Is Wall Street reform already dead? The bankers and other gazillionaires are back in the driver’s seat, in Washington D.C. For you and me, that means taking a more conservative stance with our personal money. Unbridled speculation and financial deceit brought us the Great Economic Collapse of 2008. If the new Congress undermines the Dodd-Frank [...]
What Jane Says: The Economy
- Why it’s still smart to own bond mutual funds
- POSTED 01.7.11
If you’re invested in bond mutual funds, relax. The Great Bond Collapse, touted by so many noisy commentators last month, has been put on indefinite hold. Fears of ramped up inflation and spikes in interest rates were premature. Bond funds still look like sound investments, for income and diversification.
So make yourself a hot cup of [...]
- Deflation investments: What will protect you if prices fall?
- POSTED 09.14.10
Investors need to kick the inflation state of mind. You’re huddling in short-term bond funds or fretting about a bond bubble because you’re sure that hyperinflation lies right around the corner. But the case against it is stronger than you think. Consumer prices rose only 1.2 percent in July, compared with a year ago. Near-zero [...]
- TARP will turn out to be a bargain
- POSTED 05.11.10
You’re not going to want to hear this, but the $700 billion provided for the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) may be the best money we never entirely spent. Hat’s of to TPM for putting together what we know of the cost so far.
The U.S. Treasury has disbursed $536.6 billion for the programs [...]
- Yes, big business was once more honest than it is today
- POSTED 05.7.10
My father was a CEO, of the ’50s and ’60s generation. He lived, in his later years, in a state of shock at the grabbing greed of his corporate successors. Plenty of self-enriching louts rose to the top in his day. But instead of being admired in the executive suite, their behavior was generally deplored.
It [...]
