Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of March 19, 2013?

Article Excerpt

I’d say we got some encouraging but indirect news recently about the outlook for the U.S. federal budget deficit. The news came from an unlikely source: the mouth of Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan. Karzai made some glaringly anti-American remarks in recent weeks—accusing the U.S. of collaborating with the Taliban, torturing Afghan civilians, kidnapping university students and so on. There may be some truth to these accusations, but that’s beside the point. This kind of talk from a long-time beneficiary of U.S. military aid just might spur a turning point in U.S. public opinion. Karzai’s charges may have been the proverbial final straw for Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee. Last week, in the Republican version of the proposed U.S. Federal Budget, Ryan proposed future caps on U.S. defence spending. This is virtually the opposite of the official Republican position of just six months ago. Back then, Republican vice-presidential candidate Ryan and presidential candidate Mitt Romney…