My Review of "Sleeping Giant"

5 out of 5 stars...despite her bias, she nails it.

Just like the far Right wrongfully demonizes the word, liberal (liberals are not against business, just want government to regulate it and provide a safety net of social programs), the far Left, epitomized by the author, demonizes the word, neoliberal (originally a balance between free market capitalism and regulation).

That said, the author, in this book, Sleeping Giant, Tamara Draut, I think correctly sees that the Great Recession recovery can only fully recover if it helps the new working class succeed, thus attacking the significant problem, income inequality, and addressing climate change and rebuilding our infrastructure as ways to quickly create high-paying jobs.

Plus, I think the book correctly identifies today's lowest paid working class jobs like fast food, other retail, and caregiver jobs as not unskilled, and thus deserving up to $15/hr + benefits, and sharing jobs having more worker protection. And unions do have a role here.

The book also I think, correctly sees the political split in the US as to how to tackle the hardships faced by the working and erstwhile middle classes.

Ever since the success of the 60's civil rights laws,  non-college-educated White men began to feel competition from Black men, followed by competition from more women in the workforce pursuant to the feminist movement, then competition from immigration and the browning of America, culminating with the War on Terror and the Islamophobia which followed.

On the other side, college-educated White men including an overwhelmingly college-educated media sees this diversity being the beneficial evolving history of America.

All told, the author sees this new working class as her Sleeping Giant in powering this economy forward. And already, the Work for $15 and the Black Lives Matter movements seem to have begun raising minimum wages around the country.

I strongly recommend this book, for its timeliness and perceptiveness.

My Review of "The Gray Rhino"

3 out of 5 stars......

Gray rhino, like a black swan, is a metaphor, a black swan event being a totally unexpected tragic event, like the chance of seeing a black swan. Whereas, behind nearly every unexpected event are early warning signs. A gray rhino is a warning which could cause tragedy (if disturbed, could charge and kill). but if seen and not disturbed, but with proper reactions, can not be harmed or cause harm.

The author, Michele Wucker, here, looks at ways to spot "gray rhinos" and either avoid or minimize the effects of them, the key being to use long term planning and not just short term. Thus, in case some emergency hits, the reaction is not out of emotion, but reason.

"Gray rhino" examples like Enron and the recent Greek debt crisis are explored. Plus, current ones like climate change, large national debts, income inequality and worldwide slow economic growth rates are identified.

Important is to deal with the risk soon, not to ignore. Also, avoid groupthink. As for muddling/kicking the can, sometimes good and sometimes bad. And, humans are wired with an optimism bias, a priming bias (listening more to "experts" and an availability bias (influenced more by recent events). Plus, predictors are most often wrong when either extremely over or under confident. Whereas, predictions do tend to be better when extensively studied before making a prediction.

The term, "agnotology" is mentioned, being the existence of a culture of ignorance, slit is best consider a diversity of opinions, including those from women.

The book contains lots of ways to evaluate situations, so many that although I do recommend the book, some may find it confusing.

Portfolio "Update"

I just added some CAT (Caterpillar). It is a Dividend Aristocrat, yielding 5% when I bought.

The portfolio, in order of biggest holding to least

WBA (Walgreen Boots Alliance)
PEP (Pepsi)
PG (Procter & Gamble)
MAT (Mattel)

GPC (Genuine Parts)
HAS (Hasbro)
MMM (3M)
KO (Coca Cola)

T (AT&T)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)

K (Kellogg)
VZ (Verizon)
SYY (Sysco)

CVX (Chevron)

HPQ (Hewlett Packard, Inc)
DPS (Dr. Pepper, Snapple)
CDK (CDK Global)

IBM (International Business Machines)

CAT (Caterpillar)
HYH (Halyard Health)

6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

Stocks make up abt 25% of my assets.  Other assets are CDs, a home mortgage and about 2% precious metals..

My Review of "High-Level Investing for Dummies"

5 out of 5 stars....

High-Level Investing for Dummies, by Paul Mladjenovic, was just released in January, 2016 and the author wrote it in mid 2015, just when the current economy began hitting its headwinds. So, perfect timing to present his information and he does offer thoughts of how one might use some of his strategies to navigate this turbulence.

This book is not only excellent for experienced investors, but great timing and excellent as a reference, by providing links for additional information. Plus, he also recommends related books, magazines, brokers, etc. And, he presents names and strategies of great investors, past and present.

He identifies himself as a dividend growth investor, also liking ETFs and options, both in conservative and speculative ways. So, all bases are covered. Plus, no matter how experienced the reader is, the book is a great refresher, well appendix-ed and a great table of contents, for easy skipping around.

The author frequently reminds the reader, "the more you learn, the more you earn"

I heartily recommend this book

My Review of "X: The Experience When Business Meets Design ."

5 out of 5 stars....

X: The Experience When Business Meets Design takes the reader into a step by step process to understand how businesses should develop or transform their brand to equate to an experience, rather than just performing a function. Welcome to the Experience Economy. Coca Cola was one of the first to successfully embody it, by tailoring its ads not to just being a carbonated beverage, but associating it with fun and happiness. Think, too, of Disney taking one on a fantasy trip and Disneyland being the "happiest place on earth." The ultimate, as the book infers, being Steve Jobs and Apple, where art and technology intersect to bring customers to need functions they never before thought they needed or wanted.

It details an Experience Architecture when the customer shares the experience with the brand, Coke and Nike being examples. It is important to get into the user's point of view, to emphasize. It is also important to discard legacy philosophies and visualize the experience. We are now in a digital world and as Banksy might think, digital graffiti.

And the book explains that the customer experience is not linear, but a collection of moments
of truth, it calls ZMOT, FMOT, SMOT and UMOT....the bottom line being it is complicated

This complexity can create a Circle of Rife within a company, basically a soloing of opinions
The book quotes Leo Tolstoy, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one wants to change
himself," as wise to ponder to overcome this problem. So, the team must "think differently," then come up with a plan. Further, this plan should be broken into "grids." This visualization will lead to an omnichannel design, several points in grids leading to desining how to fully understand the customer. The challenge for a company, being to move from managing to designing, a collaborative process, the book breaks down as 3Ds, evolving to a human centered design, it calls UCX, user centered experience, and eventually gets to UX, human experience. It really is about people and p2p, people communicating with people. The book even brings up some futuristic films, specifically, Inception, where dreams of one person are implanted in another person to let that person build on the creativity of the previous person. This collaborative designing is similar, cross breeding of ideas. The author also advocates having an anthropologist on the team to ensure the design focuses on humans using the latest understandings.

So human centered, that the process should come up with a story, amplified visually with storyboards.

I recommend the book, an easy read for a reader just interested to learn what the Experience Economy is, a more intensive read for a reader wanting to implement it at their company.

My Review of "Inflection Point"

5 out of 5 stars....

This book discusses the intersection of Big Data, the Cloud and Mobility and how it represents not just a new trend or an incremental step in technology, but an "Inflection Point," such that it makes nearly all businesses obsolete unless they transform their IT immediately.

Basically, computers and software should be seen as a utility service, provided by another company that has as its core competency, providing and maintaining such systems for a reasonable periodic service fee. Then, the company should stick to its core competencies. so, no need for its own data center, computers, existing software and staff to manage updates.

Also part of this inflection point are Apps. The internet is now really a collection of applications, such that one could start a new business in a short time without prior knowledge, using Apps. So, incremental will not work now, since competition can now develop and improve super fast. A key word now is disintermediation. massive loss of jobs, basically because of elimination of middlemen.

This SaaS (software as a service) and the disintermediation resulting is amplified with the Internet of Things with machines communicating with machines via the Cloud, bypassing the need for additional jobs, and steps for ordinary humans outside the workplace.

The book also addresses how one can better evaluate stocks for their personal portfolio, considering the above. The popular metric of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) is worthless because now, this excludes the very things which could make the company uncompetitive in this new environment. Instead, ROIC (return on invested capital), is perhaps now the premier metric to be used, along with cash flow.

Also, the book covers MDM (mobile device management), very important to let company employees use their own mobile device, maybe only just partially subsidized by the company since it also can be used for personal stuff. The key being simplicity.

The book also mentions mobile middleware,which allows Apps to communicate with Apps.

The beauty of this book is how it ties together these very important concepts in such a neat way, making an easy and fast reading book. I heartily recommend it.

Portfolio "Update"

I just added some IBM (International Business Machines) and HPQ (Hewlett Packard, Inc) to my porfolio. Both have high dividends and low PE's.

The portfolio, in order of biggest holding to least

WBA (Walgreen Boots Alliance)
PEP (Pepsi)
PG (Procter & Gamble)

HAS (Hasbro)

GPC (Genuine Parts)
MAT (Mattel)
MMM (3M)
KO (Coca Cola)

T (AT&T)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)

K (Kellogg)
VZ (Verizon)
SYY (Sysco)

CVX (Chevron)
DPS (Dr. Pepper, Snapple)
CDK (CDK Global)

IBM (International Business Machines)
HYH (Halyard Health)

HPQ (Hewlett Packard, Inc)
6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

Stocks make up abt 25% of my assets.  Other assets are CDs, a home mortgage and about 2% precious metals..

My Review of "Civic Capitalism."

3 out of 5 stars.....

The authors and most of the contributors are British and this book focuses on Britain's problems post financial crisis 2008, while expanding it to be basically a manifesto against capitalism.

On almost every page, the book uses the words neoliberal or neoliberalism

The book presents an alternative, not an improvement. As such, it is better to use the book as a way to consider improvements. It offers worthy considerations such as sustainability and environmental improvements, as well as social improvements which would make for less greed and for a society less concerned with consumption.

It also mentions that this alternative should be global, but since the crisis some coordination has been achieved.

Further, in the US where the crisis began, better regulation has been achieved via  Dodd-Frank, increased FDIC insurance, etc.

It should be remembered that the world is the most peaceful (% dying from war), prosperous (% above poverty), healthiest (highest life expectancy), educated, etc.in history. So, I recommend this book, only with the condition that it be read for ideas on how to improve our current economic system.

My Take on US Debt

US government debt is about 1 x GDP and total public and private debt is about 3 x GDP.

Interest rates are at historic lows with little chance of major inflation because of globalization and overwhelming deflationary forces. Plus, we have the most diversified economy, so benefit from such forces, long-term.

Also, there is good and bad debt. Before the 2008 crash, we had too much bad debt, like subprime and liar mortgage loans, financing two misguided wars with debt and tax cuts for the rich, financed with debt.

Now, much of our debt is good debt....Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Plus, lending standards are much stronger than before the crash. Plus, even bad car debt is OK, because if defaulted, cars can easily be repossessed and resold, plus while still used they help the economy with maintenance costs. Also, student loan debt at least shows how dedicated Americans are in improving themselves and do make them more educated.

During bad times, it is best to expand debt, here to save the banking system and stimulus programs to create jobs and expand the economy.

During good times, it is best to begin paying down debt/restructuring debt laden programs. So, now, since the economy is healthy, best to start now with Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. But, since the recovery has been uneven and interest rates are so low there is no need to overdue it and punish the lower classes. Plus, since lower classes spend most or all of their improved income/benefits from such programs, they recycle into the economy (multiplier effect), actually punishing them hurts the economy..

My Take on the Economy

The stock market is overdue for a correction This might be it, but no one knows.

My approach is to only hold companies which provide goods or services always in demand and pay a good dividend with a history of raising it each year. So, I just see drops as opportunities to buy more.

I see this as one of most remarkable economic times in US history. US innovation has changed every industry on the planet, resulting in the US having the strongest economy in the world, while also bringing along other advanced economies which embrace innovation.

Recent slowness in the US economy is due to the strong dollar, but that is good for the medium and long term, a resurgence of the world reserve currency.

For the US, the strong dollar makes the cost of commodities cheaper, a bonanza.

As for the slowness of the economic recovery from the 2008 crash, financial crashes usually take longer to fully recover than from business cycle and other similar recessions.

So, this slowness, combined with great innovation and needed new regulations, is consistent with a solid economic boom, nothing like "trickle down" because it is combined with such bottom up advances like ACA and historic creation of new jobs combined with rising minimum wages, rising education standards and expansion of community college opportunities. Plus, maybe the most remarkable catalyst being the lowest interest rates in history.

The only real risk I see is who becomes the next US president.

Portfolio 'Update"

I just  bought some Chevron (CVX) stock, since it had dropped and now pays about 4.3% dividend which is usually raised each year.

My portfolio, in order of largest holding to least....

WBA (Walgreen Boots Alliance)
PEP (Pepsi)
PG (Procter & Gamble)

HAS (Hasbro)

GPC (Genuine Parts)
MAT (Mattel)
MMM (3M)
KO (Coca Cola)

T (AT&T)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)

K (Kellogg)
VZ (Verizon)
SYY (Sysco)

CVX (Chevron)
DPS (Dr. Pepper, Snapple)
CDK (CDK Global)
HYH (Halyard Health)
6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

Stocks make up abt 24% of my assets.  Other assets are CDs, a home mortgage and about 2% precious metals..

My Review of "Can Financial Markets be Controllrd"

4 out of 5 stars

The author, Howard Davies, says the financial markets can't be controlled, pursuant to the 2008 crash and its aftermath.

He says the roots being the financialization of our economy, basically our major industry, based on debt/leverage to generate such huge profits it attracted many of our brightest minds away from pursuing more fundamentally sound careers to help society, all hidden in such complexity, it was, and still is, impossible to control. Further, the complexity bred mostly short term strategies, leading to a dysfunctional financial system.

Also, misguided thinking led to thinking globalization and technology reduced risks, but just increased risks.

And Dodd-Frank, he says is too complex, and the EU too flawed, for him to have much confidence.

He does say globalization and technology has led to more income inequality, and so much debt in the US made it worse by inflating asset prices. And he says this has led to more booms and busts, creating an intrinsically fragile economy intentionally because of the revolving door between Wall Street and government.

Anyway, I do recommend the book despite what I see as an omission like the funding of two wars and tax cuts for the rich, financed by lots of debt, making handling the crisis harder. Also, despite his pessimism, some of the US regulation is an improvement and though formal coordinated international regulation has not been achieved, there is more coordination than before. But, the book does present a good discussion of the risks in our financial system.

My Review of "The Full Catastrophe"

4 out of 5 stars

The author, of Greek heritage, goes to Greece to better understand how the nation will cope with the effects of the 2008 financial crash on it and its membership in the EU.

He sees modern Greece as corrupt, with its government, via kickbacks, bribes, etc, providing easy living for all government workers and their descendants. Greeks don't see this as bad, just making up for brutal treatment under the Ottoman Empire. Plus, taxes go underpaid.

Kind of a paradox, a nation as a birthplace of democracy, science and reason, now a dysfunctional government and people who expect to be rewarded.

Meanwhile, those with ties to the government do pretty well, while those tied to the private economy either do well and move money out of Greece, or suffer.

Greece probably cooked the books to get accepted  to the EU and cannot meet reforms because the nation lives on corruption.

Also, past NAZI occupation of Greece during WW2 still evokes passion, such that they see Germany as just the latest evil incarnation of the past, via the austerity wanted in proposed reforms. Talk of WW2 reparations still are prevalent.

The author uses lots of interviews to paint his picture of recent Greece and I recommend the book to better understand Greece in relation to the current financial situation.

My Review of "A Force for Good"

5 out of 5 stars

This book looks at the financial crash of 2008 and offers ways to reduce the odds of one happening again. The author, John G. Taft, has a fine education and experience to qualify him for such a book, and the book offers lots of details, with opinions from many noted people like Sheila Bair, John Bogle, etc.

The book says the word, finance is derived from the Latin word, finis, meaning end, and the Latin term meaning goal. So, finance is intended to reach an end, a goal, inferring a longer term objective. Taft sees one of the main reasons for the crash was too much short term thinking, driven largely to increase the stock price, especially since executives are rewarded with stock options. Plus, since the stock price is driven higher when the company exceeds analyst estimates, rather than real results, it is a phony way to value a stock, especially no matter what real or estimated results are, the CEO can just offer positive 'guidance.

So, the author says executive pay should not be depended on short term moves in stock prices. Further, the author says a company's mission should be not just for the benefit of stock holders, but put clients/customers first. Historically, investment houses, like Goldman Sachs, were partnerships, with the added incentive to put the client first because assets of the partners were at risk, too. He recommends a "fiduciary capitalism" where banks have an explicit fiduciary role. Also, he advocates a "sustainability capitalism" where a corporation also should include financial negatives and positives for how a company has affected the environment, too.

He thinks there also should be super fiduciaries which try to hold companies to such standards, even sustainability concerns.He sees CALPERS, the CA pension system and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as examples.

I recommend this book for any CEO or high ranking government official and anyone who is interested in the 2008 crash and ways to improve our form of capitalism.

Portfolio - "Update'

I now own two new stocks which were spinoffs from my holdings of ADP and KMB. CDK Global (CDK) is a spinoff of ADP's auto dealer services/technology. Halyard Health is a spinoff of KMB's healthcare division. I plan to hold these stocks forever.

My portfolio, in order of largest holding to least....

WAG (Walgreen)
PEP (Pepsi)
PG (Procter & Gamble)
MAT (Mattel)
GPC (Genuine Parts)
MMM (3M)
HAS (Hasbro)
KO (Coca Cola)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
T (AT&T)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)
VZ (Verizon)
K (Kellogg)
SYY (Sysco)
DPS (Dr. Pepper, Snapple)
CDK (CDK Global)
HYH (Halyard Health)
6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

Stocks make up abt 24% of my assets.  Other assets are CDs, a home mortgage and about 2% precious metals..

My Review of "The Shifts and the Shocks"

4 out of 5 stars.....

This is an in depth economic look into the financial crash of 2008, how it happened and prognoses into how such a crisis can be avoided by several different improvement approaches to financial systems, here and around the world.

The author, Martin Wolf and the book, come with lots of superlatives from noted economists. I also agree it is a worthwhile read.

In general, he sees the crash as inevitable. Plus, he  thinks although there were ways to minimize its after affects, it is too late to avoid future catastrophe.

He is basically a Keynesian, and thinks the initial stimulus should have been larger, but it and the Fed did avoid an immediate depression, but without further fiscal help, the recovery was/is doomed for a full recovery.

Of the ways to structure a banking system to minimize risk is higher capital ratios, as much as 100%, with at least 10%, but because of animal spirits, risk is too much rewarded to have safer ratios.

Here are some of the points raised in the book....

1. The Fed's quantitative easing (QE) is generally hated by the GOP, but it is right out of the book of traditional GOP, Milton Friedman style, monetarist control of money.

2. The author credits Hyman Minsky for best at understanding this kind of situation, in fact all capitalism.....stability, destabilizes....and governments must always respond when inevitable crises happen.

3. Starting over 30 years ago, the trend in market based economies led to more income inequality around the world, which brings about serious financial problems.

4. When the 2008 crash hit, US employment participation plunged abt 3%, while Germany's rose abt 6%. Note, that our economy is stronger.The reasonable conclusion, based on facts about profits, is major US corporations became more productive and Germany's less.

5. The Eurozone is handling the crisis poorly, with so may individual nations concerned more about themselves, than for what is best overall. It is exporting recessionary stuff.

6. The author relates what happened in the late 90s, crisis for the emerging nations, especially in Asia. So, they have handled this crisis better, so far.

Overall, it is a book I recommend even for those who may not agree with all of the book, since the author covers so many bases.

Portfolio - "Update"

I recently sold all my Intel (INTC) stock. It had gone up a lot and I  could take the gain as long term. Plus, Intel hadn't increased its dividend in over a year, so it violated one of my rules. I plan to hold most of the proceeds until the market provides a better buying opportunity. I did add more to my Mattel (MAT) and Kellogg (K) positions.

My portfolio, in order of largest holding to least....

WAG (Walgreen)
PEP (Pepsi)
MAT (Mattel)
PG (Procter & Gamble)
GPC (Genuine Parts)
MMM (3M)
KO (Coca Cola)
HAS (Hasbro)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)
T (AT&T)
VZ (Verizon)
K (Kellogg)
SYY (Sysco)
DPS (Dr. Pepper, Snapple)
6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

Stocks make up abt 23% of my assets.  Other assets are CDs, a home mortgage and about 2% precious metals..

Portfolio - "Update"

I recently added some cash to my portfolio because my broker offered a cash incentive, plus some free trades. I then used the cash to add to my Mattel (MAT) position and take a new position in Verizon (VZ). MAT, because it still had a reasonable PE of about 15 and dividend of about 4%, VZ, because it had a PE of about 10 and dividend of about 4.5%. Both are consistent with my strategy of buying businesses which have products or services always in demand, pay a good dividend with a history of raising it each year, also having a good balance sheet.

Then, I did sell my TIPS since they had risen above par value, also making it convenient to add a cash position to take advantage of any stock price dips.

My portfolio, in order of largest holding to least....

INTC (Intel)
WAG (Walgreen)
MAT (Mattel)
PEP (Pepsi)
PG (Procter & Gamble)
GPC (Genuine Parts)
MMM (3M)
KO (Coca Cola)
HAS (Hasbro)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
T (AT&T)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)
SYY (Sysco)
VZ (Verizon)
K (Kellogg)
DPS (Dr. Pepper, Snapple)
6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

Stocks make up abt 25% of my assets.  Other assets are CDs, a home mortgage and about 2% precious metals..

My Review of "Turbulent And Mighty Continent: What Future For Europe"

4 out of 5 stars....

This book makes a pretty good case for the challenges Europe faces in the coming years as it recovers from the 2008 financial crash and tackles with what the EU is and can be, and the future of the Euro.
The author maintains that great creativity must be used as the recovery is slow and it can't just rely on some normal course of events to handle the job.

He actually wants Europe to look to the US for direction, as our economy is currently the best in the world and we've confronted immigration and done pretty well, for example.
Some points from the book....

1. Europe is no longer mighty, but still must face some internal differences. Most countries have mounted up enormous debt and the Welfare state approach which has existed for years,can't stay that way because governments can't afford to do so without major changes, like with pensions, using a more defined contribution approach as the US does. The author describes such an eventuality as a social investment state - embrace opportunity and risk - flexsecurity.

2. The three main EU institutions are the Commission, Council and Parliament. EU1 has evolved into EU2, where rule, so to speak, is decided, but that's the problem - no voting by all EU people, just basically out of sight with basically France and Germany's leaders making the decisions.

3 Climate change is big, but the EU is mixed up. It should evolve into renewable energy like getting off coal first since that is the worst pollutant, so even advance more into fracking as the US is doing, since natural gas can replace coal. The author sees coal as worse than nuclear.

4. The IMF has turned into a big player, also the ECB. But, unlike the US, there is no EU bond like US Treasuries.

5. The author thinks an economic federalism has to occur, call it EU3. Each state must have some voice. It could take up to ten years.

6. English should be made the official EU language, with everyone speaking/writing both English and their native country's language.

7. The author talks about a representative democracy, but with more visibility, a monitory democracy, maybe incorporating advances in social media....a global village. Embrace a re-industrialization like the US - 3D printing, etc.

8. Austerity is bad, but still reform is necessary in most states.

9. Smart growth needed - reform education, innovation, R&D, information and communication technologies.

10. Take action on tax havens and tax avoidance. Income inequality is a problem.

11. Interculturism must replace multiculturalism in a globalized world - accepting people as different, not expecting assimilation.

12. The author, basically agreeing that China is more democratic than the US. The US being a showbiz democracy, more about showmanship than leadership, while China has deep discussions before agreeing on a 5 year plan.

13. The EU tried to be in the forefront on climate change, wanting to establish a carbon tax and have a trading system, but it ran into all kinds of problems, with any reduction of emissions mostly due to the recession. CA has had more success with such a trading system. Obama met with major nations and at least came up with in informal agreement, where the dysfunctional EU was essentially left out. So, basically the world has done nothing to reduce emissions, while also we have entered an anthropocene age, where humans have influenced nature everywhere. Conservation is no longer relevant, must use artificial means like biotechnology to recreate what has been lost. Again, the EU is especially dependent on more creatively doing things, rather than looking to the past.

14. As for energy, the EU is messed up. Coal is the worst, and reducing nuclear energy just means greater use of coal, plus natural gas is best until renewables dominate, but EU lags the US in fracking knowledge.

Anyway, the book is very good in showing how Europe is facing a critical time where it faces many challenges while not very united as needed, so must embark on more creativity to solve the problems, hence even more important to look to the US, which does lead in creativity even with its dysfunctional government.

My Look At The Economy

This economic recovery is now about five years old. So, time to reflect. Well, inflation is low, less than 2%. Treasury rates are low...10 year at 2.75%. Stock market around all-time high, Dow abt 16,500. Home prices have recovered, but except for prime locations, are reasonable and not back to all-time highs. Unemployment is down but far from full employment. Plus, when looking globally, the US has perhaps the best economy of the major nations.

So, with inflation low and likely to remain tame since there is an oversupply of labor....so no inflation pressure on the wage front, other than for the small amount of highly skilled jobs.

But, there are some good signs for the un- or under-employed. One, ACA makes for a healthier workforce and more healthcare jobs, plus allows companies to focus more on performance than a worker's healthcare costs.

Plus, sooner or later immigration and tax reform will happen, which will help the economy. And, no new wars on the horizon and ending the Afghanistan one is scheduled for this year. So, more money for the government to improve education and spend to re-train many for higher skilled jobs.

Sure, some unexpected event or events can change things severely, but there is no reason for now not to be optimistic for the future economy. Also, generally the two years leading up to a presidential election the stock market does well.

About stocks, there is some risk with the stocks that have little earnings, which are many, so some correction is overdue and likely healthy. But, many stocks have good fundamentals and unless 10 year Treasury rates go over 4% or a sharp spike in short term rates, things look OK for now, though no one can predict the future with stocks.

Politically, a split government is usually good for stocks, so we will have to see what happens with the 2016 elections, to evaluate the political environment meaningfully.

In sum, for now, the economy looks fine.