On the Money
Charles Ortel
Rasmussen poll: 23% of voters say NRA should be declared a ‘terrorist group’
The National Rifle Association is America's largest gun rights organization with over 5 million members. Nevertheless, San Francisco officials recently voted to declare the organization a "terrorist group" - an idea which has appeal for some Americans, particularly Democrats.
CHARLES ORTEL: President Obama is not prepared or inclined to avert the looming global meltdown
As restorative pageantry unfolds in Paris following an horrific week, tectonic plates that underlie global commerce and international security continue clashing. This new year in which we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II is already fraught with peril.
CHARLES ORTEL: Brazil stock equities risky bargain even at low market value
Each January, investors start scouring for bargains, and, at first blush, the beaten-down Brazilian stock market seems to offer some fertile hunting ground.
CHARLES ORTEL: Obama’s current and future Russia quandary
The American economy surges, while stock market indices soar higher, and the U.S. dollar remains the currency of choice for global investors. Not so fast.
CHARLES ORTEL: American dream crushed by big government
Gigantic, centrally administered organizations do more harm than good to households that struggle to contend with threats posed by the rapid pace of technological change.
CHARLES ORTEL: Examining the economic delusions of Mad King Barack the Last
The current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. needs care little about "those who did not vote" and even less concerning foreign citizens who persistently break American immigration and employment laws.
CHARLES ORTEL: For new investors, is Twitter a treat or a turkey?
Unscathed after Halloween in Manhattan's West Village, and starting to make preparations for Thanksgiving, I cannot stop thinking about twinkling Twitter. Are common shares of this 2006 vintage startup delectable candy or spoiled fowl?
CHARLES ORTEL: Facebook owes investors a little detail
A friend once hid an elephant in plain sight for months. Are Mark Zuckerberg, management, venture capitalists, investment bankers, stock market analysts, traders and securities' market regulators all concealing a different kind of animal underneath the facade presented in Facebook's public financial disclosures?
CHARLES ORTEL: America nears financial suicide as voters head to the polls
Will you do the right thing and send an unmistakable message to the Obama administration and those who still defend its tragic record of failures?
CHARLES ORTEL: As President Obama hides, the American economy heads for another fall
Scant days before we vote, the tone-deaf suggestions made by partisans that Americans are better off financially in 2014 merely compound woes for Democrats — repeated stridently and arrogantly, these assertions simply prove that Team Obama is economically illiterate, when compared to available evidence.
CHARLES ORTEL: Pakistan is a radioactive ‘powder keg’
Once again, Pakistanis are seething and their combustible nation threatens to erupt.
ORTEL: Don’t be fooled by the latest rosy jobs report
Like teachers who turn poor test scores for students into high letter grades using subjective adjustments, government bureaucrats who issued Friday's September jobs report created hollow arguments for political partisans and for surface-level financial analysts that the American economy is rebounding.
ORTEL: Under President Obama, shoppers flee retailers — investors should too
The way animals quiet and birds flee before natural disasters hit, professional investors months ago presciently cut their exposures to American retailers. Now, a man-made tsunami rushes toward the sector that will crush overleveraged vendors, landlords and communities across the country.
