Posted by kuehltha on 09/30/09
Last updated 10/01/09

Ruth O'Connell, Republican Committeeman for Wheeling Township in Cook County, which I believe is completely contained in District 10, is hosting interviews to be a precinct captain. The position is incredibly easy, and also incredibly powerful.

The Wheeling Township endorsement session is Nov. 14th, where the precinct captains will decide which candidates to list on their sample ballot and feature in their precinct walks for the Feb. 2 primary.

Wheeling Township is the largest Republican area in Cook County, and one of the largest in Illinois. An endorsement from Wheeling Township can sway even statewide primaries. Wouldn't you like to be one of the 50-100 people that votes on those endorsements?

Call Ruth at the office, 847.632.1774, for an appointment, or message me and I will provide an introduction. Please forward this to anyone who lives in Wheeling Township and might be interested.

Posted by kuehltha on 08/04/10

When asked about Obama's role in the economy, most Wall Street pundits are content to either cheer or jeer from the sidelines. They give you their opinion. They tell you what to buy or sell. And then they're done.

Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital is a rare exception. Not only was his massively best-selling book - Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse - dead right about the debt crisis and the Great Recession, but he has now taken this effort to the next level: A maverick campaign for Senate in the State of Connecticut.

Peter has been a contributor to Money and Markets since 2008 and a colleague for over a decade.

But his hotly contested primary is coming up this Tuesday, August 10 - just six days from today.

So I decided that the timing was right for this long-overdue interview with one of the few in our industry who not only has urgent advice to help protect investors in this crisis ... but is also striving to DO something about it for his fellow citizens.

Read the rest here.

Posted by kuehltha on 12/23/09

My favorite investing newsletter hits the nail right on the head yet again.

Fed President Ben Bernanke has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2009.

The Great Recession is the Result Of Unsound Monetary and Fiscal Policy

By now there is the widely held consensus that the crisis of the last two years is the result of a burst real estate bubble. Even the economists who didn't see it coming and who had no clue about the bubble and its unavoidable aftermath have finally come to this conclusion.

But here their analysis and their economic curiosity stop. It's hard to believe, but mainstream economists do not even raise the obvious question about what caused this huge bubble. They don't seem to be interested in truth and cognizance.

You can read the full newsletter here.

Posted by kuehltha on 09/13/09
Last updated 09/13/09

On Saturday, September 12th, 2009, I had the pleasure of attending the Republicans of Wheeling Township Meet The Gubernatorial Candidates Event.  Dan Patlak, candidate for Cook County Board of Review, was the Master of Ceremonies for the event.  All 6 Illinois gubernatorial candidates were present at the Republicans of Wheeling Township meeting held at their offices in Arlington Heights, Illinois.  They were first allowed a short speech in random order:

Bill Brady

Kirk Dillard

Matt Murphy

Bob Schillerstrom

Adam Andrzejewski

Dan Proft

After each short speech, the candidates were given 4 questions the Republicans of Wheeling Township had come up with:

1. Are you for or against video poker?
   1. All of the candidates stated that they were against any expansion of gambling in Illinois.  Some did vote for expansion because it was packaged with the huge capital bill recently passed.  I believe the reasoning for this was that without the bill the Illinois government would have been shut down.

1. Are you for or against abortion?
   1. All of the candidates were in favor of pro-life laws except for Bob Schillerstrom who is against late term and teenage abortions.  On Bob's website it quotes him as saying "I am opposed to abortion, but I am pro-choice."

1. Are you for or against gay marriage and/or civil unions?
   1. All candidates were against gay marriage AND civil unions.

1. Are you for or against a concealed carry law in Illinois?
   1. All candidates except Bob Schillerstrom from DuPage county were for allowing concealed carry.  Bob spoke of DuPage counties excellent law enforcement as an alternative to concealed carry laws.  I could not find a link on Bob's website regarding guns or concealed carry laws.

There were a few questions from the audience after the initial questions.  The one I liked was "What do you have the others do not?" 

Adam suggested that  Illinois needs a new face and that he was unifying the Polish communities. 

Murphy said that he has just enough time in Springfield to have experience, but not to be tied down by their baggage and that he would make the democrats defend themselves and their policies all over the state.

Brady said that he would be able to successfully ask African Americans and Latinos for their votes, as they hold similar values.

Dillard has had a history of working in churches throughout the state in every neighborhood and could bring together people from all walks of life and ethnicities.

I didn't catch what Bob or Dan said, or it wasn't memorable.

Normally I wouldn't notice things like this, but I was just watching the morning news this week and saw that when wearing a suit, the new style is to wear a white kerchief straight across.  Other colors should be poofed up.  Adam did have a white pocket square and it was straight across, so he got that right.  That also led me to notice that he was the only candidate wearing cuff links, which just look cool.

Posted 09/14/09 lisaw Momence, IL

Thanks for the write-up, Justin, esp. the fashion observations!

Posted 09/14/09 sjaye Chicago, IL

Any candidates particularly impress you based on anything other than fashion? Anyone you were really not impressed with?

Posted 09/14/09 kuehltha Mount Prospect, IL

I really like Adam A. He's a young self made man. He has not been in politics before, but he did start the website ForTheGoodOfIllinois which has successfully been bringing transparency to Illinois governments. His ideas to fix Illinois also fit with my less government is better ideals, without pulling the rug out from anyone who has become dependent upon the current system. Dan Proft also has some good ideas, but I don't know much about him. Bill, Kirk, and Bob have been in government too long for my tastes and seem like more of the same for Illinois. I don't have much info on Murphy, but I think he is probably already too involved with old school Illinois politics. He has voted for several bills I don't like and doesn't support SB600 which would allow for elections of the IL State GOP Committee.

Posted 09/14/09 kuehltha Mount Prospect, IL

I should point out that the fact that Adam A. hasn't been in politics before is a plus to me.

Posted 09/15/09 sjaye Chicago, IL

Thanks for your assessment. There is a video on Illinois Review of Kirk Dillard actually saying that to close the budget gap in Illinois he would pressure Durbin and Obama to give the state more medicaid money. I doubt I could even vote for him in the general election, let alone the primaries. Schillerstrom's video poker obsession is getting on my nerves. I'm impressed with both Andrzejeski and Proft right now, kind of hoping one of them emerges as the anti-establishment candidate. I'm glad we are all doing our research on candidates. Any good ones for the 10th now that Kirk is running for Senate?

Posted 09/16/09 kuehltha Mount Prospect, IL

I'm glad you asked sjaye, that's the next meeting! http://www.campaignforliberty.com/calendar.php?rsvp=6017 Meet the 10th Congressional District & US Senate Candidates 10/10/09 08:30 AM - 10/10/09 11:00 AM Location: Republicans of Wheeling Township 909 E. Rand Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004 847.632.1774

Posted by kuehltha on 09/03/09

I am a big fan of Jonathan Hoenig of Capitalistpig, LLC, not only because he is from Chicago, but because of his stances on free markets and liberty.  It takes a certain kind of person to eat a bucket of fried chicken and smoke during a Fox News interview just because Chicago had recently outlawed both.

Here Hoenig talks about Onions of all things:

In response to complaints from the powerful lobby, Republican Congressman Gerald Ford, who would go on to be our 38th president, pushed through the Onion Futures Act. So in 1958, futures trading in onions was banned, because "speculative activity in the futures market causes such severe and unwarranted fluctuations in the price of cash onions" that "a complete prohibition of union futures trading" was needed "in order to assure the orderly flow of onions in interstate commerce." Still on the books to this day, it remains the only ban on trading of a specific commodity in United States history.

In the years that followed numerous studies demonstrated onion prices were actually more volatile after the ban was passed than during the period in which onion futures were traded.

Recent history confirms the pattern. According to the Wall Street Journal, onion prices climbed more than 430% from October 2006 through April 2007, before crashing 92% by October. During this volatile period for all commodities, onion prices were demonstrably more volatile than corn, wheat or oil, despite the lack of a futures market.

Click here to read the full story.