The Focus on Cuba Cuba has been a focus of the Trump administration since the capture of Nicolas Maduro, then President of Venezuela, on January 3, 2026. Venezuela had been a large support system for Cuba, and after Maduro’s capture, the U.S. was able to pull that Venezuelan support and apply new pressure to Cuba.
As the U.S. conflict in Iran enters its third week, we felt writing about the conflict and the history that got us here would make sense. Let’s start by examining the history that set the stage for the United States and Iran to be pitted against each other. In 1953, the United States and the
Moody’s credit rating agency downgraded U.S. government debt from AAA to AA1 on May 16, 2025. Although troubling, this isn’t dramatic on its own, as the two other major credit rating agencies downgraded U.S. government debt previously. S&P credit downgraded U.S. government debt in 2011, and Fitch credit downgraded it in 2023, so the debt
What is long-term care insurance? Recently, we’ve seen some articles and had personal conversations regarding long-term care insurance. We feel the topic is timely and might be a good one for this issue of Financially Speaking. To start the discussion, let’s get a good baseline for exactly what long-term care insurance is. Long-term care insurance
Since writing our last Financially Speaking, the 2024 election has ended. We know elections can be sensitive and emotional, so we will not focus on the good or bad of the election results. Instead, we want to focus on the results and where we might expect things to go over the next few years. Of
Rising Unemployment Rate? The U.S. unemployment rate has been rising. It is up 0.8% since early 2023. Often, rising unemployment is a worrisome sign that a recession could be coming. As you may know, we have been suggesting over the past several months that the risk of recession is rising, and higher unemployment does help
Recent Market Fluctuations The S&P 500, our preferred market reference, hit its last peak on July 16, 2024, at 5,667.20. Since then, it has been on a steady decline, and on August 1, it took a more substantial downward turn. In the following days, it continued to decline until August 5. The complete pullback from
Political Turbulence in the U.S. Election On July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden dropped out of the Presidential election race culminating this coming November. At the same time, he gave his full support and endorsement to his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to fill his spot at the top of the election ticket. The announcement was
U.S. Economy – Apparently Clear Sailing The U.S. stock market, as measured by our preferred index of the S&P 500, has been remarkably strong this year. In January, even as markets were concerned about inflation readings (December had an annual inflation reading of +3.4%), markets generally were positive. As a reference, the S&P 500 started
Debt and Deficits We’ve seen several articles and news stories recently about the debt and deficits in the U.S. economy. Much of this recent reporting is likely driven by the high levels seen for both deficit and debt and comparing those amounts to history. In this issue of Financially Speaking, we want to investigate these
