Whether you have appreciated stock or real estate, you may be tempted to cash in on the lowest long term capital gain rates in a generation.
These best-in-breed stocks have average earnings yields of 8 percent, which is equivalent to over four times the 10-year Treasury yield, yet people are fleeing stocks for bonds, which have the lowest short-term interest rates since the 1940s.
We have already seen Merkel lose key elections in Germany, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is not exactly having a great time in France either, with some of the lowest approval ratings of his term.
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But customers pick lenders per who offers the most money, for the longest term, with the lowest price and least restrictions.
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The current 15% top rate on long-term capital gains is the lowest since 1933.
The current 15% top tax on dividends and long-term capital gains is the lowest for gains since 1933 and the lowest for dividends since 1916.
Economists also expect the Federal Reserve to cut even further the short-term interest rate, now its lowest in decades.
The bank rate is used to price medium- and long-term loans and is at its lowest level for three decades.
The World Bank's in-house "watchdog, " an entity called the Independent Evaluation Group, recently lambasted Doing Business, claiming that there was no significant relationship between the publication's indicators and economic growth rates, even though the countries with the lowest rankings usually have the worst long-term records for economic growth.
Barclays Capital noted the gross short positions in gold are now at their lowest since May, but around their long-term average.
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Short-term interest rates have fallen to their lowest for 40 years in America and Britain mainly because inflation is so low.
Last month, scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center said Arctic summer ice was almost 30% below the long-term average, and predicted 2007 would show the lowest ice cover on record.
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Witness the desire to invest in long-term government bonds despite the fact that they offer the lowest yields (less than 2%) in recorded history.
Under Obama, real economic growth has averaged 1.47%, which is the lowest growth rate for the first 14 calendar quarters of a presidential term since the end of WWII.
America still clings to some bad economic habits, including a failure to save the private savings rate, at a dismal 5%, is one of the lowest among the rich countries and a tendency to think short-term rather than provide for the future.
In breaking down to its lowest level since mid-December, shares of McDonalds have earned a positive, short-term edge of more than three-quarters of a percent.
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Even more striking: Dividends and long-term capital gains are now taxed at a top federal rate of just 15%, the lowest for gains since 1933 and for dividends since 1916.
Long-term interest rates should be within two percentage points of the average of the three members with the lowest rates.
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