Post tagged with government

  • Can't have it both ways

    March 03rd, 201002:28 PM ET
    By Mark Biller
    This report on the "state of the postal service" is a great microcosm of the choices we are going to have to increasingly make over the coming years. There's a big financial problem: The U.S. Postal Service estimates $238 billion in losses in the next 10 years if lawmakers, postal regulators and unions don't give the mail agency more flexib...

  • A law with unintended consequences

    February 24th, 201001:19 PM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    "It wasn't supposed to turn out this way." So we wrote in our November 2009 article (subscribers only) about the unintended consequences of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, signed into law last year by President Obama. The law took full effect Monday. AP Personal Finance writer Eileen AJ Connelly picks up th...

  • On Presidents' Day, financial wisdom from past presidents

    February 15th, 201012:38 PM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    Below are several quotes about money management from late U.S. presidents. Some quotes relate to personal financial management, others to the management of the government's finances. Some touch on both areas. First, from Kiplinger.com: George Washington: "As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method...

  • Big Brother is watching...and compiling...and selling

    February 10th, 201001:22 PM ET
    By Matthew Pryor
    The Information Age seems to have taken us full circle back to the days of hunters and gatherers - only now they're digital hunters and gatherers. Massive bureaucracies and corporate entities are all too happy to hunt down the details of our lives, scoop 'em up, and sell 'em to a willing bidder. And it's only going to get worse. Don't believe ...

  • We should have seen it coming

    November 05th, 200909:02 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    In a column for the Wall Street Journal, the always-insightful Jeremy Seigel, a professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (and author of Stocks for the Long Run), gets to the heart of what led to the financial meltdown. The key, he writes, can be found in data collected by Prof. Robert Shiller of Yale University. ...

  • "How much debt can a country carry?"

    November 04th, 200910:31 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    The U.S. isn't the only nation where people are worried about the long-term impact of huge levels of government spending and debt. New York Times writer Hiroko Tabuchi reported recently from Tokyo on the economic ill-health of Japan: How much debt can an industrialized country carry before the nation's economy and its currency bow, then break?...

  • "Too big to fail" is too big

    October 29th, 200909:03 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    Jim Jubak's latest column is a pretty convincing explanation of Why Big Banks Hate Banking. He runs through several examples (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo) showing that these companies may be involved (to varying degrees) in regular banking activities, but at least recently, they've been making most of their profits ...

  • Time is running out for Sam and his family

    October 14th, 200909:52 AM ET
    By Austin Pryor
    Let me tell you about my friend Sam. I've watched the way he handles his finances for years, and unfortunately, he never seems to learn from his past mistakes. He's never learned to live within his means, and he's now deeply buried in debt. One of his biggest weaknesses is he has a hard time saying no when he sees a need. He has a good heart and t...

  • A year ago...

    September 16th, 200910:05 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    Yesterday marked the unhappy anniversary of the slide into financial panic. While the financial landscape may not be in great shape today, I think most would agree that things could be a whole lot worse. In fact, I'd guess that if we had taken a reader survey 50 weeks ago, many/most probably would have expected conditions to be worse today than t...

  • Government up 40% on Citi share conversion

    September 04th, 200912:03 PM ET
    By Mark Biller
    Since we're occasionally accused of running hit-and-run negative news items that inflame blood pressure with no obvious "action steps" attached, here's a random bit of good news to help balance the scales. Citigroup Shares: Treasury is up Almost $10 Billion Since Conversion: UBS analysts figure that Geithner & Co. are currently in the money t...
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A blog for people who want to find their purpose in managing and investing their financial resources