Prosperity

It has fallen upon the consumer to make our economy strong. All the politicians, economists and talking heads on TV are telling him (that's you and me) to get out there and spend your money. Buy that new car, build a new house and fly off to some remote place for an expensive vacation.

Where did the idea that consumer borrowing is a recipe for prosperity? As I recall when I was a kid my Dad told me to work hard, save my money and invest wisely. That still seems like a good idea. Where have I gone wrong to want to live within my means and save some of what I earn?

Corporations have also taken on huge amounts of debt. Many businesses were happy with a net, net profit of 5% to 10% yet today the real cost of company debt is running about 10% which doesn't leave much for the bottom line. Fewer and fewer companies are paying dividends because they don't have enough money left over for their investors. Now many have such poor cash flow that they do not have the cash for new equipment and the banks are not in a lending mood. Profit margins are at their lowest in the past 50 years. The talking heads on CNBC-TV mention capital appreciation as the way to make your profit. Pick a good stock and watch it go up.

We have had an 18-year bull market that ended in 2000. All you needed was a dartboard to be able to choose a stock that was going up. Everyone was weaned away from dividends. As long as it was going up who cares if you get a little check at the end of the year? Here is an interesting statistic that may shock you as it did me. From 1871 to 1997, 126 years, common stocks went up about 7% per year, BUT only 1.6% of the increase was due to price appreciation. The balance of 5.4% came from dividends. And today, for all practical purposes, there aren't any.

No one, including Mr. Greenspan, is encouraging you to save money. Why? Because for every one percent increase in the national savings rate it stops the spending of $75 billion (yes, that's a B). That would slow the economic recovery and our Washington politicians don't want that. Debt has become the "in" thing. People brag about how much they owe.

If you want prosperity now and when you retire you must create it for yourself. Don't figure that Uncle Sam is going to maintain your current life style after you quit working.

Saving money, paying your bills and smart investing have not gone out of style.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

best value cleaning service Buffalo Grove ...

In The News:

Uber teen accounts now feature live video streaming from the driver's camera, but encrypted recordings stay on Uber's servers for up to 14 days.

Router firewalls and software firewalls serve different roles in protecting your home Wi-Fi from unwanted traffic and suspicious connections.

A Chrome extension with 70,000 users and a 4.7-star rating began injecting fake update warnings after a threat actor acquired and weaponized it.

Amazon's Alexa+ rolls out free to Fire TV devices across the U.S., but hands-free microphones and stored voice data raise key privacy questions.

Meta's new teen accounts settlement sets a default two-hour daily limit on Instagram and Facebook, plus night mode and school mode restrictions.

The CareCloud data breach exposed Social Security numbers, banking information and medical records belonging to more than 3.75 million people.

Waymo reveals its custom 5-nanometer chip and dual computing systems designed to take over instantly if the robotaxi's primary computer fails.

Identity theft now includes account takeover, phone hijacking and payment card exposure. Here's what to look for in identity theft protection services.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

The FBI and Justice Department seized domains tied to QScan and QTRouter, tools allegedly used by China-linked hackers to breach NASA and other agencies.

Uber Eats drone delivery launches later this year through a Zipline partnership, starting in Dallas and Houston with a goal of one million daily flights.

Medicare Open Enrollment scams start with data broker targeting months before October. Learn why August is the time to remove your personal info.

The World Humanoid Robot Games' crashes show how far the technology still needs to go to be useful, "Survivor" reality TV star and robotics scientist Christian Hubicki says.

X-Humanoid's TianGong Ultra ran 100 meters in 9.32 seconds at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games, beating last year's winner by more than half.

A tap-to-pay charity scam is turning small $15 or $20 donations into charges of nearly $5,000, with victims losing thousands before they notice.

Kurt Knutsson shares seven emergency preparedness lessons from surviving Hurricane Katrina inside a New Orleans hotel as conditions turned desperate.

A contractor stored credentials in a Google Doc set to "Anyone with the link," and Google Search autocomplete eventually surfaced the password string.

New Orleans 911 uses Carbyne AI to triage repeat auto crash calls, but strict limits keep human call-takers in control of all other emergencies.

A single card skimmer can generate $1 million in stolen funds, and Secret Service video shows criminals installing them in under two seconds.

ChatGPT, Meta AI and Google now use memory, connected apps and past chats to personalize ads and responses in ways most users overlook today.

MagicalAuth by Glide.id uses cryptographic SIM credentials to verify bank logins without sending SMS OTP codes that scammers can intercept or phish.

A humanoid robot named Lightning Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, edging Usain Bolt's record.

An AI agent using Claude AI canceled another person's gym booking after finding a security flaw in the reservation system's authorization checks.

Trump signed a memorandum allowing vetted private U.S. companies to conduct cyber operations against foreign criminal organizations under oversight.

Your Social Security number appeared in a breach, but exposure and identity theft are not the same. Here's how identity restoration actually works.

Prosperity

Stocks & Mutual Fund