that the HR department had determined that starting in 2011 the new health care legislation would cost our 1,600-employee company $1 million a year in additional reporting requirements – even if Congress manages to defund it. That by 2014 it would cost the company $10 million more annually to continue our current health benefits, but only $3 million to pay the fine for not doing so. He is considering a $1,000 bonus monthly to each employee for us to get our own insurance, because the company would come out ahead. Government mandated overhead for each employee is $40,000 a year before putting the first nickel into a paycheck. Up to now, he's been able to absorb the higher costs of maintaining locally employed call center personnel, but if the costs of such community loyalty continue to rise, he may have to outsource off-shore. The only thing more exasperating to me than elected officials who abuse their constituents are those who condemn well-reasoned criticism of them. The Constitution offers us freedoms of speech and press – not freedom FROM other people exercising them. Thank you for responsibly exercising it; the Digest is a refreshing joy to read." – Paid-up subscriber John Mathew
"Like subscriber Mike Huskey, I actually made the mistake of considering myself middle class, after reading the earlier comments of Jon Steger. What's scary about Mr. Steger is his total lack of understanding of history. The fact is it was the Capitalist/Free Enterprise system (relatively speaking) of the US that created the greatest country in history. The hallmark of our system was the creation of the vast middle class, that Mr. Steger considers himself a part of. Contrast that with Socialism/Communism and all the other 'isms' where the middle class is destroyed, leaving only the extreme rich and the vast majority (90% or greater) of the extreme poor.
"While the US has been creeping down the Socialist path since The New Deal of FDR, Mr. Obama and the rest of the economically illiterate Congressional leadership have in just 18 months destroyed our system and are doing their level best to wipe out the last vestiges of the Middle Class. Sadly, Mr. Steger is not alone in his ignorance. Public education in the US, one of the embarrassments of the entire world, has failed to teach even a rudimentary understanding of economics. I'm truly amazed at the number of high school graduates who can't even balance a check book. This past week, none other than our Secretary of State Hilary Clinton revealed her economic ignorance, with her comments about Brazil and its tax rates. Then again, we have Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd who almost single handedly destroyed the housing and banking industry. Need I say more! Oh yeah, Mr. Frank and Mr. Dodd are now putting their name to the new Financial Regulatory Bill. Ugh!" – Paid-up subscriber Mike Riley
Regards,
Sean Goldsmith
Baltimore, MD
July 19, 2010