In Washington, people are having trouble coming to terms with the nation's numerous social and economic troubles. It is a bad idea for our government to leave our limited public resources to the hands of wealthy and politically well-connected corporations like the Export and Import Bank.

Those who are in favor of the current status argue that the bank benefits taxpayers because it protects jobs and promotes US exports. However, these are unsubstantiated arguments that will not stand up to further inquiry. As a matter of fact, less than 2 percent of US exports are supported by the bank yearly, and the usual beneficiaries are huge businesses like Caterpillar and Boeing.
Moreover, the bank's claim of supporting 205,000 jobs in 2013 was disputed by the Government Accounting Office, stating that the bank did not consider the number of jobs that would have been available if the bank had not been present among other arguments. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office reported that over the next decade, the bank is estimated to yield losses to taxpayers.

Job Losses and Casino Bankruptcies Do Not Concern Donald Trump

On August 31, the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City closed its doors as did the Revel Hotel some days prior. This resulted in the loss of approximately 5,000 jobs which included dealers, waitresses, bartenders, security guards and other personnel in the casino. The Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City is also poised for closure in late September, which will bring the number of laid off workers to 6,000.

Donald Trump has a lengthy history in Atlantic City and this includes him leaving his business deals in the area before the collapse of the local economy.

It was during the early 1980s when Trump first bought properties on the Atlantic City boardwalk after having received approval from the state's gaming and control board. This resulted in his forming a partnership with Holiday Inn and building Trump Plaza. The deal that Trump negotiated allowed him to collect 50% of all profits without assuming any liability for casino losses throughout the casino's first five years.

A positive earnings report for the 3rd quarter and some positive guidance boosted Boeing (BA) stock today by near 2%. Commercial place deliveries provided for a revenue surprise of $25.85 billion. A 7% increase from the prior year period. The new earnings guidance came in above the range of $7.7-7.9 a share at $7.95-8.15.

Profit popped 25% and the company reduced costs on its 787 Dreamliner that many analyst have been pushing for. The company has a backlog of 5700 jets which is a good number of orders that should keep revenue solid going forward. Other worries include the closing of the import-export bank and slowing demand from emerging markets. The company did not feel these issues would be enough to offset current positive trends.

Wal-Mart decided to lay off 450 employees Friday at their headquarters in Bentonville Arkansas. Currently there are 18,600 employees working there. The stock rallied a little bit on Friday after the announcement, about 0.2%. The company at the same time has begun hiring seasonal workers.

The company made a statement stating that customers have changed and they need to make changes to stay competitive. The stock of Wal-Mart is down 22% year to date as investors fear competition from Amazon and flat revenue. Same store sales have increased 1.5% in the second quarter and 1.1% in the first quarter, so it's not all bad news.

We put much of our faith in the international monetary system, but we know the market can collapse at any time. In the 20th century, the system crashed three times in less than 60 years. James Richards, a well-respected expert in the financial world believes another financial collapse is on the way. He also believes in owning tangible assets because the value of money goes up and down. At the moment, gold is one of the most stable physical assets on the market. Even though this precious metal is solid, stock prices for gold mining companies are lower than usual. These undervalued share prices are exciting many investors, and they are taking advantage of this opportunity by purchasing gold mining stocks and ETF's. When a person invests in a mining company, as opposed to purchasing the actual metal, they are doing so to gain from the intrinsic value. An example of an undervalued stock with excellent growth potential is Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF).

The stock of book seller Barnes and Noble fell this week (15% on Wednesday) as their revenue fell and their costs increased. The company sold its education division which helped revenue but the retail sales and Nook sales were weak. Sales per store increased but the number of stores fell which resulted in negative revenue growth for the retail business. Sales of the Nook fell 22% from the previous year and streaming media sales were down 28%.

During the last quarter, hedge fund traders were bullish on five stocks in the area of Consumer Services. These five stocks include McDonalds, Comcast, Liberty Global, Charter Communications, and Amazon.com. Insider Monkey which composes a small cap strategy portfolio of stocks, takes the best of the hedge fund picks, and puts them together. Their strategy has returned 118% since the middle of 2012, beating the S&P 500 by almost 100% according to the company. These stocks are some of that portfolio.

Amazon has been a strong performer and hedge funds piled into the stock during the period ending June 30th. The company started delivering packages on Sundays and Holidays through the United State Postal Service. The only downside is the companies lack of strong profits and a small lawsuit from authors that are feeling squeezed by the retail giant.

Questions came today after Wal-Mart missed earnings with profit margins coming down from 5.6% a year ago to 5.1% this quarter. The retail giant blamed the pharmacy business, shrinkage, and increasing wages. The company now has a starting wage of $9.00 an hour which is set to raise to $10.00 an hour early next year. This increase in wages translates to a 24 cent reduction in profit.

Wage growth is not happening organically according to recent economic reports. But is expected to occur more so next spring, at which time, revenue growth is also expected to accelerate. These two moving at the same time allows companies to maintain profits. Artificial wage growth without top-line improvements causes profits to fall, like we are seeing at Wal-Mart and other companies that moved towards the federal governments desire for a $15 minimum wage.

Alibaba was recently featured as a hot IPO in the ecommerce area, but is now suffering with a slowdown in the always growing country of China. The site is trying to expand sales by finding new customers that want to tap into the expanding Chinese middle class. Another effort is to make the exchange more available in the countryside of China. The stock, traded on the NYSE, has fallen from its high and is now only 14% above its IPO pricing.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc., is one of the biggest coal companies in America, and recently the company has decided to file for bankruptcy. The company's filing comes just as the president of the United States is about to unveil new measures that are aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions that are produced from coal-fired power plants.

The company has blamed regulatory standards that favor renewable energy as the reason why it has decided to file. Not only that, but the price for its coal has been tumbling, and that too has contributed to the decision to file bankruptcy.

When it comes to metallurgical coal that is used to create steel, Alpha is the third largest supplier of it. However, a slowdown in China has also affected Alpha's business.