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Protectionism
First let's see what protectionism is. According to Mr. Webster it is the advocacy, system, or theory of protecting domestic producers by impeding or limiting, as by tariffs or quotas, the importation of foreign goods and services. That sounds pretty good. It is something that will protect the jobs of our workers from goods that can be produced elsewhere and undercut the prices of our local goods. How? There are a couple of ways. The merchandise or commodity itself is in very large supply in another country and is mined or grown there very cheaply. Not much you can do about that. Or the labor costs of production are vastly less than our own workers and the product can be manufactured for less. The average worker in the U.S. makes about $12.00 per hour while the workers in Mexico get $2.00 and the people in China average 60 cents per hour. How do you compete with them? Answer - you can't. So what do you do? If you are a shoe manufacturer in the U.S. you ask the federal government to levy a tariff (tax) on all imported shoes (or maybe just the kind you make). This sure helps that particular shoemaker who might have 300 employees making sneakers. Now the sneaker maker can keep his prices up and his workers working. That's good. But wait a minute. There are millions of feet that need sneakers and that means millions of consumers are paying more for comparable quality sneakers. Is it fair to give special consideration to a very small group that automatically penalizes the mass of consumers? Examine the definition of tariff again and think it through to the end. A tariff is a tax on consumers. You are paying more for certain goods (and there are about 13,000 separate tariffs) than you should just for the benefit of a few manufacturers who cannot compete in the world market. Every country is not just a unit unto itself any more. We now have a global economy that allows specialization of products. If a company cannot compete it should not be in business and should not penalize the majority of its citizens for the benefit of a few. You, the consumer, should not have to pay more for tomatoes, brassieres and steel just so our politicians can get reelected. That is what is boils down to. Unions will promise to back certain candidates if they will vote for tariffs (tax increases) that protect incompetent manufacturers. The steel tariff is an excellent example. Bush put on a tariff when he could have given a tax break to help modernize that industry. In the long run our steel production will disappear because of continuing inefficiency. If we get into a trade war where one country trumps another with more and more tariffs it is a guaranteed loser for everyone. Visualize this as building a house of cards. You end up with a game of 52-pickup. It could go to the ultimate of deflation and depressions for all the countries of the world. Protectionism in all of history has never worked. Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at www.mutualfundmagic.com">http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know. Copyright 2005
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Pension Plans If you have a pension plan at work you will want to read this and if you don't you will still want to because it affects your retirement account.There are two kinds of formal retirement plans that are set in place by employers. The Information Age It is wonderful to be alive in the information age. We know in a matter of seconds the change in the value of gold in Switzerland, the death of a world leader or the birth of a peasant in Israel. Gold Fever Right now there doesn't seem to be any "gold fever". Very few are out looking to strike it rich in this sector. How Covered Calls Turned a Trader Around Sidney felt sick as she looked at her latest OptionsXpress trading statement. In just 8 months, she had managed to turn her $120,000 account balance into less than $70,000. What To Buy? Now that you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and the stock market is going up you have decided to buy some stock or maybe a mutual fund, but you have the momentous decisions to what to buy.At this point you have three decisions to make besides which equity to buy:1. Making Outsized Returns in the Stock Market - Using the Dow Theory The Dow TheoryCharles H. DowRobert RheaE. Defining a Long-Term Investment in the Stock Market For some "long term" would mean holding a stock position over the weekend. For others, it may mean holding a security for at least 1 year for the purpose of declaring a long-term capital gain, thus saving on taxes. The Stock Market - Part 1: Believe It Or Not, Its Always Been Your Best Friend And Always Will Be Regardless of the fact that the world's stock markets have shown absolutely no growth between the date of writing this article (Late April 2005) and the late 1990s, they should still be looked at with more than just a sideways glance.Speak gently to them, speak well of them to your friends, learn to trust them, cuddle up close and get to know them - and they will reward you in a way that the banks, mutual funds (Unit Trusts in the UK), pension funds and insurance companies never can or will. Commoditizing the world Let's discuss commodities; with the latest Enron situation, it is important to understand the way things work. A commodity is anything useful, especially a transportable agricultural product or mining product. Nest Eggs and Omelets Do you have a nest egg? You know, a place you are stashing away money for the future - retirement, down payment on a house, the kids education. That kind of thing. Bottoms Ups If you have talked to a stock broker or financial planner in the last few days I will bet they all agree that there are some great bargains out there and now is the time to start buying in anticipation that the market will go back up. You will also find agreement from the talking heads on CNBC and those talk radio station stock mavens. Investing in the Stock Market From the book 'The Stockopoly Plan' by the author Charles M. O'MeliaThere are several factors an investor in the stock market should consider:1. Mutual Funds are Dead You may have wondered why your mutual funds have been going down for the past 2 years. The answer is very simple, but not one you will hear from Wall Street as they want you to send money. Online Broker Trade History Not Doing the Job Let me start by saying that.. No Load Mutual Funds or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)? If you are fed up with early redemption charges and ever increasing mutual fund management fees on top of bad-performing fund managers, read on. There is a quiet revolution going on in the no-load mutual fund industry and you, the individual investor, may benefit from it greatly. How To Buy And Hold One of the most believed bits of conventional wisdom from Wall Street is to Buy and Hold. Any stock or mutual fund should be put away for eternity and never sold. Emotional Involvement I'll bet with almost anyone that has stocks or mutual funds in his portfolio that he has losers, but he won't sell them because he "likes them" or some similar excuse. This is the philosophy of a loser. Market Timing? The recent criminal fiasco in the mutual fund industry is being used by Wall Street to persuade investors that market timing is a bad thing. The late trading by Janus, Bank America and several other well known mutual funds is falsely being called market timing. Its Snowing The Winter Games for the Olympics are coming up soon and many will want to go to see the giant slalom event. That's the one where the skier starts off from the little hut at the top of a long slope, picks up speed and makes his way around poles on the way down. Where Is The Beef? Where is the beef? Or maybe it should be where is the bull? Market, that is? The chief investment strategists and analysts of the major brokerage houses have been promising us a new bull market.So far the bull hasn't come in from the distant pasture.
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