The Retired Investor: Chinese Stock Market on a TearBy Bill Schmick,
04:16PM / Thursday, May 09, 2024 | |
A combination of anti-business government policies, worsening U.S.-Sino relations, and several draconian actions by Chinese authorities have cast a pall over foreign investment and the Chinese stock market. Chinese equities have lost $7 trillion since the market's peak in 2021. That interests me.
On Wall Street, the Chinese stock market is now considered "uninvestable." Main Street and the politicians who represent them are just as negative. Anti-China rhetoric and U.S. actions, from the attempt to force a sale of TikTok to forbidding Chinese nationals from buying land here, is just the tip of the iceberg.
It is as if we are already at war with 0 Comments
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The Retired Investor: Unions Make Headway Across NationBy Bill Schmick,
04:01PM / Friday, May 03, 2024 | |
The number of U.S. workers who claimed union membership increased ever so slightly last year from 14.3 million in 2022 to 14.4 million. However, as a share of the American workforce, union membership hit a new low. Today only one in 10 workers in America wear the union badge.
Back in 1983, union membership was as high as 20.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet, every day we hear of some effort to unionize workers across a wide spectrum of companies and industries. Starbucks, CVS, and Amazon come to mind. In 2023, the United Auto Workers (UAW) occupied headlines for months as they negotiated new contracts with General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis 0 Comments
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The Retired Investor: Real Estate Agents Face Bleak FutureBy Bill Schmick,
04:49PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024 | |
It has been a month since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) was forced to scrap a system of broker fees that has been in place for a generation. A federal court still must approve the change in June or July, but if it does, it could alter the way Americans buy and sell homes for decades into the future.
The change was precipitated by a series of class action lawsuits from home sellers that accused Realtors and the Realtors Association of keeping agent compensation artificially high. In October 2023, a federal jury in Kansas City found the NAR and some of the largest brokers in the country guilty of colluding to inflate real estate commissions.
The 0 Comments
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The Retired Investor: The Appliance ScamBy Bill Schmick,
05:44PM / Thursday, April 18, 2024 | |
If you haven't noticed, the price of large appliances continues to climb. What's worse, in a year or two, many find that the costly smart refrigerator, oven, or washing machine in your kitchen is suddenly plagued with all kinds of problems. What happened to the concept of quality?
In the last two years, my wife and I have had to purchase a new refrigerator and washer. The guy who delivered them warned me that it was just a matter of time before the dryer went as well. None of these items were more than 10 years old. I credit Rachel Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal for explaining why.
There seem to be three factors behind the shorter life span of 0 Comments
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The Retired Investor: Immigration Battle Facts and FictionBy Bill Schmick,
04:30PM / Thursday, April 11, 2024 | |
Recently, several studies, combined with macroeconomic data in both the private and public sectors, have revealed that immigration has benefited the economy in recent years. In a politically charged election year, the facts are often ignored as hyperbole takes over.
In my last column, I reminded readers that demonizing migrants is nothing new in American history. In a country that is constantly looking for someone to blame for their troubles, immigrants stand the test of time. One prominent candidate has even claimed that migrants are "not people in my opinion."
In a recent Wall Street Journal national poll in late February, 20 percent of 0 Comments
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