Financial Complexity Made Clear Financial Complexity Made Clear

Current Events Articles

Electoral College Statistics Demonstrate That Change Is Both Necessary And Feasible

November 13th, 2012

November 2012 It is time to eliminate the Electoral College.  Voters prefer the popular vote, and the reason for adopting the Electoral College initially is [...]

The IOC Awards More Medals Than Ever: Why And Does This Cause Medal Inflation?

July 31st, 2012

August 2012 Since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on average increased the total number of medals awarded by [...]

New FINRA Rules Expand Liability To Customers

July 31st, 2012

August 2012 The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) proposed and the SEC approved FINRA Rule 2090 (Know Your Customer) and FINRA Rule 2111 (Suitability) as [...]

Which Country Is Most Successful At The Summer Olympics?

July 31st, 2012

July 2012 It depends on how success is measured. If the total number of medals won is the metric used, the United States is the [...]

IMF Report Tells The U.S. What It Apparently Cannot Figure Out For Itself

June 6th, 2012

January 2012 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released a report entitled “United States Sustainability Report”.  The report is part of a series addressing certain [...]

California’s Self-Inflicted Last-Place Position Continues For An Eighth Straight Year

June 6th, 2012

May 2012 CEO magazine released its eighth annual survey of the best and worst states in which to do business.  California managed to be rated [...]

Are The Baby Boomers Willing To Take A Hit To Protect Their Children & Grandchildren?

June 6th, 2012

May 2012 Young people are the casualties of Congress’s unwillingness to address Social Security. Assuming politicians can get agreement that something needs to done about [...]

SEC Regulations Will Get New Economic Scrutiny

June 6th, 2012

April 2012 The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is paying much greater attention to economic cost-benefit analysis in its rule making activities.  Private concerns wishing to [...]

Ignore Investments that Rely On The JOBS Act’s Loosened Requirements

June 6th, 2012

April 2012 With President Obama’s signature, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known as the JOBS Act, is now law.  The law raced through [...]

TARP Receives Another Unflattering Report

June 6th, 2012

March 2012 In March 2012, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on TARP’s Capital Purchase Program (CPP).  The report described this Troubled Asset [...]

CBO Issues Interesting Budget & Spending Projections

June 6th, 2012

February 2012 On the last day of January 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its budget and spending projections for the federal government covering [...]

TARP’s Inspector General Reports A Reality Different Than The Public’s Perception

June 6th, 2012

February 2012 The Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) has the statutory duty to conduct, supervise and coordinate audits and investigations [...]

Torturing Ourselves With Repetition And Complexity In Accounting Disclosure

December 1st, 2011

November 2011 Accounting firm KPMG and the Financial Executives Institute sponsored a study of the complexity in U.S. financial reporting. Aptly entitled “Disclosure Overload and [...]

IRS Continues To Mismanage Refundable Tax Credits

November 3rd, 2011

November 2011 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Section 1004 of the economic stimulus law) provides for a refundable tax credit known as [...]

Audit Report Discloses $4.2 Billion Annually Is Paid To Illegal Aliens Through A Refundable Tax Credit, With Practically No Offsetting Tax Revenues

September 8th, 2011

September 2011   Undocumented workers in the United States received refundable tax credits totaling $4.2 billion in 2010, an amount which is dramatically higher than [...]

What Is The Fuss About “Net Neutrality?”

January 17th, 2011

January 2011 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has long sought to impose rules requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to continue to offer equal treatment to [...]

Litigation: NASD Proposes Modified Arbitration Rules

May 18th, 2009

May 2006 This month, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) changes to its Code of Arbitration [...]

Report From Senior Litigators Proposes Dramatic Changes To The Discovery Process

March 17th, 2009

March 2009 Last week, the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) and The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University [...]

IMF Report Shows Continued Banking Weakness Caused By Real Estate Loans

August 18th, 2008

August 2010 A report issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided its assessment of the U.S. monetary crisis and related recession. This was the [...]

When Combined, Two Studies Predict The Near Collapse Of Employer-Provided Health Coverage Under ObamaCare

August 1st, 2008

June 2011   Two different reports by reputable consulting firms each conclude that more than half of employers will eliminate or change their existing health [...]

Want More Employment? Small Business Asks Government To Just “Get Out Of The Way”

August 1st, 2008

July 2011 With unemployment rates stubbornly over 9%, U.S. employment is topmost on practically everyone’s mind.  Generally, the American economy is barely adding more jobs [...]

Bakken Oil Could Significantly Improve U.S. Economic And Political Strength

July 18th, 2008

July 2009 Policies to address the U.S. use and supply of oil are among one of the most important economic and political issues of the [...]

Residential Real Estate Declines Become Quite Large …And Are Still Growing

June 18th, 2008

June 2009 The value of residential real estate held by households totaled $22.5 trillion in 2007. By comparison, the market capitalization of domestic equities was [...]

CEOs Rank California Worst For Business In Entire Country

June 18th, 2008

June 2010 In its sixth annual report, the May/June 2010 edition of CEO Magazine reported the results of its survey of over 650 chief executive [...]

Nevada Attempts To Capitalize On California’s High Taxes

June 18th, 2008

June 2010 Nevada is running another series of advertisements which attempt to woo California’s businesses to their state. Advertisements released this last week mock California [...]

According To CEOs, California Continues To Punish Itself

May 18th, 2008

May 2011 Chief Executive Magazine released its seventh annual survey of CEOs regarding the best and worst states in which to do business. For the [...]

Bernanke’s Press Conference Dished Out Plenty Of BS

May 18th, 2008

May 2011 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke held the first-ever news conference by a Federal Reserve Chairman. The move was an obvious effort to calm [...]

High Speed Rail Can Be Profitable … With The Proper Routes

April 18th, 2008

April 2011 Recently, governors in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida made headlines by rejecting plans to build high speed rail lines within their states. High speed [...]

Some Common Notions Of American Income & Wealth Are Wrong

March 18th, 2008

March 2011 Listening to certain political commentaries, one is led to believe that the “rich” are getting richer, while the “poor” are getting poorer. These [...]

FCC Moves Closer To Opening White Space

February 18th, 2007

February 2011   On January 26, 2011, the FCC designated nine companies to act as database administrators for licensing television white space. The FCC noted [...]