892 articles · page 32 of 45
A recent study conducted by Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education found that students could not differentiate between “fake” news, defined as sponsored content on web sites, from real news prepared by attributable journalistic sources and legitimate news outlets. Based on their study of over 7,800 middle school, high school and college undergraduate…
In an earlier post on this site, the case was made that the American public was outraged that no one went to jail for the systematic housing fraud that happened starting in 2005 and precipitated the worst recession since the Great Depression. The resulting recession wiped out over a trillion dollars in housing…
Today’s news has the following long overdue announcement from the Democratic National Committee: “Democrats have alternated between internal finger-pointing and uneasy soul searching after an intensely rocky year. The painful 2016 cycle capped eight years under President Obama that saw the party lose more Senate, House, Governor and state legislative seats than under…
Since the unthinkable has happened and Republicans control the White House and Congress, it’s only a question of a few short months before intense efforts start to dismantle the DOL fiduciary rule, Dodd-Frank and all other major regulations that provides transparency to individual investors. This is sad news for those industry professionals who strongly advocated for…
The long arm of revenge has finally been felt by the Democrat Party. This is because the ongoing autopsy of the 2016 presidential election will find many real culprits, including the Democratic National Committee’s efforts to derail Bernie Sanders and bad campaign decisions by Clinton, but the festering one is that the 2007 housing…
While the 2016 election is going to have serious ramifications for political journalism for years to come, it should also be noted that financial broadcast journalism is more reactionary and conservative than political journalism and is just as dangerous to average Americans. The reason is that broadcast financial journalists are steeped in conservative…
It’s taken for granted that an expanding economic pie is good for everyone in the financial planning and investment businesses, but given the current election dichotomy between the haves- and the have-nots, it looks like many people in these businesses are going to be voting against their own self-interests. Of course, it’s not…
Like their fearless leader, it looks like the 13 all male economic advisors named by Donald Trump in August have failed to make the grade, at least as far as some major independent economists are concerned. In numerous reports released by financial experts across the political spectrum after the last presidential debate, economists said…
This article was originally posted on Oct. 22, 2016 and updated on July 27, 2026. Unfortunately, not much has changed in a decade; reporters are still wimps. In an earlier post on this site (When Did Reporters Become Wimps), I noted that many journalists, who used to be called enterprise or investigative reporters, have become…
Films are a great way of communicating complex and simple ideas, so the idea for this little column comes from two great movies: The Russians Are Coming and The Manchurian Candidate. Each film has something to help illuminate the insanity now taking place in the Republican Tea Party and how their holy conspiracy-driven candidate…
Tonight’s final presidential debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump has one segment about Social Security entitled “Entitlement or Debt.” The debate will be moderated by Chris Wallace of FOX News, who has been credited with coming up with the debate segment topics. Of course, this segment will get off on the wrong…
Wells Fargo (WFG), the nation’s third largest bank, which generates over $5 billion in earnings per quarter, could soon be charged with securities fraud as a result of its scheme to surreptitiously open new accounts for unsuspecting customers. While news reports say the fraud was widespread and was known to the bank’s top…
The current presidential campaign media coverage represents another challenge in national electoral politics and broadcast journalism. Not since the days of Yellow Journalism in the late 1800s, when sensationalism dominated over factual reporting, has the press been so divided and partisan. But the added twist today is that reporters have become accustomed to tolerating lies…
Pity the poor equity analysts. When faced with making their final formalized, profound analyst recommendations after extensive number crunching and model analysis, the analysts only can make three conclusions: buy, sell or hold. Of course, this can be modified by a “strong” or “weak” recommendation, but maybe there are more choices that should be…
Now available on Amazon and Kindle: How 401(k) Fees Destroy Wealth and What Investors Can Do to Protect Themselves List Price: $15.95 6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm) Black & White on White paper 282 pages ISBN-13: 978-1477657997 ISBN-10: 1477657991 BISAC: Business & Economics / Personal Finance / Retirement Planning Order now at…
Vanguard, the industry’s biggest proponent of lowering fees and expense rations for its mutual funds and ETFs, continues to remain far ahead of the industry by announcing that it has reduced fees again. In a May 26, 2016 release, Vanguard said: “Vanguard investors saved $71 million as a result of lower expense…
In the show (see video), Oliver created a 401(k) for his show’s employees. The show’s producer chose John Hancock as the plan provider, who charged an asset management fees of 1.69%, on top of a $24 per-person annual fee and other fund fees. In addition, Hancock an unnamed intermediary broker (who told Oliver’s…
Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump’s vindictiveness and pettiness should be well-known to the American public by now. Trump has a long history of making racist comments. In one especially vehement public episode, Trump criticized Judge Gonzalo Curiel, presiding over one of the cases against Trump University, and ordered the release of documents related…
The TError management Theory may be the best explanation for the MAGA movement One reason the current presidential election campaigning has brought out the worst in American politics and journalism and focused extreme attention on the deficiencies of the nation’s justice and economic systems is undoubtedly the rise of the Tea Party, the 2007 recession,…
Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders and Republican Capitalist Donald Trump have tentatively agreed to a debate before the June 7, 2016 primary in California. If so, the event would be an uneven intellectual, bare-knuckles debate about a range of critical issues ranging from the failures of unregulated capitalism, income inequality, the ban on Muslins, immigration…
