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Economic justice

John Birch-Neoliberal Political Policies Ascended Under Trump

Feb 8, 2017

Most Americans don’t know about the political philosophy of neoliberalism, but they would recognize its main ideas since MAGA Republicans promote them every day in Washington. Since it re-emerged after World War II, neoliberalism (the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism), the political philosophy immediately attracted the attention of the right-wing…

Retirement and 401(k)

How $17 Billion Annually Goes Into the Pockets of the Financial Industry and Not Investors

Feb 6, 2017

What does $17 billion mean to you? If you are an American investor, you should take note since this is your money. Suppose you are in the financial services industry. In that case, you should take note because it is the money you get from fees, expenses, and rebates that unsuspecting investors pay you…

Retirement and 401(k)

Remember When Trump Moved to Revoke Dodd-Frank Investor Protections

Feb 3, 2017

When the Trump administration was in power, they moved to revoke protections for individual investors. This was no surprise. An announcement that the Trump administration was moving to revoke safeguards meant individual investors would have more trouble saving for retirement and making higher-return investments. That announcement culminated from hundreds of millions of dollars spent…

Retirement and 401(k)

JPMorgan Chase Faces Fee and Conflicts-of-Interest Charges in Lawsuit

Jan 27, 2017

It seems the more it changes, the more it’s the same. Conflicts-of-interest and charging excessive fees seem to be part of the DNA of major banks (such as Deutschbank and its $10 billion money laundering scheme out of Russia and Wells Fargo), insurance companies and investment firms when it comes to selling investment products…

Financial journalism

How Did the Press Cover A President That Was Mentally Unstable?

Jan 24, 2017

“Trust me,” Trump said, “I’m, like, a smart person.” The unspoken and emerging realization is that President Donald Trump suffers from mental stability, specifically a “Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” While making any psychiatric diagnosis without actually having frequent meetings with a person is based on educated conjecture, it is not without precedent. Historians, intelligence agencies, and…

Retirement and 401(k)

Trump Moves to Repeal the Pro-Investor Fiduciary Standard

Jan 23, 2017

Despite its claims to be for “all Americans,” the Trump Administration is moving fast to repeal the historic pro-investor fiduciary ruling that let’s 401(k) investors know the fees, expenses and conflicts-of-interest their financial advisor and 401(k) providers are receiving when selling them mutual funds and annuities for their retirement accounts. The anti-individual investor…

Financial journalism

Get Active: Get Your Ideas Noticed in These Uncertain Times

Jan 21, 2017

Need a blog, article, feature story, speech or corporate writer with 35+ years of experience to write or manage a project, write a book or edit a newsletter? Let me know. I have written by-lined articles for over 50 publications, plus a few books and won national writing awards (Society of American Business Editors and…

Political economy

Exxon Has No Allegiance to the U.S. and Neither Will Tillerson

Jan 19, 2017

By now, anyone seriously interested in Exxon’s long and twisted history in the oil industry worldwide can readily find information about its dealings with dictatorships, criminals, and shadowy politicians to extract and export black gold from the far reaches of the earth. But the proposed appointment of ex-Exxon Rex Tillerson as U.S. Secretary of…

Economic justice

Managing the Risks of Medical Bankruptcies and Retirement Planning

Jan 19, 2017

People planning for retirement, along with financial professionals who do retirement planning, should incorporate the risk of medical bankruptcies into contingencies as the Trump administration moves to shift more medical treatment costs to individuals as part of their new conservative policy regime. Bankruptcies due to medical costs are widely cited as being the greatest cause…

Retirement and 401(k)

New Newsletter to Tackle the Issue of Aging With Dignity

Jan 11, 2017

Every day, about 60,000 baby boomers turn 65 and whether they retire or not, they are entering the older part of the population in greater numbers than any other time in U.S. history. According to the National Institute of Health, there are about 35 million Americans over age 65 and “this number is…

Elections and politics

Why Obama Intentionally Failed to Reform Wall Street

Jan 4, 2017

As President Obama leaves office this month after two terms, people should rightfully assess his achievements, especially those related to financial reform after the largest recession since the Great Depression. But for those who take the time, Obama’s financial reform legacy is non-existent. He had a Democratic majority at the time…

Retirement and 401(k)

Fees, Revenue Sharing and Deregulation: How the New Trump Plan Will Raise Retirement Costs

Jan 2, 2017

The Republicans have never hid their distain for regulation and now with the surprise victory of Donald Trump and his arch conservative vice president, the simmering Republican distain for reversing all things from the 1930’s New Deal will are going to be reviewed and partially reversed . This will take time, but the…

Retirement and 401(k)

Wells Fargo Fraud Continues As It Sells Insurance Policies to Unsuspecting Customers

Dec 14, 2016

I think this is only the second time I have posted something directly from another site that was not original, but it is an important story on how far Wells Fargo has gone to deceive its own customers, many of whom don’t speak English, in order to sell life insurance policies from their…

Conflicts of interest and corruption

While World Index Rigging Becomes the Norm, Financial Journalists Watch

Dec 13, 2016

In the past few years, the investment and banking industries have absorbed news that the world’s largest indexes—LIBOR, gold, silver and even the largest world market, foreign exchange—have all been victimized to various degrees by global banks and their traders who help set and also benefit from these same benchmarks. While the details…

Political economy

This 70-Year-Old Memo Remains the Basis for U.S. Foreign Policy Today

Dec 11, 2016

History does repeat itself and that remains true today. Stolen elections, campaign fraud, wars conducted over false information, assassinations, dirty tricks among political parties, incompetent elected officials at the highest levels of government are nothing new. But here is an interesting memo written 70 years ago which rings true today. It is a…

Retirement and 401(k)

The Investment Industry Intentionally Avoids the Pension Underfunding Crisis

Dec 5, 2016

Since I started in financial journalism over 35 years ago as a reporter in a two-person bureau in Chicago with the trade magazine Pensions & Investments, the issue of underfunded corporate and municipal pension funds is something we all learned on the first day of work. Now, over 35 years later, thanks to…

Conflicts of interest and corruption

If You Hate Financial Regulations, You’ll Love This

Dec 3, 2016

One of the core conservative beliefs of the Republican Party is to loosen or remove regulations, but a new proposed law by a conservative Senator raises the ante on eliminating regulations by forcing them to receive Congressional approval. This should make financial industry lobbyists salivate at the proposed law since they easily control…

Retirement and 401(k)

CalSTERs CIO Says Indexing Is Best For Individual Investors

Nov 29, 2016

The Chief Investment officer (CIO) of CalSTRS, the second largest pension fund in the U.S. said his fund relies more on indexing than active management primarily due to the high fees and sub-par returns associated with active management for their $192 billion pension fund. In an interview on Bloomberg TV today (Nov. 29, 2016,…

Economic justice

Financial Professionals Must Acknowledge the Dangers of Financial Stress

Nov 28, 2016

For decades, investment professionals have focused on wealth management, trading, selling funds products and 401(k)s, but there has always been one glaring omission: These same professionals have intentionally avoided the millions of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck and have no savings. And since they are unable to participate in the investment game and generate…