Last week the Congressional Budget Office released its revised estimates for the federal government budget over the next ten years. It should come as no surprise that the outlook has deteriorated even since the CBO's last report just five months ago.   Read More

Warren Buffett is back with a new piece in the New York Times, but today he's not using the high-profile platform to explicitly urge us all to buy stocks as he did last October.  But there's still a big "buy" recommendation implicit in the dollar doomsday scenario he lays out in his latest op-ed.    Read More

That’s just what Congress appears to be saying to the American people with its over the top $500 million for the purchase of eight new airplanes that will shuttle them – senators and representatives - back and forth around the world.    Read More

As the White House continues to bury an update of its congressionally-mandate economic predictions, all eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this morning when he delivers the Fed's semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony on monetary policy before the House Financial Services Committee.    Read More

For the past week, rumors have swirled about the future of CIT.  Would the government rescue the bank from insolvency?  (Apparently, not.)  Would the bank be forced to file for bankruptcy?   Or, would bond holders provide capital to keep CIT afloat?   Why – you might ask – does any of this matter to a career executive?  How does it affect your managerial future?   Read More

As the summer wears on and discontent grows, I expect calls will be louder and louder for additional stimulus from Congressional Democrats to put more Americans to work.   Read More

I have been warning clients for about two months that the mid-June-mid-October time period is the danger zone for a mood shift, and it looks like we're on schedule.   Read More

The bright idea of turning to Washington for help is going to be a big problem for President Obama. If the car companies can get bailed out how do you tell California to drop dead when the state has 56 electoral college votes as my partner Greg Valliere has often stated.    Read More

Household debt is "down" to 130% of disposable income. "Down" is a relative term. It was 134% recently. But it was half the current level as recently as the mid-1980's. Total debt in the U.S. (all debt including the government) stands at about 360% of Gross Domestic Product.   Read More

We've recently received questions from clients that go something like this, "If you are so nervous about the stock market after it has run-up 40% in 3 months, why do I have only 10%-15% cash in my equity portfolio?"    Read More