I am currently in Iceland.? Iceland is a country that has a sprawling and amazing landscape.? It is filled with large mountains throughout, an uninhabitable middle as it is filled with an enormous glacier, and friendly well-educated people.? It boasts all-day sunlight for much of the summer months?and almost all-day darkness for much of the [...]

In an unbelievable turn of events, Ahmadinejad won the Iranian Presidential election. The World was watching closely and most nations were hoping for his defeat. Moussavi, his opponent, was a reformist candidate who was open to real change in Iran. He stood for a renewed dialogue with America, did not support nuclear weapons and in [...]

President Obama unleashed recently his pick for Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.? The idea of a Hispanic woman representing us on the court is remarkable.? She is accomplished, smart and has a ton of relevant experience.? She was appointed originally through George H.W. Bush and has served her country for many years.? However, let us be [...]

The stock market has had a significant rally in the last few weeks and some believe that this represents?a leading indicator towards a possible recovery.? The stock market has proven itself in history to be a good leading indicator (meaning, the performance of the market predicts directionally the economy over the near term), however, I [...]

I understand Americans’ frustrations with the recent story of AIG paying large bonuses out to executives who helped bring the company to it’s knees. We, the taxpayers, are now staking our future on the idea of bailing out companies like AIG and we have a significant amount of skin in the game. I agree in [...]

Once again the “carried interest” tax (affecting alternative asset managers almost exclusively) has come to the forefront of the tax discussion and debate. To illustrate how this works, here is an example: A Private Equity General Partner/Manager traditionally puts up its own cash commitment to a fund (let’s say $20 million for purposes of this [...]

Obama unleashed his new budget proposal last week. The aim was to try and calm the markets and the masses about the deep depths of our current ecomonic crisis. I used to laugh and even disagree with many when they would compare Mr. Obama to Jimmy Carter during the campaign. I believed that Jimmy Carter’s [...]

The other shoe falls in the steroids scandal that consumes professional sports.? As an avid baseball fan and a huge admirer of the game, I have such a problem with people like A-Rod coming out and admitting that they used steroids so casually.? The fact that individuals like A-Rod had their greatest seasons under the [...]

As the Wall Street Journal this morning pointed out, the stimulus plan that is about to be passed is unwinding years and years of certain entitlements that mostly Republicans have been working to peel away.? Welfare benefits are being increased dramatically, how exactly does that stimulate the economy?? We should be putting people to work, [...]

The news just keeps getting worse.? Jobs are being lost in record numbers and the economy seems as if it is going into a deep dive?into the abyss.? As I wrote about?a few weeks back, this spending bill just keeps getting darker.? More and more things are being added to it and when all is [...]