by Henry Oliner | May 31, 2011 | Investing, Politics
I hear a lot of ads advising investors to put gold in their IRAs or 401ks. Seems like a terrible idea. The big benefit if retirement accounts is to defer income. Gold generates no income, and actually incurs storage and transaction fees. Gold can also be very...
by Henry Oliner | May 30, 2011 | Foreign policy
I just finished reading Dance of the Furies- Europe and the Outbreak of World War I by Michael Neiberg. It is an excellent companion to another book he wrote about WWI: Fighting the Great War. Michael is a history professor with a focus on World War I, and my...
by Henry Oliner | May 29, 2011 | Economics
Economist Scott Grannis in Calafia Beach Pundit (a recommended daily read) writes “Why The Recovery Continues to be Subpar” (May 27,2011): excerpt: Monetary “stimulus” that involves very low short-term interest rates and lots of bond purchases...
by Henry Oliner | May 28, 2011 | Israel
During the turmoil that gave birth to the state of Israel in 1947 and 1948 over 700,000 Jews were ejected from the Arab states from Libya to Iraq. Jews had lived in those countries for thousands of years. All of their property was confiscated. Void of resources the...
by Henry Oliner | May 25, 2011 | Anti Semitism, Israel
I confess that I do not count myself among the Thomas Friedman sycophants. I have read some of his books and I just find him trying so hard to be “intellectually balanced” that he often ignores the obvious and the reality all together. It belies an attitude that...
