Happy new year.  Now let's turn our attention to the Great Depression of 2019. Depending on the metric, things are the best they've been since 2000 or even 1968.  Employment, consumer confidence, you name it – they're all breaking records.  That's why I'm struck by a series of recent articles predicting a massive crash in 2019. In a CNBC post entitled "US barreling toward recession at faster and faster rate" (October 4, 2018), former representative Ron Paul stated that rising interest rates associated with too much debt would bring about "big changes" in our markets.  He was right about the stock market, but so far there's little sign of the economic recession he predicted at the same time.  Economic recessions do not always follow from bear markets.  In fact, it is difficult to predict a recession, defined as two quarters of negative growth, until it is well...(Read Full Article)