Next week President Obama is set to unveil his latest economic package in a speech before Congress. Originally it was scheduled for Wednesday but was pushed to Thursday so as not to interfere with a previously scheduled Republican debate. It's a conciliatory gesture towards Republicans but a move sure to anger ordinary folks as Thursday [...]
Whether basketball or life The Wizard of Westwood can always be counted on for sage advice. "Patience is the ability to wait and calmly persevere. We all grow impatient but some people have more trouble waiting than others do. We tend to forget that all good things take time." Sadly the investment world and its many attention [...]
Given last week's market volatility - all but forgotten in our 24/7 information age - many investors are questioning whether they have the "stomach" to be exposed to the financial markets. To understand if we should be invested is to understand why we are invested. This article seeks to create a link between financial and non-financial explanations. Is it legitimate? Nonsense? [...]
The Wall Street Journal is to thank for this wonderful write-up of the intellectual dishonesty underpinning Warren Buffett's suggestion that the government stop "coddling the rich." A better tax plan comes courtesy of The Onion.
"Mother's gone too far. She's put cardboard over her half of the television. We rented The Man Without a Face - I didn't even know he had a problem!" More important than the humor we find in Principal Skinner's life sharing a house with his domineering mother on The Simpsons is the lesson to be learned - don't live with your mother! OK, [...]
You've known for years about your spouse's questionable hygiene, curious sense of style and dislike of your side of the family. You've often wondered why you married in the first place! Now you find out your spouse has been saying nyet to the IRS. What to do? Innocent Spouse Relief was made available by the IRS to [...]
Late Friday Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating of the United States from AAA to AA+. Subsequent events have been as pointless as predictable. We imagine the thinking has gone something like this: WHITE HOUSE: A favorite from our playbook is to demonize through the media. Americans like to blame the messenger. Let's combine [...]
With the unnecessarily painful rhetoric surrounding the U.S. "debt ceiling" subdued we can turn our attention to the revenue increases and spending cuts needed to lower annual fiscal deficits. Spending cuts are a matter of debate (will a government-funded midnight basketball league keep youths off the streets and, thus, lower petty crimes such as vandalism?) [...]
With today's noontime Senate vote providing a veto-proof majority President Obama is sure to sign into law legislation to extend the U.S. debt ceiling. Crisis averted - for now. Next up on the agenda needs to be true reform to restructure an unsound and inefficient economy. Credible plans are needed but where will they come [...]
Frustrated by low interest rates? Thinking of high-yield bonds or floating-rate loans to juice returns? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has a warning for you: buyer beware!