Historically speaking, a presidential election year is a positive year for the financial markets. This very well may be the case for 2012 since there are some encouraging signs that real estate and job growth may improve this year. The Euro still may have a negative impact on the world markets, but the US market appears to be de-linking from the European markets. We would expect better investment returns in 2012 than what we received in 2011.

If you remember the projections from the government in January of 2011 that the US economy would grow at a rate of 3.5-3.9% and inflation would stay below 2%, then you know how bad an anemic estimated 1.8% actual growth rate is for the year. Not only did the economy not grow anywhere near the figure projected, inflation jumped up to 2.5% from a projected 1-1.9%. Naturally, this sluggish growth rate also has an impact on amount of tax revenue the government collects which also effects the government’s ability to pay interest on their huge debt. The current administration’s solution? Cut defense spending and add more than a trillion dollars in new debt on top of what we have. We need pro-growth economic policies, not more debt, for 2012.

Uncertainty, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult factors for professional as well as individual investors to deal with, and it is dominating the markets currently Read more >>