American in Paris

Israel's Current Economic Miracle: Lessons for the U.S. Economy?

Actually, the rise in college costs is exactly what you would expect in a free market economy.

It is difficult to increase productivity in higher education while maintaining low faculty student ratios.

So Classical economics predicts that a sector whose productivity lags will see the pricing of its goods and services rise relative to more productive sectors.

The solution is more government spending just like in Europe where a selective system together with government financing is used to keep costs under control, but provide access to those who merit it (based on their secondary performance).


On Nov 28 01:50 PM a fat panda wrote:

> It is an interesting article, particularly the parts about intellectual
> capital. The Chinese and Indians are making a great investment in
> this area as well.
>
> It is an interesting contrast with America. Here we are subsidizing
> colleges marked for failure. College is suppose to be where we build
> human capital. It is suppose to be an investment in productivity.
>
>
> The cost of the college that I attended has risen from $4,000 in
> 1980 to over $50,000 this year. One can only conclude that they are
> delibrately trying to attract students who failed high school math.
> Instead of improved results, the percentage of 4 year graduates is
> falling. The school has invested in baseball fields, and gyms, and
> parking decks, and pretty murals. At 10 times the cost, the average
> graduate is no brighter than the graduate 20 years ago.
>
> The school acknowledges the failure of its degree from an investment
> prospective. It says that no student who comes from a moderate income
> family will graduate with more than $15,000 of debt. Another way
> to say this is : our degree is not an investment it is a social symbol.
> We aren't here to make students more capable to live independent
> of parents. We are here to keep your kids as far from reality as
> possible.
>
> No place on earth should understand deflation more than a college.
> Yet, they live in a world of suspended reality, where they pretend
> to teach kids and build human capital.

Leveraged ETFs Have Become a Day Trader's Dream Come True

If you rebalance the ETF periodically, you can achieve long term gains or losses corresponding to the multiplier.

You need to sell when the ETF goes up more than the underlying index and to buy when it does down more than the underlying index.


On Aug 31 12:39 PM mkttrdr wrote:

> These tools are not much different than any other option. Time is
> not on your side w/ bgu or bgz. They lose value and do not grant
> the intended results. You will not get 3X the move of the markets.
>
> You must be right and be short term in your trades. Lereraged trades
> can get you back to zero quickly; or negative. Break down your trading
> to weekly or even daily to get the intended benefit; but you better
> be right.
> Long bgz for Aug 31-sept 3

Triple Leverage ETFs Should Be Reserved for the Strongest Conviction

You can use these leveraged funds to get three times the long term performance of a benchmark. The key is rebalance your ETF holding.

If your ETF holding has a target return of 3x and its actual performnace is signficantly greater, you sell a part of your holdings. Similarly, if your ETF is generating a return of less than 3X, then you buy more.

There are a number of finance papers that lay out the reasoning and formula.

Volatility is the enemy of leveraged funds. Therefore, the higher volatility, the more often you need to rebalance. A strong upward trend is the friend of leveraged funds.