The One Investment That Pays Dividends Every Day

by Alexander Green, Advisory Panelist

I recently received a prospectus for a new closed-end fund, the Artemundi Global Fund.

This fund does not invest in stocks, bonds, commodities, or currencies. Rather, it invests solely in art, from Old Masters to Post-war and Contemporary Art.

Artemundi points out that fine art has outperformed stocks, bonds and real estate over the past 20 years. It has a low correlation with other assets, providing excellent diversification. And it is portable, so you can take it with you around the country and across borders.

However, I don’t have the slightest interest in owning art through a fund. To me, that takes away this asset’s single greatest benefit: aesthetic pleasure.

The paintings, prints and sculptures I display in my home and office pay dividends every

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Americans should have been in the streets to reclaim the country long ago. Patrick Henry and his fellow patriots are turning over in their graves about the present day USA. The savvy folks I talk to on a regular basis are exceedingly pessimistic that our blessed republic can pull out of this present financial, economic and political tailspin. The US as we have known it is on the ropes.

Our third President and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, long ago stated …”Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies”.

He also declared …“If Americans ever allow banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless.”

Hello.

A second American Revolution is now at least as necessary as the first one was though few citizens have an overall understanding of

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Buy tax-free bonds - now.  If you’re a mutual fund investor, buy them through Vanguard (the average fund company charges expenses six times higher than Vanguard’s).

If you are a closed-end investor, try a tax-free fund like Nuveen Insured Municipal Opportunity Fund (NYSE:NIO), trading at a 10% discount to its net asset value and yielding over 6% paid monthly.

Or, to avoid annual expenses and have the certainty of a final value on a particular date, buy individual tax-free bonds.

But whatever you do, buy them now. Let me count the reasons why you should…

Three Reasons Why Municipal Bonds Make A Good Investment Now

Ten-year municipal bonds, while down from the historic premium they reached a few months ago, are yielding as much as 10-year Treasuries. But while Treasuries are taxable, munis are not. Most municipal bonds are safe. Yes, a few areas - particularly in California and Alabama - are troubled. But the ...

From the first paragraph of my Saturday commentary…”I don’t know what it is about that [one hour and change] stretch of time between the Sydney close and the London open…but if there is going to be a down day…it starts right there a large percentage of the time.” Any questions? Actually, both gold and silver got sold off the moment that the New York bullion banks opened for business 6:00 p.m. on Sunday night…which is very early Monday morning in Far East trading. Shortly before 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, gold had almost made it back to unchanged…and silver was actually up a couple of cents when the hammer fell. The bottom for gold came very shortly after the London a.m. gold fix at 5:30 New York time…and in silver, shortly after the Comex open. The ‘rally’ in the US dollar that started at the same time as the precious

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“Words from the Wise” this week comes to you in a shortened format as I do not have access to my normal research resources while on the road in Europe (also see my post “Gone A.W.O.L. - to Slovenia and Switzerland“). Although very little commentary is provided, a full dose of excerpts from interesting news items and quotes from market commentators is included.

While investors’ hopes of an economic recovery might have got ahead of reality, the cartoonists continually reminded us of worrisome issues …

Source: Signe Wilkinson, Washington Post,  June 18, 2009.

The past week’s performance of the major asset classes is summarized by the chart below - a mixed bag so to speak.

Source: StockCharts.com

A summary of

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“If the American people ever allowed the banks to control the issuance of their currency, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless.” - Thomas Jefferson

Witching Friday brought on a surge of volume during the first 30 minutes of the trading session.  Stocks appeared to hold up relatively well during the onslaught of expiration trading by option traders.  However, selling continued to weigh on the market throughout the day notching another distribution day for the market.  During the first few weeks of a newly confirmed rally distribution days are blemishes that are not removed easily.  Unfortunately, the shape of this most recent recovery (v-shaped) eludes to another failed rally attempt, but that will remain to be seen.

The more pressing issue is the rapid pace the US Monetary Supply is growing and how global leaders

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 ”I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.  If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.  The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”  -  Thomas Jefferson

It has been, to say the least very troubling times for this stock market and economy.  I have been pretty clear that cash, gold, and silver were the places to be in this market.  Even SXCI failed when Obama’s budget proposal decided to wipe clean healthcare.  Far too many are looking for a massive rebound in the market and

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Gold didn’t do a whole heck of a lot in the Far East yesterday. A smallish rally into the London a.m. fix [5:30 a.m. in N.Y.] got smacked, but managed to gain that back and a bit more by 9:00 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Then the usual not-for-profit seller[s] showed up, and that was it for the day. The low came in after-hours electronic trading…shortly after the Comex trading pits closed. After that, it managed to tack on a few bucks before Globex trading closed in New York at 5:15 p.m.

Volume was so-so. Only 99,266 contracts were estimated to have traded, including a switch effect of 8,734 contracts.

click to enlarge

Silver’s action yesterday was similar to gold’s…with the exception that the ‘low’ for yesterday [such as it was] occurred in early morning trading in

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“The trifling economy of paper, as a cheaper medium, or its convenience for transmission, weighs nothing in opposition to the advantages of the precious metals… it is liable to be abused, has been, is, and forever will be abused, in every country in which it is permitted.”–Thomas Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813. ME 13:430

Troubling the markets is very quite simple:  Nationalization.  The banking system is insolvent and soon it will be nationalized along with healthcare.   Obama’s budget calls for a “downpayment” on a national healthcare system that would insure ALL people.  On the outside, this looks great wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone had healthcare?  Sadly, we are broke and can not afford insuring everyone, but the President believes we can.  Therefore, any healthcare related stock will be under siege by the Obama adminstration and will have its profits squeezed until the

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Despite gold’s best attempts to rally in the Sydney market, a determined seller took the price down once Hong Kong opened. It rallied a bit until 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong (midnight in New York) and then got sold off again until shortly after London opened. A rally commenced until shortly after the Comex opened…and that was it for the day…as gold was capped every time it tried to rally over $980. Estimated volume was 121,349 contracts, with a switch effect of 8,040.

Silver was similar…with its top price coming at 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong. A small rally in London was crushed…as silver came under selling pressure about an hour before the Comex opened. After the Comex close, silver did manage to gain a bit in electronic trading on the Globex.

The precious metals trading pattern sure looked like prices wanted to rise, but were beaten into submission by one or

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