July 2019 will be remembered as the month the United States Federal Reserve showed its determination to fight the sluggish inflation numbers still hanging around an otherwise buoyant US economy.The Fed warned Congress that depressed prices could lead, by an inevitably, to an “unhealthy dynamic” of lower interest rates. This could mean that if a downturn in the economy was to come – and there are few signs it will – but if it did come then it leaves little room for ways to boost the economy as it tries to fight its way out of such an unhappy position – one not known for the last few years.

If you have been reading these columns you’ll know how just now how good things are in the United States. The economy has taken off, and if it keeps going at this rate it will head out into space! So I was thinking about what it is that makes America great? Or, more particularly,  have been looking at the history of that great nation and what has made it great.As far as I can see it’s the people who live in those 50 States

It’s official: the United States of America is now experiencing the longest economic expansion in its history. Last Friday’s US report on jobs brought still more great news about the economy there. This is not just good news; this is great news. There are two things involved in any figures around economic growth. Namely, how much the U.S. economy produces from one year to the next and, then, as a result, how much more income Americans have relative to the previous year.

As you might expect, I enjoy cowboy movies. The open range, theplains, the cattle drives, the cowboys, and the saloons … and, ofcourse, the gold!So I was sitting watching The Magnificent Seven. It is a classic film butnot many know it is based on a Japanese film: The Seven Samurai.So here are my magnificent seven Mount Bonnell Advisors thoughts on Austin:

The most important thing in your company is internal culture. A certain continuity and peace within a company is the thing that makes it grow. Over my years in business I have seen how this internal culture if nurtured will make your company and everyone in it succeed. I have also seen how one person operating against that culture, however, subtle they act and no matter how good they are at their job can destroy everything you have created.  

Argo. Have you seen it?Hardly new, the film was released in 2012 and deservedly won an Oscar.

Texas was born on Sunday 6 March 1836.On that day, at 5 am, after what had been a bloody 13-day siege, Mexican General Santa Anna ordered his 1800 troops to once more attack with all the force and numbers they could muster the battered, but still standing, walls of the Alamo, a former mission that now had become a fortress. Its 189 Texan defenders fought to the bitter end against impossible odds. When, however, the dust finally settled after the 90-minute battle, all Alamo defenders lay dead.It was not the end though.