Taxes/Fiscal Policy

I Have Questions

By |2023-07-17T07:43:30-04:00July 16th, 2023|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

I spend a lot of time asking questions. I don't always have answers to these questions but I think it is critical to ask them. Think about how the consensus might be wrong or, more importantly, how you might be. Question the narrative and try to determine what's important and what's not, who you can ignore, and who merits your [...]

What’s The Consensus Kenneth?

By |2023-06-25T15:11:36-04:00June 24th, 2023|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Real Estate, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

I spend a lot of time thinking about what "everyone" else believes about the economy and markets. If you've been reading my weekly scribblings for any time, you know I have little faith in the soothsayers of this industry. No one knows what the future holds, least of all that group of crystal ball gazers known as economic forecasters. Most [...]

Macro: Residential Construction

By |2023-06-22T09:19:44-04:00June 21st, 2023|Alhambra Research, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

Housing starts rebounded nicely in May to 1631 units from a revised lower 1340 units in April. Permits went up sequentially as well, just not as much. Both series are above the historic mean and median levels. Housing starts actually showed 5.7% growth YOY. Permits declined 12.7% from a year ago, this was a slower decline and the smallest decline [...]

All About The Benjamins

By |2023-06-17T21:17:32-04:00June 16th, 2023|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

No one could have possibly been surprised by the Fed's lack of action on Wednesday. They had signaled to anyone who would listen that they would pause (skip, take a hiatus, halt, or whatever you want to call it) at this meeting. And no one should have been surprised that Jerome Powell offered some tough talk about the future of [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: This Too Shall Pass

By |2023-04-24T09:11:36-04:00April 24th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

What is the state of the US economy? When will this long-anticipated recession finally arrive? And when it does, what does it mean for investors? Those are the questions everyone is asking and the answers are, well, hard. Despite years - decades, centuries? - of research, there is no accurate way I know of to predict the timing or depth [...]

Abolishing the IRS

By |2023-02-15T08:53:32-05:00February 15th, 2023|Economy, Financial Planning, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

What’s that I hear? It’s very faint, but it sounds familiar. I cup my hand around my ear to hear better and, yes, I’ve heard it before. In the distance, there are shouts of “Abolish the IRS. We want a Fair Tax.” The idea of a Fair Tax was first introduced in 1999 by former Georgia Congressman John Linder. His [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Look Up In The Sky! It’s A UFO! Or Not!

By |2023-02-13T07:51:25-05:00February 12th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

As I sit here writing this Sunday afternoon, the US has just shot down a third UFO in the last 3 days in addition to the Chinese "weather" balloon last week. I have no insight into what these things might be but I do wonder if we haven't declared war on the National Weather Service. The federal government has become [...]

This IS The Soft Landing. What Now?

By |2023-01-31T18:11:26-05:00January 31st, 2023|Alhambra Research, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Taxes/Fiscal Policy|

I've been writing for over a year about the economy rebalancing back to its pre-COVID trends. The massive fiscal expansion during COVID and the Fed's accommodation of that spending via QE is what caused the spike in prices over the last 18 months. Yes, there were supply issues too but the size of the demand shock overwhelmed the supply issues. [...]

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