Our Mission
David Snowball, PublisherThe Mutual Fund Observer writes for the benefit of intellectually curious, serious investors— managers, advisers, and individuals—who need to go beyond marketing fluff, beyond computer- generated recommendations and beyond Morningstar’s coverage universe.
We are non-profit, non-commercial, independent and accessible. Our special focus is on innovative, independent new and smaller funds. MFO’s mission is to provide readers with calm, intelligent arguments and to provide independent fund companies with an opportunity to receive thoughtful attention even though they might not yet have drawn billions in assets. Its coverage universe has been described as “the thousands of funds off Morningstar’s radar,” a description one fund manager echoes as “a Morningstar for the rest of us.
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I've been reading and posting here for years, and I’ve always considered this to be one of the best sites for investing, making, and saving money. However, in my humble opinion, the site has lost its mojo in recent months, particularly after the election.
There are a number of users who constantly post off-topic discussions, and these ideas often have little to do with the purpose of this site. Even the off-topic forum should primarily focus on subjects related to investing, like shopping or travel, rather than devolving into insulting or divisive debates. If users want to discuss politics, there are plenty of other SITES dedicated to that topic. Why not take those conversations elsewhere?
Comments
FD, perhaps you are the one who might be more comfortable visiting "other SITES" if the off-topic forums ruffle your delicate feathers.
FD, your repeated references to "TDS" will be greatly missed.
Behavioral finance teaches us that investors tend to over or underreact, and that present investment opportunities.
See, e.g. FullerThaler funds
https://www.fullerthaler.com/about
https://www.morningstar.com/asset-management-companies/fuller-thaler-BN00000B1P
COTZX
CTFAX
It wouldn't occur to me to originate a post expressing a political point of view anywhere on this website. Not in the Discussion section or even in the Off-Topic section. But I have responded to such posts as I am doing now. I have my views and political preferences but I come here to read about investing and to discuss investing, particularly in Mutual Funds. But no one but me is me. I am not offended by political posts. I object to hostile posts with distorted views and I object to name-calling.
Most of the political posts despairing at the political situation have gone directly to Off-Topic anyway. Sometimes they appear here. Yes there are plenty of political forums where such thoughts can be posted. But those are echo-chambers. Preaching-to-the-converted may provide a virtual shoulder to cry on or in the worst cases an opportunity for "virtue signaling" but it won't change minds.
Maybe it won't change minds here either, but one reason I like MFO is that people with different views participate.
But yeah, the Off-Topic section is an appropriate place for such posts. Those who don't like the views there don't have to read the posts. And yes, I still agree that a website about investing should be about investing. I think MFO still is about investing.
Yet, as habsui points out, some aspects of political "leadership" are welded to the financial fortunes of all Americans. Sometimes it's a close call.
How about this coup? Leon's young'uns have your info, courts be damned. And HCR tonight:
Musk, who cast apparent Nazi salutes before crowds on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, wrote an op-ed in favor of AfD and recently spoke by video at an AfD rally, calling it “the best hope for Germany.” In addition to his support for Germany’s AfD, Ingram and Horvath identified Musk’s support for far-right movements in Brazil, Ireland, Argentina, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, and other countries. Last month, before Trump took office, French president Emmanuel Macron accused Musk of backing a global reactionary movement and of intervening directly in elections, including Germany’s.
I should add that GQP/MAGA/conservatives are always the first to loudly claim 'victimization' in the public sphere either to limit contrary viewpoints/perspectives* mentioned in such venues or to force their views or 'facts' on the world using 'freedom of expression' as the justification.
* especially those that might be more popular with the masses
At least there is a genuine OFF-TOPIC area at MFO. Many visit that area, but others don't. Posts there don't show up in the main MFO feed for a reason.
Posters can Flag inappropriately placed posts.
It doesn't really bother me as i feel like i'm a grownup who can take it. and to be honest even in the fund discussion area its pretty easy to see which ones likely contain it. I'm a part of other investing groups that are pretty diverse politically but its managed there very differently than here.
While to some it could swing either way (as a plus or a minus) when people wear their biases on their sleeve it makes it easy for me to place the appropriate amount of value on their opinions on other topics.
Either this forum members raise enough money to pay for the Ignore feature or this forum will be spammed out of existence. I understand this forum has existed long enough to see off many a 2FA holes, but know that overconfidence has killed many a mighty ones.
* many of these posters are just venting their frustrations and are not propagandists. It is not that difficult to tell apart a propagandist even if he posts only once.
Never mind. Looks like this and the other thread are now in off-topic.
Overtly political posts do not belong in the main forums (Fund Discussions, Other Investing).
I try to avoid engaging in the corresponding threads.
Frankly, I haven't always been successful in recent times.
With that said, politicians may propose policies which can impact the investing environment.
Other Investing may be an appropriate forum to have civil discussions regarding policy
if we can "keep the temperature down."
Political posts in the Off-Topic forum are fine in my opinion.
Threads in Off-Topic are not visible to forum participants by default.
If anyone finds these political discussions to be discomforting,
avoiding the Off-Topic forum is a simple solution.
You can claim that every political view relates to investment. Well, it's not.
Most posts about king, orange, coup, Nazi, Elon, MAGA, Trump, In normal times, free fall and many others are very easy to trace.
Does your statement affect our portfolio today, next week, or month?
Examples:
CFPB put to sleep(link) "The Trump coup d'etat continues" = political based on the first 5 words.
Does CFPB affect our portfolio in the next 1-3-6 months? no
Tariffs have been mentioned hundreds of times since Trump first Gov. Have they affected our portfolio in the months followed?
"victimization": you are a victim if you feel that way and politics should never be one of these.
Have you followed politics? Do you understand that nothing is absolute? How can your side be correct, normal, moral, and others and the other side the opposite?
Do you understand that every time you scream coup, the other side thinks the same about your side?
But it's very easy to count how many posts have been about trashing GOP vs Dems. It's probably 9 to 1. Do you really think that trashing a huge % of our population views has any impact?
I think that both parties are to blame. Examples:
CFPB: Sounds good but really isn't. why?
I came from another country. Banks are not allowed to charge overdraft. The default is to flag and refuse the transaction if it occurs. Sure, you can go into the branch and sign that you want it. There are other tough requirements to stay within their lane.
Credit cards: You are allowed to have a max of your salary + 50%. All credit card companies have access to it.
Both are easy solutions to protect customers.
Prescription drugs: There is a body that negotiates extremely toughly with local & international pharma companies to make the prices affordable.
Mortgages: There is only one loan form that everyone must use. It allows you to compare different lenders on an equal basis.
Our politicians are bought by the lobbyists that represent mainly anything that deals with money. Wall St, banks, insurance companies, real estate (why 6% seems reasonable), pharma, and PBM companies.
Our States and Gov have so much overlap, abuse, neglect, and waste. Why do I have city police, county police, and state police?
There is no question State and Gov are too big. Don't fight it, instead, join forces to cut as many as we can. I have worked many years as a contractor on state/gov projects. I have seen all of it. A big % of unqualified/lazy/bad attitude/only 5-6 hours on the jobs instead of 8/even sleeping employees.
At the end of every budget year, top management ordered us to increase the waste and never show we used less than the budget because we will not get it again. I'm talking about expensive, unneeded office supplies, making up programs that nobody asked for, going to remote conventions, and more.
Sure, any time you fire a huge %, you will make a mistake. So what? You fired 20% and later you find you made a mistake; you hire 2% back. But you must cut the overhead first.
Overhead employees that don't sacrifice their lives (military, firefighter, police), as in private business, must be selected based on the highest level of scrutiny.
Cutting employees can't be done by politicians; they are too close to the plate and corrupt.
Anecdotes are not data, but this is a common complaint, and surely true in part, since you hear it so bloody often, and not only from foreigners like FD1k.
My own anecdote, fwiw:
Over 55 years doing editorial work, working with community workers, lawyers, planners, and the widest range of engineers, I have worked perhaps a half-dozen public sector (or public-sector-related) gigs in an odd variety of areas: Great Society after-school program; Mass. legislation anti-corruption drafting; pubs director at a combo state-fed regional-planning agency; fed (often DoD-related but much healthcare too) grants editing; and finally Darpa, ARL, NSF, NIH, ONR and other agency proposal editing, maybe totaling over 100.
In every single gig, without exception, my colleagues were not just supersmart and idealistic (which now is cheaply valued of course) but more important crazy-hardworking, frequently overqualified, and almost invariably underpaid.
"Sure, any time you fire a huge %, you will make a mistake. So what? You fired 20% and later you find you made a mistake; you hire 2% back. But you must cut the overhead first."
There have been discussions of waste and fraud in the federal government for years.
Increasing government efficiency is a worthwhile goal.
The primary issue, as I see it, is the execution of this process.
Trump & Musk want to unilaterally close several agencies (e.g., Dept. of Education, USAID).
Trump/DOGE do not have the legal authority to do so.
These agencies were created by Congress and can only be shut down by Congress.
Most civil servants can be fired legally only for bad performance or misconduct and they also have
due process rights. Many civil servants were recently fired without just cause or due process.
Trump/DOGE can not legally do this.
It appears DOGE is making arbitrary decisions without much thought or careful planning.
How else to explain the botched firing of up to 350 National Nuclear Security Administration
employees last week?
DOGE claims rampant fraud was discovered.
Corresponding proof was not provided when inquiries were made.
Why were there no people charged with fraud which is a crime?
DOGE is running amuck with no real accountability.
Then there are Elon Musk's potential conflicts of interest.
SpaceX and Starlink have received over $3.3B in federal dollars
and Musk's companies also face federal regulation.
According to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt,
"If Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing,
then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts."
Perhaps I may be overly skeptical, but I don't feel reassured by Ms. Leavitt's statement.
If Republicans were concerned about excessive spending, why would they pursue extension and expansion
of Trump's expiring 2017 tax law? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO),
this will add $4.6 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years!
Link
Because they are lying SOB's ?
"If Republicans were truly concerned about the deficit, why would they pursue extension and expansion of Trump's expiring 2017 tax law? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this will add $4.6 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years."
One of the reasons behind all the desperate govt axings is to possibly cover a portion of Dump's tax cuts. But really, destabilization of the entire democratic foundation is paramount. For example, prioritize the Space program, but cut the safety nets and fire the specialists that protect citizens.
Dump and his pal are testing the limits of what the courts will allow. They are probing and they will (sadly) win some. There are Dump loyalists planted in many powerful places, as the toxicity weaves its way through the system.
More than unfortunate that we have to sit back and watch the destruction of our own country. His approval ratings are starting to slip again, as the yokels begin to get wise.
enshrined in the Constitution. Congress has abdicated its constitutional responsibilities thus far.
At this juncture, we can only hope the judicial branch is capable of restraining Trump's most flagrant actions.
Trump's blatant disregard for the well-being of the vast majority of U.S. citizens has grave consequences.