Last month, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research—the “scorekeepers” of economic recessions and expansions in the U.S.—marked the peak month of the previous expansion in February 2020, officially marking an end to the longest expansion on record (128 months) dating back to 1854.
Read the entire article: Is the U.S. Recession Over? | Iris
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Let me start out by saying, Lord above I hope I am wrong. I hope everything I lay out here is ridiculous, never comes to fruition and that all the happenings in the world today lead only to progress in freedom, in opportunity for all and in a better country for our next generations. I will wildly dance upon the grave of my wrongness alongside my critics if that happy scenario plays out. The horrifying problem is, I don’t believe I am. But my hope is that his blog gives you a way to fight back, to better articulate your views, to win debates with rationality.
Read the entire article: 5 Rules on How to Win Any Argument
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Flattening the curve on COVID-19 has meant flattening the curve on tax season, too, pushing everything down the line a bit so that the final day to hand over the government’s cut of our hard-earned income comes up on July 15.
That’s given us an unparalleled opportunity in a time of crisis to assess what we’re getting for our money. Amidst the smoking ruins of 2020, it’s understandable if you regret every penny you’ve ever surrendered to a tax collector.
The year 2020 should stand forever as evidence that, rather than a solution, government is often a cup of gasoline just waiting to be thrown on a fire. The spark this time was a tiny, but deadly, virus.
Read the entire article: As Delayed Tax Day Approaches, Consider What You Get for Your Money – Reason.com
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We’ve come a long way from the March day when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened to sue Rhode Island over restrictions on travelers from his pandemic-hotspot state. Now, questions about reasonableness and legality are out the window as New York joins with Connecticut and New Jersey to effectively close their borders to people from states more recently hard-hit by COVID-19.
There’s a strong hint of tit-for-tat in a move that has little to do with health and a lot to do with regional and political posturing in a not-so-united country. The interstate chest-puffing might have some entertainment value, but Americans shouldn’t feel any obligation to obey the pointless rules.
Read the entire article: Interstate Travel Restrictions Are Just Political Posturing – Reason.com
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It’s reasonable to ask whether you should continue to be bullish on the U.S. economy and equities when the media continue to emphasize a plethora of troubling issues including a flat lining manufacturing sector, an energy sector that is still contracting, and a new host of government taxes and regulations […]
Entire Article: Reasons To Believe That Stocks And The Economy Have Better Days Ahead
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PAULA DWYER
FEB 27, 2015
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street is wasting no time revving up its lobbying machine now that President Barack Obama has said his administration soon will propose a rule to require brokers to act as fiduciaries when advising clients on their retirement savings.
Asking brokers to put clients’ interests ahead of their own seems like a good idea, yet industry trade groups argue the rule will make investment advice and retirement planning too expensive for low- to middle-income families. If that happened, the argument goes, those families would save less for retirement and, down the road, could be a burden on taxpayers.
One industry group, the National Association of Plan Advisors, which represents professional retirement-plan advisers, goes so far as to call the proposal the “No Advice” rule.
This sounds alarming! Is Obama about to make worse the very problem — too little retirement savings — he says he wants to fix?
That’s the thrust of a memo written by the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton for the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the chief executive officers of banks, insurers and asset managers. The main evidence comes from a 2011 study by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, which has come to represent the core of the industry’s argument.
That study says lower-income investors prefer to work with brokers (who don’t have a fiduciary duty and are paid through sales commissions, revenue-sharing deals and other fees) over registered investment advisers (who are paid directly out of a client’s pocket and already must put client interests ahead of their own).
Read more via Real Reason Brokers Oppose a Fiduciary Standard | Financial Planning.
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