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Monday 31 August 2015

Is it Really Class Warfare

The Occupy Wall Street movement no longer occupies Wall Street, but the issue of class conflict has captured a growing share of the national consciousness. A new Pew Research Center survey of 2,048 adults finds that about two-thirds of the public (66%) believes there are “very strong” or “strong” conflicts between the rich and the poor—an increase of 19 percentage points since 2009.

Not only have perceptions of class conflict grown more prevalent; so, too, has the belief that these disputes are intense. According to the new survey, three-in-ten Americans (30%) say there are “very strong conflicts” between poor people and rich people.

For More: http://ziadabdelnourauthor.com/is-it-really-class-warfare/

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Friday 28 August 2015

Renewing Wealth Creation and the American Dream

Because the process of making money is the best education for making more money, our society’s wealth can grow only if the people who create it control it. Divorce the financial profits from the learning process and the economy stagnates.

Although many of today’s entrepreneurs are too busy to notice, they are indeed performing a near miracle of personal wealth creation. Most started their companies only a few years ago on relatively meager capital. Now, zapping their companies with police radar as they zoom by at a growth rate of some 50% per year, we can guess that dozens of those entrepreneurs command a net worth of scores of millions. Soon they will be knocking on the doors of truly supreme wealth… like their predecessors Bill Gates of Microsoft, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Steve Jobs of Apple and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook among others.


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Thursday 27 August 2015

My Favorite Way to Beat the Market By Mark Skousen




Mark Skousen, Ph. D., Editor of Forecasts & Strategies, is a nationally known investment expert, economist, university professor, and author of more than 25 books. Currently Skousen is a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. He recently was named one of the 20 most influential living economists. He earned his Ph. D. in monetary economics at George Washington University in 1977. He has taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Grantham University, Barnard College, Mercy College, Rollins College and Chapman University. He also has been a consultant to IBM, Hutchinson Technology and other Fortune 500 companies.

For More: Mark Skousen

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Wednesday 26 August 2015

The Perils of Inattention

In many sports, players are advised always to “keep your eye on the ball.” In 2008, we took our eye off the ball; as a result, we chose a president, and an administration, that did the same.

In the 2008 election cycle, voters were fed up with George W. Bush – and certainly not without some justification. They were ready to vote “not Bush” and “not Republican.” However, in a time fraught with enormous economic difficulty and peril, we elected a president whose background showed no particular familiarity with or interest in economics, and whose record revealed that he was likely to pursue, and to prioritize, the very sorts of policies he has in fact pursued.

For a man who has been president of the United States for nearly a full term, there is much that is not known about Barack Obama. What we do know,however, and can say with some certainty, is that Obama sees himself as a transformative figure in American history. His deepest and most abiding concerns are with his perception that the economic system is unfair and demands reform, particularly in the form of more social benefits to those he sees as in some way underprivileged, a larger government role in the regulation of business, and higher tax rates for high earners.

For More: http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/fpcnew/articledetails.aspx?id=31/The-Perils-of-Inattention

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Tuesday 25 August 2015

Legal Extraterritoriality As An Assault on Capitalism

Is the federal government trying to subvert American capitalism by pushing for extraterritorial application of American criminal law as a way to induce the flight of capital, and the capital classes, from the United States?

Is this theory so radical?  Little else explains why federal government lawyers are making certain arguments to defend the fraud convictions of two Wall Street financiers – Ross Mandell and Adam Harrington of Sky Capital -- against their appeal.  Our government now argues that “criminal statutes have extraterritorial reach so long as the nature of the crime does not turn on where the defendant acts and where restricting the statute to domestic acts would undermine the statute’s purpose.” Appellate Brief For The United States of America, Mandell v. U.S., Docket Nos. 12-1967 and 12-2090, at 34 (emphasis added).  You read that right; where the crime occurs is irrelevant, because if our federal government declares the "purpose" of an American law reaches beyond our borders, you can be prosecuted for something you are accused of doing abroad, even if that act is not a crime offshore! Unless American courts reaffirm a recent Supreme Court decision, our Justice Department can stretch the reach of America’s metastasizing criminal law and equally byzantine civil law anywhere on the planet. Extraterrestrials, beware.

For More: http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/fpcnew/articledetails.aspx?id=43/Legal-Extraterritoriality-As-An-Assault-on-Capitalism

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Monday 24 August 2015

Defending the Rich from the Author of ‘Economic Warfare’

It is an oft-repeated axiom that a person can learn a whole lot about a society by how it treats its poor; but just as much may be learned by looking at how that same society treats its rich.

Indeed, the economic future of the poor—and our nation—will be determined in the coming decades by how we treat the people in this country who create great wealth. It will be determined by our understanding of the so-called rich and by our need to foster and protect this minority of true wealth creators.

For More: http://www.cnbc.com/id/47324363

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Friday 21 August 2015

Interview with Mr. Ziad K. Abdelnour – President & CEO of Blackhawk Partners

Ziad K. Abdelnour is a leading Wall Street dealmaker, trader and financier with 20+ years experience in merchant banking, private equity, alternative investments and physical commodities trading. Throughout his career, Mr. Abdelnour worked on more than 125 transactions representing approximately $30 billion in value and ranging in size from $5 million – $5 billion while raising in the process in excess of $3.5 billion in privately placed debt and equity financing for more than 100 companies.

Mr. Abdelnour is currently President & CEO of Blackhawk Partners, Inc., a New York based venture capital “family office” that focuses on originating, structuring and acting as equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, and growth capital financings mainly in the global energy and technology sectors.

For More: http://westernhq.com/blog/archives/16#more-16

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Thursday 20 August 2015

NO ONE ASKED THE ENTREPRENEURS

As a capitalist and entrepreneur, I would have preferred to see a concentration of tax incentives aimed at the purchase of housing and autos, and tax cuts for small business and capital, rather than the current plan, which emphasizes bolstering federal and state welfare programs. The reality is that the millions of jobs President Obama’s “stimulus” supposedly creates are government jobs. But what happens when those jobs are completed? Is everyone laid off again? Does Obama pass another “stimulus” bill?

The theory is that the “stimulus” will bring back everyone’s confidence, and those of us who are in the business of creating jobs and wealth will be inspired to hire and grow.

For More: http://www.wnd.com/2009/02/89289/

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Wednesday 19 August 2015

Will sanctions have economic impact on Russia

Even the sanctions on trade will not cause much harm (as only 2 percent of Russia’s exports got to the U.S. and mostly includes petroleum products, and only 5 percent of total imports from U.S., including vehicles, agricultural products, chemical products and civilian aircrafts, etc). They can always procure them from other countries.

Russia can survive by forging a close alliance with China. They are not allies the way the U.S. and European Union are, mainly because Russia expects China to have a go at Russia’s Far East at some stage. However, tactical needs for survival can trump the strategic concerns. That can result in close and truly cooperative alliance of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, perhaps Mongolia, some others, with China building high-speed railways all the way to Sevastopol.

For More: http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/will-sanctions-have-economic-impact-on-russia/

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Tuesday 18 August 2015

Profitability through the Crowd—Bringing Main Street to Wall Street - Financial Policy Council

The Graduate Center / CUNY at 365 Fifth Avenue at The Elebash Recital Hall – On the main floor of the building and on the left as you enter into the main lobby  

When crowdfunding and marketplace lending came onto the scene there was little interest from Wall Street in these platforms that were mainly working with undesirable startups and sub-prime borrowers. A few years later crowdfunding has become a true contender, eclipsing angel investments and will soon overtake venture capital as the primary method for funding new businesses.  And now, platform “crowd” finance is beginning to create large dents in both the emerging and growth equity fields. This is a critical opportunity for savvy investment firms to use their existing brand to expand their reach toward new customer bases. Tapping into Main Street accredited investors that want to invest alongside institutional players and expanding access to deal flow.  One such example of this expansion is Goldman Sachs’ entry into the online lending market.  
 
For More: Financial Policy Council

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Monday 17 August 2015

About Those Mad Wall Street Egomaniacs | Ziad Abdelnour

About Those Mad Wall Street Egomaniacs We Call “Masters Of The Universe”

Masters of the markets may not want fame, but some certainly want the trappings it brings: the best tables at the best restaurants, access beyond the velvet ropes, and membership to the most exclusive clubs. So they get those things by simply buying them. Everything has a cost, and Wall Street loves to prove that. It confirms their worldview: money is the most important thing.

Eventually, for every Wall Street trader, for every hedge-fund manager, there will come a time when it is over. A run of luck will come to an end. The secret that made them feel special will be discovered. Or the regulators will find them, breathing down their necks, challenging the secrets as being too secret, or the wrong type of secrets.

For More: http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/fpcnew/blogdetails.aspx?id=1103/Smart-v/s-Wealthy

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Friday 14 August 2015

Smart v/s Wealthy - Financial Policy Council

While you may think that being smart, motivated, and talented would logically make you wealthy, unfortunately, this is often not the case.

Smart and talented people often have a flair for the unusual, complicated, or different. They don't like to follow the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid), which is required to make money.

So, being smart or talented isn't going to help you unless you can use those smarts to figure out a way to simplify those tasks that will make you money. This isn't easy, because it goes against everything that you have ever done and is counter to how you were taught to think. However, it is necessary for a business to succeed and why smarts and talent alone don't predict entrepreneurial success and hence wealth creation.

For More: http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/fpcnew/blogdetails.aspx?id=1103/Smart-v/s-Wealthy

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Thursday 13 August 2015

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE A BILLIONAIRE?

Billionaires tend in fact to view the world as a tangibly fungible place. They see the world and want to move the puzzle pieces entirely around. They look for the faults in the ecosystem and identify massive holes and what could be added to fully capture that value. Then they spend about 10 years maniacally attacking the gap, organizing people, recruiting and generally creating a “cult”. They create a bible so to speak of values and ideas that bundle together in such an appealing way to attract the smartest people around (aka the future millionaires).

The billionaires I know don’t look forward to the weekend. They don’t drink. They work from 5am to midnight everyday including weekends. They don’t socialize with friends and they often mix friends and work. It’s all one big chain that supports their vision of the future and tying up the value. This is a different internal programming than most people have out there.

For More: http://ziadabdelnourblackhawk.com/whats-it-like-to-be-a-billionaire/

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Wednesday 12 August 2015

Navigating the Emerging Markets Of Today

Over the past decade, growth in emerging markets has in fact outpaced growth in developed markets by more than double.  Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) looks like it will continue to outperform that of developed markets for at least the
next five years, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund.

We are often asked why Economic growth and stock market performance don’t always directly correlate in a given year, and if that’s the case, does a nation’s GDP growth matter at all when it comes to investing in companies? While it’s true that growth and stock market performance can be divergent at times, there is no question that growth matters since company earnings depend on general economic growth.

If you carefully analyze the breakdown of growth in emerging versus developed markets, you can see emerging markets have grown faster than developed markets for many years. In general, strong growth rates are regarded as a key characteristic of
emerging markets. In the past 20 years, there was only one year, 1998, when growth in emerging markets lagged developed markets.

For More: http://www.blackhawkpartners.com/navigating-emerging-markets-today/

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Tuesday 11 August 2015

Oil Geopolitics and Iran

The baseline is for prices to return to about $70 for a barrel of Brent Crude in 2016. Additional supply from Iran would knock roughly $5/barrel off expectations – or less than one quarter of a standard deviation. Said another way, additional Iranian output could move prices lower, but many other factors, such as changes in global GDP or the return of Libyan oil, could prove more meaningful over the next year. What’s more, recent trading suggests the market has already priced in much of this risk.

Over the longer term, I believe an increase in Iranian output could be for sure significant. With investment and time, Iran could meet a greater share of global demand for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). It also could ship natural gas to Europe via pipeline, challenging Russia’s dominance.

For More: http://ziadabdelnourauthor.com/oil-geopolitics-and-iran/

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Monday 10 August 2015

Standing With Donald Trump

Israel’s wall along the Palesinian territory has reduced terror assaults dramatically. Tunisia and Israel are building walls to keep ISIS out of their countries. If there was little hope of the walls keeping out an entire army of well armed extremist fighters neither country would waste the resources to build them. Yet the primary excuse in the U.S. for not finishing the wall along the southern border is that it cannot work.

The false outrage over Donald Trump’s recent remarks about illegal immigrants were twisted to meet the desires of those crying wolf. Almost immediately three horrible crimes were laid at the feet of illegals sheltered in cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration laws or even court orders to deal with criminals as illegals.

For More: Standing With Donald Trump

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Friday 7 August 2015

Assessing The Trump Candidacy

There are some implications for the financial and investing communities.

But first, to address the well-founded skepticism after previous teases at runs each election cycle since 2000: Trump is running in the Republican primary and has just filed the requisite documents with the Federal Election Commission. He has the funds to tackle the ballot access requirements in each state, and to hire the brains to strategize a successful run.

In those respects, Trump evokes a comparison to an equally iconoclastic predecessor who ran twice for President in 1992 and 1996: H. Ross Perot. Now, Trump has a big advantage over Perot in that while it is far easier to get to the general election as a self-financing independent, it is far easier to actually win if you are the nominee of one of the two major parties.

For More: http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/fpcnew/blogdetails.aspx?id=1099/Assessing-The-Trump-Candidacy

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Thursday 6 August 2015

Abdelnour - Government Needs to Let Businesses Create Jobs

The U.S. government shouldn’t worry about creating jobs — but instead, it should generate an environment that encourages businesses to create jobs, says Ziad Abdelnour, author and CEO of Blackhawk Partners.

Leadership should focus more on cutting spending and avoid raising taxes and let millionaires hire and create more millionaires, Abdelnour tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive video interview.

Focusing too much attention on blaming Wall Street fat cats and ignoring the Main Street entrepreneur won't help the U.S. economy.

For More: http://www.newsmax.com/finance/InvestingAnalysis/Abdelnour-Government-Businesses-Jobs/2011/12/01/id/419692/

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Wednesday 5 August 2015

Financial Policy Council Hosts Leading Crowdfunding Experts

Financial Policy Council will host a private briefing with a panel of four crowdfunding experts who will discuss how Wall Street investment firms can strengthen market share and viability through crowdfunding. The speakers Georgia P. Quinn, D.J. Paul, Chris Tyrell, and Joy Schoffler each have unique backgrounds in various industries, but share a common, extensive understanding of the financial technology sector and the effect that crowdfunding will bring to the investment world. Ziad Abelnour, the founder and chairman of Financial Policy Council Inc., will moderate the panel.

Once overlooked entirely by institutional investors, crowdfunding has now become a solid contender in the financial world, eclipsing angel investments and eventually overtaking venture capital as the primary method for funding new businesses.

For More: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/08/prweb12881791.htm

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Monday 3 August 2015

MY PERSONAL OPINION ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR DEAL

On the surface, the deal for most Western leaders looks good.  The West has nothing to lose but everything to gain from this deal. The major nuclear suppliers  and corporations which are housed in the West gain money and business. There is no risk involved as the inspection standards are pretty strict. The West also gets to clean up its image of being anti-Muslim. It also gets a strong hold in the Middle East as Iran is close to Afghanistan and Pakistan, gets to check Chinese and Russian presence in the region and above all make huge amounts of money.

Iran on the other hand gets to keep its nuclear program, albeit a limited one. Also, Iran acquires first rate technology, improves its energy security and currency reserves and gets a tremendous boost in its economy.

For More: http://ziadabdelnour.org/my-personal-opinion-on-irans-nuclear-deal/

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