Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
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LewisBraham
Hi Hank,
Your satire came across very well. Don't worry about the user name.
Best,
Lewis
@MSF, "That's an interesting thought. If people were as mobile as products, I might be able to see that.The thinking being that if employment costs (wages) were lower in one region (resulting in free trade imports from that region), then those worke…
@Edmond, I agree that this was a discussion about income inequality. But you were the one to bring crime stats for immigrants into it and the one to apply a solitary case in San Francisco as an example why other crime stats contradicting your broad …
@Edmond, Let's extend your logic to its natural conclusions regarding crime. If you believe we shouldn't allow any new people into the country because some of those people are going to commit violent crimes, then all American citizens should cease h…
@Edmond, Here is a link to an article from the Wall Street Journal--again not a bastion of liberalism--refuting your claim that immigrants are more likely to be criminals:
wsj.com/articles/the-mythical-connection-between-immigrants-and-crime-1436916…
@Edmond, I will take the time to look at more of your claims about immigrants later, although I would like to know the source for them. As for your first and I assume primary claim that immigrants are somehow a drain on the entitlement system, that …
@Edmond, I will take the time to look at more of your claims about immigrants later, although I would like to know the source for them. As for your first and I assume primary claim that immigrants are somehow a drain on the entitlement system, that …
The thing is the same tired anti-immigrant sentiments have been employed by demagogues in the U.S. for over a century. The movement is called nativism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativism_%28politics%29 Regardless of the economic impact, which ec…
Dex, I am not sure on the wage suppression issue. That said, my impression is most illegal aliens take jobs Americans don't want because they are so hard and low paying such as migrant farming. Now you could say that is suppressing wages in farming…
There is a different economic impact between immigration to the U.S.--both legal and illegal--and outsourcing American jobs to foreign countries. Immigrants who come to America are also consumers of American products, which is stimulative to the Ame…
The interesting question is with regard to Fed policy is what happens when zero interest rates ostensibly kept that way to stimulate economic growth, create new jobs and thus alleviate some inequality fail to do so because banks are less interested …
@AndyJ, That's exactly right. There's a practical reason why ESG investing can work. Being an irresponsible company from an environmental or social perspective is bad for a company's brand from a consumer's perspective and bad from a regulatory pers…
@MJG, Thanks for reading the research. One important distinction, though, is while the research from Deutsche Bank did indicate that SRI investing was largely neutral to one's returns, ESG investing actually led to outperformance. The reason for the…
@Old Joe, Seeing as you have named yourself Old Joe I assume you've reached a stage in life where you no longer see the world painted ethically in black and white. There are many shades of grey that exist on an ethical continuum, and what that conti…
The thing is SRI/ESG investing has evolved so that a number of money managers no longer exclude entire industries, but seek the best ranked or behaved members of different industries on an ESG basis, realizing that consumers, the media, regulators a…
This is a rather tiresome old-fashioned view on SRI and ESG--environmental social and governance--based investing that has been refuted by academic evidence. Click here: https://institutional.deutscheawm.com/content/_media/Sustainable_Investing_2012…
I'm not sure why there's this rush to get into the Stalwarts funds. Those funds are going to be open for a while as they can invest in larger stocks than Grandeur's other funds.
@Maurice, I agree the lottery is a voluntary tax. That's why I said "effectively" a regressive tax. Sure, no one is forcing the poor and desperate to buy lottery tickets. It just happens to be that they are the ones with the desperate dreams of inst…
@LLJB, I'm not saying I like any lottery. It is gambling and is effectively a "regressive tax" on the poor and desperate. But again even if they privatized the whole thing why would that be any better? According to the article on New Jersey: "Norths…
@LLJB, I am not a fan of lotteries in general, but the idea that somehow a privately-run lottery would be better than a government-run one is where I disagree with you. A number of states have handed over their lottery administration to private oper…
LLJB, You say: "This is an outstanding example of why we should reduce government's involvement in business to every extent possible." But let's consider state and federal government as a business for a second issuing debt and that debt in this case…
One statement Dex made about the debt I would like to refute: "Amazing what people will support to protect their entitlements/SS and their war mongering ways. They will say it is to help the poor, yet the only one it helps to bail out the bankers an…
An increasing debt load is the expedient compromise our politicians have made with an American populace that wants infrastructure, social services and a functioning military but doesn't want to pay the taxes necessary to fund these government progra…
While I feel for Lewinsky and think she was unfairly treated in the press, I think her speaking in this specific case is perhaps a missed opportunity. The financial world remains fairly sexist and imbalanced relative to the population. For instance,…
@bee. Thanks. It's nice to see this kind of list. It would be nice to see more postings like yours and less about biotech. The irony is when I was just starting out as a financial writer I was given the job of writing a weekly dueling portfolios col…
The one advantage managers like Buffett and Lynch have that is even greater today than it was when they were running money is patience. Since everything moves so quickly--too quickly really--today, a patient investor who really does their homework o…
The interesting question is how would Lynch fare today when there are thousands of mutual fund and hedge fund managers scrutinizing almost every stock from multiple angles. Also, the flow of information on companies thanks to the Internet occurs in …
Speaking of non-political discussions of taxes: nytimes.com/2012/11/02/business/questions-raised-on-withdrawal-of-congressional-research-services-report-on-tax-rates.html
Unfortunately, one can't post an article about a conservative politician's plan to cut taxes and have it not be a "political discussion." There is evidence that Rand's plan would primarily benefit the wealthy and hurt the middle class: bloombergview…
My problem with Litman's Alternative Strategies fund is I don't really see it as one. I think for the most part it's a balanced fund in disguise that charges slightly lower than average alternative fund fees. I don't see subadvisers Doubleline or FP…
Regarding balanced funds, not only are their actual returns less volatile than equity funds but investor returns tend to be better in them. Research done by Dalbar finds that investors just have more patience with balanced and target-date funds than…
I find when people say you shouldn't discuss politics it usually means the conversation isn't going in the direction that reaffirms their own political beliefs. I think political discussion is one of the things that makes our democracy great and emb…
Sorry but he lost me when he said Obamacare was the "worst thing since slavery" washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2013/10/11/ben-carson-obamacare-worst-thing-since-slavery/and America under Obama is equivalent to "Nazi Germany": cnn.com/2014/…
@Junkster, Great point. There's also a larger question about how well any individual fund fits into the whole of a portfolio and whether it is suitable for one's investment time horizon and risk tolerance. That should inform the buying and selling d…
T. Rowe is an interesting case as it isn't owned by a larger financial conglomerate such as a bank and has long specialized in no load funds. Yet I do think it has drifted some away from its original mission with advisor share classes and some funds…
Regarding publicly traded mutual fund companies and those owned by publicly traded financial conglomerates, John Bogle is the master at explaining why they tend to do poorly compared to privately owned shops, i.e., Fidelity and Dodge & Cox,and m…
