by John Truman Wolfe

I don’t like the word ‘globalization.’

I don’t like the way it sounds.

I don’t like the way it tastes, or feels or smells.

It evokes a world of human misery ruled by some unseen Orwellian tyrant that promotes the glories of “The State” and an obligatory global authority that is, “For the Good of All.”

But that doesn’t mean that globalization of the planet’s economy is some kind of media fiction. It is not.

As a new financial crisis roils through the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), the perilous ramifications for U.S. investors are disturbingly real. Read more »

By John Truman Wolfe

Since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis, I have had several requests to do reviews of the financial strength of several banks. In the course of some of these assessments, I have found that the bank I was examining was in trouble, or heading for trouble and I recommended another.

During the last few years the condition of the banking industry in this country has continued to deteriorate. You can imagine this graph in your head:

2006, 0 bank failures;

2007, 3 bank failures;

2008, 25 bank failures;

2009, 140 bank failures;

2010, 157 bank failures;

2011 is doing better so far with only 48 bank failures to date. Read more »