Month: May 2017

On Other than Politics

Trump, Comey, Mueller, Twitter, Fox News, CNN….it is all getting more than a bit chaotic.  Even the stock and bond markets jumped into the fray and took notice:

  • The  Dow Jones Industrials had their biggest down day since September on Wednesday (down a mere 1.8% but still up 12.4% since the November 2016 Presidential election).
  • The 10-year US Treasury rose on “safe-haven buying” with its yield moving down (meaning its price rose) 10 basis points from 2.34% early Tuesday to 2.23% during the day Wednesday. That’s a darn big one-day move for the 10-year US Treasury note yield.

Continue reading “On Other than Politics”

Things are Looking Up for the Latest Class of College Graduates

Call me sentimental as I will be partaking in a college graduation celebration this weekend (UNC Chapel Hill) but it led me to think about what it might be like to be entering the “real world” today.  One statistic is surprisingly bright: starting salaries are said to have “soared” for the Class of 2017. * 

Continue reading “Things are Looking Up for the Latest Class of College Graduates”

Tax Break…Anyone?

One of the more anticipated pieces of legislation out of Washington DC has been the Trump tax proposal — or really ANY tax proposal — that has been said to carry some kind of relief for all taxpayers.

tax-formsHealthcare is another hot button but taxes slightly edge out healthcare as the #1 item of interest (and if my readership is any indication, the subject of taxes is my #1 most read topic year-over-year).

This is at least a two-part edition, so here goes the tip of the iceberg of ideas being floated by reporters on the front lines in Washington:*

  • Lowering the corporate tax rate to 15%
    • theoretically encourages US corporations to bring back, or “repatriate”, cash being held overseas.
  • Simplification of individual tax brackets to three: 10%, 25% and top rate of 35%.

Continue reading “Tax Break…Anyone?”