It is a curse as well as a perk to travel as much as I do. My work has taken me to places I could have never imagined as a little boy growing up in rural Texas. I have traveled to every continent (short of Antarctica, but it is on my list), visited over 60 countries, and met some of the most fascinating, wonderful people on this planet along the way. Seeing…

What innovations have truly changed the world forever and for the better? Many of my fellow Texans might cite the invention of the air conditioner, but I’m talking about truly major innovations that marked a turning point in history, where almost every aspect of daily life was affected. The Industrial Revolution, for example, brought the transition from hand production to machine tools. It boosted productivity, lowered costs, and raised the standard of…

“Deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. Why is it that deficit reduction is a big emergency, justifying making cuts in Social Security benefits, but not closing some loopholes? Nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.” –President Obama, 2013 State of the Union address Did you watch President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address? Don’t feel bad if you didn’t, because a near-record number of…

All of us are going to pay higher taxes in 2013 under the new fiscal-cliff agreement, but it could have been a lot worse. Just be grateful that you don’t live in France. During the 2012 French presidential election, François Hollande, the Socialist candidate, made a campaign pledge to raise the top income tax rate to 75% on French citizens who earn more than 1 million euros annually.

If you’ve ever traveled to Texas in the summer, you understand what a Texan means when he says, “It’s so hot, the hens are laying hard-boiled eggs.” I live in the Dallas area, and our winters are a very different story. The average daily temperature is below 60 degrees in December and January, and I heat the heck out of my home to stay warm.

Calling a market low is a difficult task, and it’s most often spotted in the rear-view mirror. That is true not only for the stock market but for the real estate market as well – and that is the subject of this month’s issue. The degree of pain varies, but real estate values have dropped all over the US, with South Florida, inland California, and Las Vegas among the hardest hit.

There is a revolution going on in North America. I'm not talking about the Tea Party or the Occupy Wall Street movements. I am talking about an energy revolution. In fact, it won't be long until the United States is finally, and permanently, energy independent. Every president since Richard Nixon has pledged to wean the US from foreign oil, but none of them has been able to…

August was a great month for dividend lovers. The companies of the S&P 500 paid out a total of $34 billion of dividends in the month of August, an all-time record. 2013 is on track to be even bigger. According to Barron's, dividend payouts are scheduled to increase by 5.8% in 2013. Even more noteworthy than the huge dollar amount is the fact that the payout…

Investing for income has been simple as well as rewarding for the last 30 years, due to a super-cycle of falling interest rates that has taken bond yields to historic lows. Those low interest rates aren't going away anytime soon, either. The combination of too much debt and too much spending will keep rates down. You can count on central bankers and politicians from all over the globe to…

If cheap money is good, then free money must be even better! Real yields (after inflation) are already negative. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is below 1.5%, and three-month rates are 0%. The yield on five-year TIPS is a negative 1.05%! How much lower can it go? Heaven knows, but the Fed is determined to push rates lower, because that seems to be the…