Hi Malcolm - I want to take another post to address the second half of your post.
Safer to invest outside the US -
For many things, certainly the average business, I would agree.
In addtion to the balance of payments issues, there is the excessive litagation problem (easily an economic drag equal to 2-4 % of GDP), and some seriously under funded pension obligations.
As the numbers of "good jobs" shrink, I think we will see more efforts at litagation reform, reduction of barriers to business, efforts to retain jobs in the US, and about a 20 to 50 % effective devaluation of the US dollar over the next 5-7 years.
Most of my portfolio is in -
1) Natural resources Gas, oil, Metals, - inside the US or elsewhere - this is a bet on the decline of the USD dollar in addtion to commodity scarcity.
2)Foreign funds or stocks, usually Asia, some times Canada or Austrailia.
3) Specialized areas where there is still a US advantage, lkike Biotech, specialized semiconductors, specialized software.
4) Special situations, like Reliant RRI an electric utility. |
