I’ve been a personal-finance journalist for over a decade, and what I’m about to say almost amounts to heresy in my line of work: Some of your most pressing financial questions just don’t have any satisfying answers. There may not be much you can do.
Most financial advice sounds like something out of a how-to manual. [...]
If there’s one regulatory trend that may define 2009, it could be the creation of exchanges. The U.S. Treasury wants to start a type of exchange, or clearinghouse, for the buying and selling of over-the-counter derivatives, those obscure asset-backed contracts that helped bring the financial system to its knees.
Now, Congress is dabbling with the idea [...]
When you’re nominated to the Supreme Court, your life becomes an open book, and details of every public move or transaction you’ve made are scrutinized, including the state of your personal finances. Last week, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor submitted a 172-page document (with another 129 pages of supporting information) in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee [...]
President Obama’s recent announcement that auto fuel efficiency standards are being sped up to require an average per-fleet fuel economy of 35.5 mpg for cars by 2016 (the previous goal was 35 mpg by 2020) has its environmental and geopolitical merits. Less green house gas emissions, less dependency on foreign oil producers is a very [...]
Friday’s news that the official unemployment rate is now at a 26-year high of 9.4% is actually a rosy spin on what is really happening.
The official unemployment stat that gets the headline treatment, the BLS’ U-3 data set, doesn’t count all sorts of folks who are unemployed and underemployed.
To get a more comprehensive snapshot [...]
