High dividend stocks were all the rage in 2011 and 2012, as yield-starved investors hunted for income where they could find it. Yet two of the sectors best known as “high yield” sectors—utilities ($XLU) and telecom ($XTL)—are on track for a sub-par 2012 (the utilities sector is actually negative for the year).  It’s not particularly...Read More

“The present, as permanent and overwhelming as it can seem, is fleeting,” writes Robert Kaplan in the introduction to The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate.   “The only thing enduring is a people’s position on the map.” As a country built with a spirit of...Read More

The country has a socialist president, one of the most overbearing state sectors of any developed country, some of the highest taxes in the world, and its concept of democratic government seems to require frequent rioting in the streets by its citizens. Vive la France! France is a country that often seems to prosper in...Read More

We all know what “fragile” means.  But what is the opposite of fragile? If you are like me, your instinctive response would be “robust” or perhaps “durable.”  But you would be wrong. Something that is fragile is damaged by an unexpected shock, whereas something that is robust or durable is able to withstand it.  To...Read More

Listen to Charles Sizemore discuss the Fed’s latest moves, the risk of inflation (of lack thereof), the shale gas boom and the situation in Europe with Dean Barber and Bud Kasper. If you cannot  view the embedded player, please follow this link.Read More