Former Fed chief Paul Volcker summarized the overall US economic situation at the second annual summit of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. In his speech he said:

“Altogether, the circumstances seem as dangerous and intractable as I can remember. Boomers are spending like there is no tomorrow. Homeownership has become a vehicle for borrowing and leveraging as much as a source of financial security.. As a Nation we are consumin about 6 per cent more than we are producing. What holds it all together? - High consumption - high leverage - government deficits - What holds it all together is (more…)

The November 8 auction by art auctioneer Sotheby’s was a disaster, taking in a third less than the low presales estimates. Additionally, Sotheby’s had promised selling fixed prices for works by Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and other artists, regardless of whether the pictures sold. In other words Sotheby’s would become the buyer if they didn’t sell. (Of the 26 lots guaranteed five didn’t sell and 10 sold below Sotheby’s estimated range.)

The 33% shortfall in estimated sales is a signal that the financial market turmoil related to the sub-prime/credit/housing issues is spreading into other areas of the economy. When (more…)

If you are interested in learnng more about a self-directed 401(K) plan for the self-employed you will want to read this free white paper as it outlines some of the key reasons to consider this alternative investment strategy and how it works.

This white paper is written to explain the opportunity in using this type of 401(k) as a vehicle for alternative investments such as buying real estate or private (more…)

Even if the economy is saying “Boo” to consumers, retailers aren’t expecting it to interfere with a little holiday like Halloween: The National Retail Federation is predicting total Halloween spending to reach $5.07 billion, which means the average person will (more…)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett is currently over in Asia, having visited China and now South Korea. He is impressed with the dynamic enterprise (he is seeing) in that part of the world. Speaking in South Korea he offered his thinking on a variety of topics. Here are his thoughts on a (more…)

Last week we reported on the optimism of the small business sector, regarding the economy and the state of business. It is quite a contrast to this report by The Conference Board.

The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which had declined to 45 in the second quarter of 2007, edged down to (more…)

According to the latest American Pulse Survey by BIGresearch, only 2.6% of the 3,978 respondents say members of Congress are trustworthy and 2.2% say the same for the Senate.

Even though only 14.2% say the President was trustworthy, relative to the Lawmakers, the gap is huge. The distrust of elected members of Congress and Senate is consistent among both sexes and all age groups. 70.7% don’t trust any of the choices. Surprisingly, more people say bloggers are more trustworthy than the media.

Responses to other topics measured in the study (more…)

With the kickoff of the NFL season underway we found these comments regarding CEOs and the top quarterbacks interesting…

Elan Journo, writer/editor for the Ayn Rand Institute says it’s morally (more…)

A new study has found that only 50% of American workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 60% ten years ago. A slim few, 14%, said they were “very satisfied” with their jobs, according to a report by (more…)

Treating employees with respect and paying them fairly goes a long way to establishing an efficient and creative organization. Going that extra mile (more…)