Smidiríní

Fourth aircraft carrier heads to the Middle East. Quietly we've been moving a lot of fire power to the Middle East.{Zerohedge.com/}

TheStreet.com: Why you must have an asset allocation strategy.   "According to an analysis by Dalbar, the average investor earned 2.1% over the twenty year period ended Dec. 31, 2011. How did this compare to other asset classes?  To make it very simple, the S&P 500 returned 7.8%, while the Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond Index returned 6.5% over the same time period. A 50/50 blend of these two asset classes would have yielded a nominal annualized return of 7.2%. Wait, it gets even worse.  After including inflation, the average investor got a negative real return. Inflation (CPI) grew at an annualized rate of 2.5% during the period. So the average investors' net real return was -0.4%. The average investor is not very good at capturing the market return of a simple balanced portfolio, never mind outperforming it."  My note:  This is the reason most investors need help.  They for the most part are simply incapable of dealing with market volatility on their own.

Businessinsider.com: Here are your new Obamacare taxes!  {It's a lot more than has been advertised!}

Bloombergbusinessweek.com: Is housing back from the dead?

aei-ideas.org: The President is in more trouble than you think.   {Maybe but the President still leads in the majority of the Battleground states he needs in order to win in November, although that lead is shrinking in places like Florida.}

And for what it's worth, it finally rained here at Global HQ last night!

*Long ETFs related to the S&P 500 in client and personal accounts.