Find Stocks with Low Price-to-Sales Ratios

If you’re skeptical of what businesses report as “earnings” — their official profits — you have a right to be. Earnings are an artifice of what are called generally accepted accounting principles, and, while GAAP earnings are universally...

What is Poor?

The Census Bureau recently released its annual report on poverty in the United States. It was widely reported that the number of people officially defined as poor rose by 1.7 million, raising the poverty rate from 11.7 percent of the population to 12.1 percent. None...

Watch Out for the Pander Bears

I hate to say it, but it’s looking like my technician friend Fred Goodman was right when he issued a sell signal a couple of weeks ago. Yes, earnings are surging and the economy-wide recovery is accelerating, with the technology sector leading the way. But in...

Is It Permissible?

We all can agree that having money to pay our mortgage or rent on time is very important. Since some people are spendthrifts and don’t manage their money well, what about a congressional mandate whereby mortgage or rent money is deducted from our paychecks each...

Higher Productivity Creates Opportunity

The slow pace of job creation is clearly the most serious political and economic problem in the country today. Although Democrats and the press continue to focus on Iraq, President Bush and congressional Republicans know that the sluggish economy is a far greater...

Random Thoughts for September 2003

Random thoughts on the passing scene: If you have a right to respect, that means other people don’t have a right to their own opinions. My computer operating system is so out of date that people don’t even write viruses for it any more. If the debate among...