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Personal Finance and Retirement Archives

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Homebuilders Struggle with Bankruptcy - 2007-11-15
Editor Steve Christ takes a look at the fortunes of the nation's homebuilders as more them try to skirt bankruptcy.

Economic and Political Crisis - 2007-11-13
If it hadn't been for inflationary fears, the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, patient gold investors would have never watched as $104 gold skyrocketed 725% to $850.

Rate Cuts, Inflation, and the Dollar - 2007-11-06
Oil and gold continue to make fresh new highs, as the dollar is in a free fall. Steve talks about inflation, rate cuts and the greenback.

Goodbye Greenback - 2007-11-02
If you'll recall, Mike was one of the first to tell you to get all of your money out of US dollars, and into Canadian dollars. In fact, Mike was urging me in 2004 to get all of my investments into Canadian dollars.

Fed Playbook Calls for Rate Cuts - 2007-10-29
With a Fed rate cut on the menu, Steve takes a look into the Bernanke playbook.

The Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit - 2007-10-25
Editor Steve Christ explains why the Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit ("Super Conduit") can't be the answer to the $400 billion mortgage problem.

Mozilo Continues to Dump Countrywide Shares - 2007-10-15
Angelo Mozilo continues to dump Countrywide shares. North Carolina State Treasurer, Richard Moore cries foul over their timing.

Time to Pay the Piper - 2007-10-01
The house lights have gone up, the punch bowl is empty, and the music has stopped playing. That's the story today at least at Citigroup Inc., where the company's wild dancing of late has definitely come to an end.

Inflation on the Menu - 2007-09-24
Well, after a whole two weeks of reading the tea leaves and the chicken entrails, the Bernanke Fed finally showed its true colors. Choosing between a roast pig (the economy) and a cooked goose (the dollar), Chef Ben decided to cook the goose after all.

The Carbon Market - 2007-09-21
Besides adding words like manbag (a male handbag), yummy mummy (an attractive mother), garburator (a garbage disposal), and removing over 16,000 hyphens from words like fig-leaf and leap-frog, the dictionary also added some words that can serve as a barometer for how the world has changed in the last five years.

Sleep Tight, Mr. Greenspan - 2007-09-20
When it comes to the media blitz, not many can match the whirlwind tour currently being put on by the Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. In many ways it is "The Maestro" at his finest.

Pimp This House - 2007-09-11
Like any party that went on about five hours after it should have ended, the mortgage mess has delivered up yet another story that you just couldn't make up, even if you tried.

Market Correction or Crash - 2007-09-03
Panic selling can decimate a market. It can put the best growth and value stocks on their backs and turn the most dedicated investor against them.

See What I'm Buying and Selling - 2007-09-01
Here it is. The last day of August. Even though summer doesn't officially end until September 22, for many of us August 31st represents the end of sun, fun and surf, at least psychologically.

Shootout at the Sub Prime Corral - 2007-08-30
As if shedding nearly 40,000 jobs over the last eight months weren't quite bad enough, in some ways the mortgage industry's troubles have really just begun. The next blow, it seems, promises to come at the hands of the nation's politicians.

Like Lemmings Off a Cliff - 2007-08-16
With so many lenders tumbling into the abyss these days, it's hard not to be reminded of that footage of a whole herd of lemmings jumping off a cliff. (Myth or no myth) I mean how else you can possibly characterize the ruin of so many financial institutions in so little time?

Surgical Robot Primed to Deliver 284% Returns in Two Years - 2007-08-13
Of all of the problems to have in this world, a falling stock market is really nothing compared to the troubles of being diagnosed with cancer.

Bankruptcy Rumor Crashes Beazer - 2007-08-02
True or not, rumors definitely have power, and the ongoing mortgage morass has produced them by the barrel-full lately. Unfortunately, in this case Churchill would be wildly off of the mark. Within the pain of the housing bubble, it seems, most of them--not just half--eventually turn out to be true.

Fannie and Freddie Drop the Bomb - 2007-07-19
As we have said so many times before in these pages, watching the government do practically anything is akin to watching molasses run down he hill in January. But as slow as that bureaucratic morass is, when it finally does manage to make a decision with some real weight, it comes crashing down like a massive hammer.

The Contagion is Spreading - 2007-07-05
After bubbling beneath the surface since last February, the absolute rot that is sub-prime lending reared its ugly head again last week. But this time it wasn’t just the stories of failing lenders like New Century and others that roiled the markets, it was much further up the ladder. The contagion is spreading after all.

The Most Dangerous Man in China - 2007-06-21
It will come as no surprise that the military planners deep within the Pentagon continue to wrestle with the growing threats posed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. But the biggest risk to America might not be an old red General bent on invading Taiwan, but an economic technocrat. His name is Lou Jiwei, and in many ways he’s the most dangerous man in China--especially if you are in the market for a mortgage.

Your FICO Score on Steroids - 2007-06-07
As Barry Bonds continues to assault the home run mark established by Hank Aaron in 1976, I’m reminded of the last great home run record to fall. That was in 1998 as Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa dueled it out over the course of a long hot summer to see who could top Roger Maris’s magical record of 60 home runs in a season.

Next Stop: Dow 25,224 - 2007-05-31
I'm about to make the most extreme market prediction of my entire career.

The Blame Game Has Begun - 2007-05-24
As the housing market continues to plummet and the mortgage morass delivers one borrower after another into the pit of foreclosure, the blame game has begun in earnest.

The Lender and the Louisville Slugger - 2007-05-10
Now that New Century Financial has finally crashed and burned like the Hindenburg, the gory details of its fatal business practices have begun to make their way into the light of day. And it’s about what you would expect.

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