U.S. police departments face huge expectations. Aside from all of the performance scrutiny they’ve been under in recent years, they also face the same problems as other parts of our government institutions: they are under great pressure to reduce spending while also achieving strict regulatory targets. One of the best ways for police departments to help with all of these problems? Body cameras. #-ad_banner-#Recent studies  show that when police officers use body cameras it dramatically reduces use of force incidents. Researchers at the University of South Florida recently released the results of a yearlong pilot program with the Orlando Police… Read More

U.S. police departments face huge expectations. Aside from all of the performance scrutiny they’ve been under in recent years, they also face the same problems as other parts of our government institutions: they are under great pressure to reduce spending while also achieving strict regulatory targets. One of the best ways for police departments to help with all of these problems? Body cameras. #-ad_banner-#Recent studies  show that when police officers use body cameras it dramatically reduces use of force incidents. Researchers at the University of South Florida recently released the results of a yearlong pilot program with the Orlando Police Department. The study randomly selected 46 officers to wear body cameras and compared their behavior to 43 officers not equipped with body cameras. The results are telling. In the 12-month period from March 2014 through February 2015, use of force incidents dropped 53% with officers wearing body cameras. Civilian complaints against officers wearing body cameras fell 65%. A study across the Atlantic is even more convincing. The Cambridge University in England conducted a study of 2,000 officers from four UK police departments and two U.S. police departments. The study found a 93% drop in civilian complaints against officers wearing body… Read More

Baron Rothschild’s 18th century rule that, “The time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets,” is just as applicable today as it was 300 years ago. But today, we’re nearly eight years into a bull market and it’s tough finding value in stocks, let alone bargains around panic-selling. The S&P 500 has returned 273% adjusting for dividends since the 2009 low and individual sectors are trading at bubble-worthy highs. Even the healthcare sector, one of the worst performing of the year, has jumped 360% since 2009 and trades at 16-times trailing earnings. #-ad_banner-#But investors in one sector are… Read More

Baron Rothschild’s 18th century rule that, “The time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets,” is just as applicable today as it was 300 years ago. But today, we’re nearly eight years into a bull market and it’s tough finding value in stocks, let alone bargains around panic-selling. The S&P 500 has returned 273% adjusting for dividends since the 2009 low and individual sectors are trading at bubble-worthy highs. Even the healthcare sector, one of the worst performing of the year, has jumped 360% since 2009 and trades at 16-times trailing earnings. #-ad_banner-#But investors in one sector are in full panic-mode. That sector is facing a perfect storm of fundamental and political issues. Several companies within the group are facing threats to their very existence. Few investors are talking about the long-term upside in the group but one investment provides the opportunity to reduce your risk while still benefiting from the rebound. Dark Clouds Over European Banking European banks have lagged their U.S. peers since the 2009 recession. The slower economic recovery in the EU and continuing problems in Greece have weighed on the sector. While the European Central Bank was able to step in and avoid… Read More

Typically, I’m an optimistic, glass is half full kind of guy. I have to be. I’m an investment guy. Doesn’t mean I’m not realistic, though. In September 2011, Stifel Nicolaus macro strategist Barry Bannister published a report stating “We believe a ‘Depression’ began in 2000, moderated by U.S. reserve currency status and coordinated monetary and fiscal intervention.” That’s a mouthful. My translation: when the Tech Bubble burst, everything started heading downhill, culminating with the financial crisis of 2008. However, thanks to central bank and government policies like quantitative easing and TARP, things didn’t look or feel like Great Depression 2.0. … Read More

Typically, I’m an optimistic, glass is half full kind of guy. I have to be. I’m an investment guy. Doesn’t mean I’m not realistic, though. In September 2011, Stifel Nicolaus macro strategist Barry Bannister published a report stating “We believe a ‘Depression’ began in 2000, moderated by U.S. reserve currency status and coordinated monetary and fiscal intervention.” That’s a mouthful. My translation: when the Tech Bubble burst, everything started heading downhill, culminating with the financial crisis of 2008. However, thanks to central bank and government policies like quantitative easing and TARP, things didn’t look or feel like Great Depression 2.0.  #-ad_banner-#In 2008 and 2009, there was even a lot of talk about massive, New Deal style “shovel ready” projects to help rebuild America’s rapidly aging infrastructure, which would create jobs and stimulate all facets of the nation’s foundering economy. A hybrid federal/municipal bond called a Build America Bond (BAB) was created to finance some of the projects that actually made it to the street.  But most of the projects never materialized and our infrastructure continues to crumble. Flint, Michigan’s lead-tainted drinking water is stark evidence. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, American infrastructure, from dams to roads to… Read More

You don’t need me to tell you that the internet changed the way we live. From emails that have pushed snail mail out of business to online shopping that endangers brick and mortar shops, our daily lives have been transformed forever.  So why does internet dating still carry a stigma in some quarters — or does it?  —Recommended Link— 2-Digit Code Predicts Market Crash This little-known indicator predicted the last market collapse… and can save you from the next one too. Full details here. For those of us who lived most of our lives before the internet, cell phones… Read More

You don’t need me to tell you that the internet changed the way we live. From emails that have pushed snail mail out of business to online shopping that endangers brick and mortar shops, our daily lives have been transformed forever.  So why does internet dating still carry a stigma in some quarters — or does it?  —Recommended Link— 2-Digit Code Predicts Market Crash This little-known indicator predicted the last market collapse… and can save you from the next one too. Full details here. For those of us who lived most of our lives before the internet, cell phones or texting, the old way of meeting people — in our place of work, study or through friends or relatives — still takes precedence. But for people who’ve lived most of their lives with the internet, filling out an online dating profile is as familiar as downloading a tune. #-ad_banner-#Among all age groups, though, the level of acceptance has been growing strongly. According to Pew Research Center, 41% of American adults say they know someone who uses online dating, and 29% indicate they know someone who has married or entered into a long-term partnership with someone they met online.  In… Read More

Quick, which nation reported the strongest economic growth last year?  I’ll give you a hint. The country is rich in minerals and agricultural products, is situated squarely in the Pacific’s volcanic Ring of Fire, and has an incredibly diverse population that speaks 852 different languages.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about Papua New Guinea. While most of its citizens live in rural farming communities, this island nation has been outrunning the world’s economic powerhouses. Some of the credit belongs to an influx of foreign capital. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE: TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) are just a few of the… Read More

Quick, which nation reported the strongest economic growth last year?  I’ll give you a hint. The country is rich in minerals and agricultural products, is situated squarely in the Pacific’s volcanic Ring of Fire, and has an incredibly diverse population that speaks 852 different languages.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about Papua New Guinea. While most of its citizens live in rural farming communities, this island nation has been outrunning the world’s economic powerhouses. Some of the credit belongs to an influx of foreign capital. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE: TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) are just a few of the parties vying for a piece of the country’s rich oil and gas resources.  Papua New Guinea is also blessed with valuable metals such as gold, copper, nickel and cobalt. High in the rainforests of Enga Province, Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) pulled 493,000 ounces of the yellow metal from the Porgera Mine last year, and this is just one of sixteen large-scale mining projects in the country. Elsewhere, others are busy growing cocoa, coconut, and palm oil, the country’s top agricultural exports. Thanks to all these resources, the country enjoyed robust GDP growth last year that has been estimated at anywere… Read More

The internet turned 47 years old this year. That’s if you count from the first computer-to-computer linkup on ARPANET in 1969. Even counting from the creation of the world wide web in 1989, the online revolution would be getting close to its 30s. While few companies are trading at the dizzying heights of the dot-com bubble, there are still quite a few names that trade as ‘growth’ stocks on the assumption of years left to internet growth. But what if the internet stops growing? #-ad_banner-#Nearly everyone in the United States (89%) is connected and internet penetration is as high as… Read More

The internet turned 47 years old this year. That’s if you count from the first computer-to-computer linkup on ARPANET in 1969. Even counting from the creation of the world wide web in 1989, the online revolution would be getting close to its 30s. While few companies are trading at the dizzying heights of the dot-com bubble, there are still quite a few names that trade as ‘growth’ stocks on the assumption of years left to internet growth. But what if the internet stops growing? #-ad_banner-#Nearly everyone in the United States (89%) is connected and internet penetration is as high as 94% of the population in the United Kingdom. What happens when the growth that investors are assuming to drive internet-related companies just isn’t there? Turns out it may already be happening. A new study by Adobe suggests that internet growth has slowed considerably or even stopped altogether and it could be disastrous for a few tech names. The Internet Is Dead, Long Live The Internet A report by Adobe suggests that internet traffic may have reached its peak as fewer net new people come online every year. The company’s first Advertising Demand Report was compiled from more than 1.1… Read More

We’re less than six weeks from the November elections, and election season usually has investors picking stocks based on the prospective policies of candidates, leading to a certain amount of market volatility. Uncertainty around the global economy and monetary policy has only helped to boost volatility this election season. But betting on stocks that win on one particular candidate is a crap shoot at best, especially in this election. Clinton and Trump differ so radically across nearly every talking point that betting on stocks favored by a particular party means the potential for massive losses if the other candidate wins. Read More

We’re less than six weeks from the November elections, and election season usually has investors picking stocks based on the prospective policies of candidates, leading to a certain amount of market volatility. Uncertainty around the global economy and monetary policy has only helped to boost volatility this election season. But betting on stocks that win on one particular candidate is a crap shoot at best, especially in this election. Clinton and Trump differ so radically across nearly every talking point that betting on stocks favored by a particular party means the potential for massive losses if the other candidate wins. #-ad_banner-#The Real Clear Politics aggregate of national polls puts Clinton’s lead at just 2.3%, close to the tightest the race has been for months. Nobody is able to call this one yet. Unbelievable as it may seem, the candidates actually do agree on one topic. They’ve both made one particular sector of the economy a key position of their platform. For that sector, the news after November could range from good to very good and a leader in the space is primed to takeoff. This Sector Is About To Get A Government Jumpstart While unprecedented monetary stimulus helped to… Read More

Most investors have been trained to think that earning 6% or 8% a year on their trades is admirable. And the old saying is true: No one ever went broke taking a profit. But that doesn’t mean they got rich that way. You can bet Wall Street traders don’t settle for such meager returns, and your average trader doesn’t have to either. The same methods used by Wall Street’s elite are available to average traders. It’s just that they often don’t know about them or are too scared to try them. #-ad_banner-# For instance, there is a way to potentially… Read More

Most investors have been trained to think that earning 6% or 8% a year on their trades is admirable. And the old saying is true: No one ever went broke taking a profit. But that doesn’t mean they got rich that way. You can bet Wall Street traders don’t settle for such meager returns, and your average trader doesn’t have to either. The same methods used by Wall Street’s elite are available to average traders. It’s just that they often don’t know about them or are too scared to try them. #-ad_banner-# For instance, there is a way to potentially amplify those 6% to 8% gains into 30%, 50%, even 65% windfalls or more in a matter of months, weeks or even days. And I’m not talking about buying micro-cap stocks that no one has ever heard of. You can make these returns from some of America’s biggest and most well-known companies.  Wall Street’s ‘Backdoor’ Trading Method Some of the most famous and richest investors in history (including Warren Buffett) use a backdoor trading method to amass much of their wealth. I say “backdoor” because, while it’s certainly not a secret, you won’t hear it talked about by 99% of… Read More

Ok. I was a little early with my call on rising bond yields. In fact, they actually went down a little after I wrote that article. However, last week, bonds saw a healthy sell off which, naturally, bumped interest rates up. The blame fell on hawkish comments from a Fed official concerned about an economy that could overheat due to stubbornly low interest rates. Maybe someone should remind him that they’ve already gone up in the past year. When the Federal Reserve raised their target Fed funds rates (the interest rate they charge member banks) towards the end of… Read More

Ok. I was a little early with my call on rising bond yields. In fact, they actually went down a little after I wrote that article. However, last week, bonds saw a healthy sell off which, naturally, bumped interest rates up. The blame fell on hawkish comments from a Fed official concerned about an economy that could overheat due to stubbornly low interest rates. Maybe someone should remind him that they’ve already gone up in the past year. When the Federal Reserve raised their target Fed funds rates (the interest rate they charge member banks) towards the end of last year, they literally more than doubled interest rates. And with Fed Funds being right at 40 basis points, the Fed is within striking distance of its current target for the Fed Funds rate of 50 basis points. Stock markets reacted negatively to the change, and stayed depressed until spring of this year. But bond yields stayed stubbornly low. That may be changing. Since bottoming in July, the yield on the 10-year treasury has risen 22%. The longer end of the treasury yields has also gone up. #-ad_banner-#On average, long rates are up 17%; a significant number. With… Read More

Mark Zuckerberg is worth $60 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world. As the founder and CEO of Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), one of the most successful technology companies ever, Zuckerberg is a genius when it comes to technology. #-ad_banner-#But despite Zuckerberg’s financial resources and tech smarts, the young billionaire recently fell prey to hackers. In early June, Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked. The perpetrators found Zuckerberg’s passwords –“dadada” — in a database of more than 100 million usernames and passwords that were stolen from LinkedIn in 2012. Although Zuckerberg suffered little reputation damage… Read More

Mark Zuckerberg is worth $60 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world. As the founder and CEO of Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), one of the most successful technology companies ever, Zuckerberg is a genius when it comes to technology. #-ad_banner-#But despite Zuckerberg’s financial resources and tech smarts, the young billionaire recently fell prey to hackers. In early June, Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked. The perpetrators found Zuckerberg’s passwords –“dadada” — in a database of more than 100 million usernames and passwords that were stolen from LinkedIn in 2012. Although Zuckerberg suffered little reputation damage from the incident, the hacking was a bit embarrassing. After all, his company warns its users not to use their Facebook passwords anywhere else online. However, the hacking actually places Mark Zuckerberg in good company. Hacking is going viral in 2016. The headlines have been filled with high-profile hackings threatening the most powerful private and public institutions in the world. In May, Myspace was hacked and had 360 million email addresses and passwords stolen. Experts are saying it could be the largest hack ever. Last week Dropbox, one of the world’s largest suppliers of cloud storage, had more than 68… Read More