Watching the watchmen is no crime, or is it?
What's wrong with this picture? GOP auditor candidate misses filing deadlines
What's wrong with this picture? GOP auditor candidate misses filing deadlines
Amendment to Help Businesses is CRUSHED
Amendment to Help Businesses is CRUSHED
Progressive Interview with Hugo Chavez Worshipper
Oliver Stone |
Progressive Interview with Hugo Chavez Worshipper
Are You Kidding? No I'm Serious
Are You Kidding? No I'm Serious
Passenger Rail: Begin serious plans now
Passenger Rail: Begin serious plans now
Radical Islam Getting a Grip on Turkey
Radical Islam Getting a Grip on Turkey
Do dishonest campaign ads work? Big shift when Dem poll has Teague leading Pearce by 7 points
Do dishonest campaign ads work? Big shift when Dem poll has Teague leading Pearce by 7 points
Thomas Sowell - Money of Fools II
Thomas Sowell |
Thomas Sowell - Money of Fools II
Three Juarez Women Murdered
Three Juarez Women Murdered
There is only ONE way to cut taxes
We are talking about taking the tax rates as they have existed for years and RAISING THEM. There are not tax cuts here.
If the Bush rates expire than those effected will see their taxes go up! The argument is about tax hikes not tax cuts. And second, those 3 percent of people affected by the upper income rates own 50 percent of small businesses. If we want hiring and jobs to come back, that last thing we should be doing is raising taxes.Read more
There is only ONE way to cut taxes
16th of September Muted by Raging Violence
16th of September Muted by Raging Violence
Walter Williams - Untrusting Tyrants
Walter Williams |
Walter Williams - Untrusting Tyrants
Three States Offer Driver Licenses To Illegal Immigrants & Terrorists?
Three States Offer Driver Licenses To Illegal Immigrants & Terrorists?
No Constituency Moat Around Delaware's Castle
Christine O'Donnell |
Ovide Lamontagne |
No Constituency Moat Around Delaware's Castle
Health Care Overhaul Suit to "Proceed"
Health Care Overhaul Suit to "Proceed"
Armstrong Williams - The Endless Wars of Islam
Armstrong Williams |
Armstrong Williams - The Endless Wars of Islam
“The Squeeze”
As every American business owner and every American consumer can confirm, the squeeze is on. It is coming from all sides as the economy struggles to regain its footing. The steel walls seem to be closing in on us daily, inching ever closer, restricting a little more air every minute, leaving us only to wonder where it stops.
As lemons produce a scrumptious summer-time thirst quencher when they are squeezed, in some ways we see the great American squeeze having the potential to result in an overall delicious outcome. More families are eating at home together, there is more energy conservation, more family road trips, more coupon clipping, and perhaps last year’s car model will do just fine for another year. Many long over-due habit changes can pop up as a result of increasing costs. If only elected officials were as aware of the obvious solutions and stop wasting precious resources.
For some U.S. companies, the lemonade is already flowing. Hundreds of companies devote their resources to saving businesses and consumer’s money. Take for example the health care industry: there are members of this industry whose sole purpose is to reduce costs to the health insurers. Along with these companies, the industry boasts hundreds of health care technology companies intently focused on automating physician offices as well as sharing information across various health care providers again resulting in cost savings. There are also companies who pool the purchasing power of millions individuals to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals as well as companies who streamline the daily operations of health care facilities from food preparation to waste removal. It’s all about reducing costs.
As regulation and compliance costs increase almost as fast as health care costs, companies that can take on and/or simplify those headaches for corporations are in high demand. Companies that supply technology that can reduce energy costs are also growing at break-neck rates and companies that offer automation technologies that save time and labor across all industries are likewise experiencing record profitability. Professional investors must resist the temptation to spend time complaining about the endless numbers of hands outstretched waiting for their respective “cut” and the ever approaching steel walls ready to squeeze the pulp out of a portfolio. Efforts made to find companies that are consistently excelling in this constricting environment are worthwhile. Pouring over the universe of global corporations in order to figure out who the cost savers are and more importantly, how well they are doing in their cost saving mission is wise.
Being ever critical of how the cost savers are handling their own costs is also important. Many corporations are in better financial condition today despite the economic environment due to effective cost cutting initiatives, de-leveraging of their balance sheets and overall vigilance of their operations. This environment has given strong managements around the world the opportunity to shine. The lemonade is much less plentiful for our fixed income investments. Low yields sit at the heart of the squeeze. Attempting to find safe fixed income instruments at reasonable prices these days is like trying to herd cats. It is increasingly difficult to earn “a safe rate of interest” during an era when the Federal Reserve Board is doing everything it can do to help the federal government borrow money at historically low rates. This is a time that the fixed income recipe calls for one heaping cup of patience.
Jim Spence has been in the investment business since 1983. He serves as portfolio manager for Spence Asset Management, Inc.in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“The Squeeze”
All Terrain Vehicles Used in Big Border Drug Bust
Border Patrol ATV Unit |
Tucson, Ariz. – U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Ajo Station’s All-Terrain Unit (ATU) seized approximately 1,700 pounds of marijuana Saturday worth more than $1.3 million in the west desert. Agents were tracking foot sign of a group of suspected illegal aliens about 20 miles west of Lukeville, Ariz., when they discovered 84 bundles of marijuana. After securing the area, the agents continued the search for the backpackers but were unable to locate the individuals. The marijuana was transported and processed at the Ajo Station pending transfer to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
All Terrain Vehicles Used in Big Border Drug Bust