Submitted by Diamond Head Financial Advisors LLC on March 23rd, 2016
“Low Rates Sting Insurers” (WSJ March 21, 2016) examines how low interest rates are raising premiums for long-term care policy holders and reducing profits for the insurers. There is a solution to this problem, however. Regulatory bodies could approve the purchase of preferred equity by insurers instead of limiting investments to interest-bearing debt.
Submitted by Diamond Head Financial Advisors LLC on July 8th, 2015
1) The Greeks have met all their creditors’ demands, but the Germans object to the reliance on taxation, a needed change in a country where tax evasion is rife.
2) Greek debt levels became unsustainable in the financial crisis when the Greeks borrowed to bail out German banks that had made bad loans to Greece.
Submitted by Diamond Head Financial Advisors LLC on January 28th, 2015
The press is reporting today that the US achieved GDP growth of 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. However, on a year-over-year basis, GDP growth was only 2.4%. 3.9% is the sequential growth from Q2 to Q3. No company reports results this way. Why does the US government? Sequential reporting is subject to government statisticians seasoning their stew
Submitted by Diamond Head Financial Advisors LLC on April 4th, 2014
After an extensive review of high-frequency trading, Michael Lewis claims in his book “Flash Boys” that stock markets are rigged. Many are therefore asking whether the average retail investor, already gun-shy from the financial crisis, should simply stay away from the stock market. High-frequency traders claim that they have helped the small investor by improving liquidi
Behzad Yaghmaian argues that Egypt’s military must not remove the democratically elected despot Morsi from power lest the country face dire consequences (The Price of Terminating Democracy in Egypt, WSJ, June 8, 2013). The Egyptian military, however, is not just any tin-pot dictator in a raw grab for power. This is not Latin America after all. This is the