Lawrence Jung's Profile

Once again we quote Professor Ferguson, who says we are on the cusp of a 500-year event. He believes that China will be the engine that eventually emerges. "China is in the early phase of a massive buying spree to get the commodities she needs. … Load up on copper, load up on anything the Chinese want … the safest one-way trade you can make."

U.S. home sales increased 11
percent to a two-year high in the third quarter as an $8,000
tax credit for first-time buyers boosted demand.

Sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums
increased to 5.3 million at an annualized, seasonally adjusted
rate from the previous quarter, the National Association of
Realtors said today.

History shows stocks have climbed 92 percent of
the time in the six months before government borrowing costs
began the biggest increases, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Shares rise before
central banks push up interest rates because markets anticipate
economic expansion first

It's called the DB(k) and it was created in the tax code in 2006. The law allows companies with fewer than 500 workers to start the hybrid plan after Jan. 1, 2010, and some proponents would like to see it available to all workers. As it is now, barely 40 percent of all workers even participate in a retirement plan at work.

Dean Baker, a director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said he did not expect declining unemployment rates until next spring. “We may be looking at very high levels,” Mr. Baker said, “barring a policy response, for several years into the future.”

For your life coverage, don't mess around with anything other than simple term insurance, which offers the cheapest protection for your family. A healthy 30-year-old man can buy $1 million of coverage for as little as $1,200 a year. In general, you want enough coverage so that if you pass away the policy will pay off your mortgage and all other debts; cover any impending large expenses like private-school tuition; and generate enough income to replace at least half of your salary (with no debt or big expenses your spouse should be fine with the pay cut).

The nation's biggest metro area, New York City, will underperform the nation as a whole over the next two years, according to Fiserv. Prices, which have already fallen 21.7% to a median of $375,000, are expected to fall 17.4% by June 2011.