The costs of government

In the wake of the GSA scandal, this video is an apt reminder of how all government departments run the risk of pulling a GSA. This video highlights how public pensions and their beneficiaries are largely to blame for the rise of “beggar states”.

Mutual fund industry makes remedy for beggar states a non-starter

In his latest column, George Will provides a clear analysis of the key indulgence leading to the insolvency of states like Illinois, New York and California. Many states are broke and many more on the brink because public sector pension plans have raided state coffers and carried on spending well after those coffers were empty. [...]

Update on disgraced stock picker Bill Miller: Back at work like nothing ever happened

Bill-“Every decision to buy anything has been wrong”-Miller is a walking reminder of the central trouble with mutual funds. Even though his $1.3 billion Legg Mason Opportunity Trust has declined 65 percent this year, his people still love him. To prove it, they just gave him a new fund to help manage. His name recognition [...]

Post-meltdown era right around the corner?

The growning gap between income and profit amoung S&P 500 companies suggests new efficeincies and investment bargains. S&P 500’s Worst Writedowns Signal Rally as Gap Widens Dec. 15 — Just when U.S. companies are about to report their biggest writedowns, the losses may be the strongest signal yet that it’s time to buy stocks. Companies [...]

Listening to the death-rattle of the mainstream media

Here is an excellent post by an active reader of The Wall Street Journall and The New York Times. Back in th days when mutual funds were much more expensive than they are now, that is, back when mutual funds charged front loads, back loads, commission trails, and ambiguous expense ratios, the financial media colluded [...]

Happy Thanksgiving

We wish all MFSW readers a happy and safe Thanksgiving. “The First Thanksgiving,” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

Putnam sends six old horses to the glue factory, (and axes 12 money managers)

This news has a special resonance in light of our recent post of a report forecasting a move away from actively managed funds to passive strategies, as well the recent negative data on active fund management. Putnam Investments to cut 47 jobs, merge funds Putnam Investments said Monday it will cut 47 jobs, including 12 [...]

The contraction of financial services sector: Things just got real

Most analysts believe these huge losses are a sign of permanent change in the industry. With the big guys all contracting, it is more important than ever for independent advisers to be in control of their own message and their own communications. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fidelity Investments, the world’s biggest mutual fund company, told [...]

Here is a brain trust worthy of attention

A decade ago, T. Friedman said that prior to globalization, if you wanted to understand the way the world really worked, how forces should be defined and seen to interact, you would listen to a professor of international relations or even political philosophy. Then, if you could, you would turn to statesmen for their insights [...]

Signs of renewal?

Stock funds, both active and passive, rally for the first time in four months. Americans turn to mutual funds Americans began pumping money into mutual funds for the first time in 15 weeks, as global equities started rallying at the end of October, according to a report released Thursday. Investors poured $2.2 billion into equity-based [...]