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Posts tagged ‘federal budget’

Mar 21

jim mccaughan's picture

The U.S. and a Focus on Fundamentals…at Least for a While.

The recent all-time highs for several U.S. equity indices are evidence that markets have finally managed to put the dreary politics of the last couple of years in the rear-view mirror and renew focus on the fundamental strengths of U.S. businesses. Hopefully the upcoming debate over the debt ceiling and the federal budget won’t overshadow an economy that’s increasingly building momentum.

The U.S. has several very positive factors fueling its economic recovery. Manufacturing is expanding, driven by relatively low energy costs, improved productivity, and innovation. Some firms, like tech giant Apple have announced that they’ll be expanding their on-shore manufacturing presence – somewhat reversing decades of outsourcing that pushed jobs to low-wage countries. The housing market, a bellwether of previous recoveries, is clearing in many areas of the country. Read more

Mar 6

Bob Baur's Photo

You’ve Been Sequestered

As the clock ticked past 11:59 and Friday, March 1 turned into Saturday, March 2, the much-discussed sequestration went into effect. Did markets shudder at this lack of a last-minute deal? Not really – in fact, all three major U.S. markets (DJIA, S&P 500, and NASDAQ) closed up on Friday. So, how much of an impact will this roughly US$1 trillion in cuts have on the economy? Not as much as you might think. Read more

Jan 22

Bob Baur's Photo
1 Comment

Will Sequestration Just Get Pushed into 2014?

The fiscal cliff deal was not a pretty thing, but it moved the conversation forward. It resolved uncertainty on most of the outstanding tax issues, and we think that it likely helped prevent a tax-hike-induced recession in the United States. That’s part of the deal. Now, we look forward to fixing the other part – spending cuts, or as they call it in Washington, sequestration. The deal hammered out by Congress in the first day of 2013 delayed the automatic spending cuts by two months. So the question is, if they pushed it back once, won’t they just push it again and delay until sometime in 2014?

I don’t think so. I think something is going to happen on the spending cut side. With the new sequestration deadline seemingly on top of the deadline for expansion of the federal debt ceiling, Republicans have some amount of leverage. The problem with delaying the sequestration even to February is the uncertainty that it pushes throughout the federal system. Read more

Jan 17

Bob Baur's Photo
1 Comment

The “Credible Budget Deal”: A Letter from the Future

I got a very strange, but exciting, email today.  It appears to be an email from my future self. It seems to come from sometime in late 2013, but gives some insight into a possible positive future. Here it is:

Bob, Happy Halloween and greetings from the future. It’s me, Bob Baur…you! The iPhone has been acting strangely. Maybe something to do with the solar maximum that’s going on? Had an icon pop up that I’d never seen before that said “Send Message to the Past.” Some new app, I suppose. Isn’t technology wonderful? Anyway, I figured I’d take a couple minutes to type out a message and let you know what’s coming up on the whole federal budget thing. Read more

Jan 9

robin anderson
1 Comment

A Platinum Parachute?

Remember when gold used to be a big deal? America adhered to the Gold Standard, and a musician was excited when their album “went gold,” meaning it sold more than a million units. Then, during the 1970s, Nixon abandoned the Gold Standard and gold-status for albums got downgraded to only 500,000 units and platinum-status was given to the million sellers. It’s been downhill for poor gold ever since. And now platinum’s all the rage again with everyone debating the “platinum coin” option for bypassing the debt-ceiling debate in the United States. Read more