1. Just when the market looked safe…
The pandemic lock-downs were unusually good to you if you have your money in a 401(k). Between the 2019 and 2021, measuring the closing quarter of each year, the employer-matched tax-deferred program minted 209,000 new millionaires. But…
2. Rising egg prices? That’s so 2022. What will crush your food budget this year…
Even if the core consumer price index (CPI) doesn’t include food or energy in its inflation indicator, your food budget does a pretty good job of keeping track. “The costs of wheat and grains have fallen in recent months,” Bloomberg reports, “easing concern over access to some staples. But a combination of factors is now shaking up the vegetable market, the backbone of a healthy, sustainable diet. And at the sharp end of that is the humble onion.”
3. The unintended consequences of Western sanctions against Russia…
Despite sanctions being the US weapon of choice against Russia since their invasion of the Ukraine, they have done little to dissuade Vladimir Putin from backing off. In fact, today, on the one year anniversary of the invasion, the Russian’s are amassing some 700,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and threatening a major spring offensive. What the sanctions have done is driven Russian interests into the arms of the Chinese.
4. The world’s best performing stock market?
Here’s another example of the unintended consequences of the US-led Western sanctions against Russia: Between July of 2022 and January 2023 the Turkish stock market rose nearly 70% — making it the best performing stock market in the world last year.
5. The Essential Investor: Why Now?
“Let’s try to answer the question: The Essential Investor, why now? First off, the technology, like what we’re using right now, didn’t exist when we first conceived of the idea. Think about it. The iPhone didn’t exist. Google and Facebook hadn’t been launched. Cryptocurrency was barely a concept. I didn’t even have a cell phone and was still using a dial-up Compuserve account for my Internet connection.
“But, as the French say, ‘plus ca change, plus c’est le meme chose’ – the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Addison Wiggin
Addison Wiggin is an American writer, publisher, and filmmaker. He was the founder of Agora Financial and publisher for 18 years. An acclaimed New York Times best-selling author, his books include: Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt, The Demise of the Dollar, and The Little Book of the Shrinking Dollar. Addison is also the writer and executive producer of the documentary I.O.U.S.A., an exposé on the national debt, shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2008. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his family. Addison started his latest project, The Wiggin Sessions, powered by Consilience Financial, in March 2020. He films from a homegrown studio in his basement.
