Braum's & China and Vertical Integration

 

Saved by a Human

 

Private Equity Taking Over Main Street

 

Affordability Chart

 

Reference: Time Pricing Mark Perry’s Chart of the Century

To read the chart:

Pink lines and numbers on the left axis are the number of hours/week people work to purchase a week of groceries.

Blue lines and numbers on the right axis and the bars are Food Inflation

Green lines show the President in charge and Pre-Covid vs Post Covid time periods.

 What does all of this mean?

1)      Covid clearly caused food prices to go up.

2)      Food affordability actually improved since 2015.  4.2 hours/week in 2015—3.6 hours/week in 2024

3)      Food inflation started under Trump during Covid and is now below where he ended, and affordability is still well below the 2015-19 average.

4)      YES—food is more expensive.  BUT—we have more money to spend on it and more time to go to restaurants (my opinion based upon experience lately.)

 

What I hear on the news most days is not what these charts are saying.  Back in the 80’s when I took Dale Carnegie training, he taught a 3-step process for solving problems.  His main point was that identifying the PROBLEM is harder than you think. 

1)      Identify the problem.

2)      Possible solutions.

3)      Best possible solution.

Well, FOOD INFLATION, according to these charts, is NOT the problem.  

In my opinion, National Debt and Deficits, getting Wall Street influence out of Washington, fixing our immigration system which is essential to our success and has been a problem for 40+ years—these are the issues, that if addressed correctly, will improve our chances of continuing the America we know and love, which currently is one of the best economies in the world—and at least part of why we have an illegal immigration problem.  Have you ever heard of anyone immigrating to Russia, Hungary, China, or North Korea? ... Nor have I.

Who Bought the Panama Canal

 

Business Owner Heads Up

Sources: IRS.gov & Bradford Tax Institute

Oklahoma is OK

Peter Zeihan - Is it Oklahoma's Time to Shine

  ** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. **
 

Corporations Do Not Equal Humans

 

 ** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. **

Corporate Socialism

  ** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. **
 

Just Doin' Our Job, Ma'am

Recently we got a call from a client who just lost her job. She was telling us how much she appreciated being in the position she was, due in part because of work we had done over a year ago when her job seemed secure.  This is a common comment to which we always say the same thing:

"That's just financial planning and we're just doing our job."  

True American

 Yesterday I was having a conversation with a 31-year employee of a locally-owned service business. Business is good, and they are very financially responsible people. I was talking to him about how it’s often hard to see what's really going on in the economy from our secure bubble. To which he replied: 

“Look, Troy, when I make or win a sale, I create business to bring into the company where men and women in the manufacturing plant take steel and put it in the machines that make equipment that we then sell all around the world. Then those employees take their paychecks home and they buy groceries, make house payments, and move their lives ahead one month at a time. Now what is wrong with that?”

Who Pays for Corporate Bad Behavior?

 

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AFR Demographic

 

** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. ** 

USA Debt Hockey

 

** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. ** 

Stock Market v Economy

The Rise of the Machines

Oil & Labor

Top 8 Changes to the SECURE Act

Hot off the presses for the Bradford Tax Institute! Congress passed some tax legislation just before the holidays and as you can imagine, it's changed some things. Specifically, concerning you - the small business owner - and your retirement savings. 

Wishful Thinking

Be careful what you ask for.

Power to the People!

If there’s one thing I’d love to see happen in the world, it would be having regular people (just your run-of-the-mill, everyday Americans), who I feel have been completely overlooked over the years, taking back their power. 

How? By voting Wells Fargo out of business one at a time by closing their accounts.