Frugal News
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| China housing set for hard landing |
| 01/23/12 7:56 PM EST | Real Estate |
| "The numbers are grim: China's property bubble is heading for a spectacular burst, and its effect on the country's economy will be widespread." |
| More Real Estate: House of horrors |
| Rising from the ruins |
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| How sneaky governments steal your money |
| 01/17/12 11:12 PM EST | Government |
| "Many nations in the developed world are in deep do-do with their debt levels. On one hand they need growth to earn their way out of their problems, while on the other they’re being forced into anti-growth austerity measures by markets, concerned about their spiralling interest obligations. It’s a grim position for those of us brought up to expect an unrelentingly rosy economic outlook. This isn’t a new situation, though. We’ve been here many, many times before and governments have, by design and evolutionary accident, developed many, many ways of dealing with these problems. The cunning thing is that many of these involve stealthily thieving from their own citizens, but done so surreptitiously that, if we’re not careful, we won’t even notice it." |
| More Government: Why you can’t find heritage poultry |
| Smoke Screening |
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| Mutual funds vs ETFs |
| 01/16/12 11:08 PM EST | Funds |
| "The market share lost by mutual funds is not surprisingly shifting to ETFs. ETF fees tend to be lower, yet they provide better liquidity and the ability to time the market, including intraday trading. That makes ETFs appealing not just to retail investors, but to institutions as well." |
| More Funds: Hedge-fund performance and liquidity risk |
| Who got the margin call? |
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| Why you can’t find heritage poultry |
| 01/05/12 5:16 PM EST | Government |
| "But here’s what hasn’t been said about supply management: It is the enemy of deliciousness." |
| More Government: Smoke Screening |
| Unintended consequences: nanny state edition |
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| Smoke Screening |
| 12/23/11 12:57 PM EST | Government |
| "As you stand in endless lines this holiday season, here’s a comforting thought: all those security measures accomplish nothing, at enormous cost. That’s the conclusion of Charles C. Mann, who put the T.S.A. to the test with the help of one of America’s top security experts." |
| More Government: Unintended consequences: nanny state edition |
| How to kill an economy |
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| The truth about wealth |
| 12/19/11 12:51 AM EST | Thrift |
| "A study by Jonathan A. Parker and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen of Northwestern University found that the beta of the top 1% nearly quadrupled between 1982 and 2007 to 2.39. The top 0.01% had a beta of 3.96, making even the riskiest tech stocks look safe by comparison. Economists and wealth managers say the betas of the rich have likely soared even higher in recent months as markets gyrated sharply." |
| More Thrift: A new page at Canadian MoneySaver |
| What's the use of saving money? |
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| Art donation scheme raises questions |
| 12/17/11 6:55 PM EST | Taxes |
| "The biggest and longest-running financial fiascos in Canada have been 'donate low, deduct high' charitable donation tax-credit schemes. These schemes are all variations on the same theme: The donor purchases something for 'x' dollars and then donates it for 'x plus y' dollars, generating a tax credit that exceeds the original out-of-pocket costs. One of the most outrageous was the art-donation scheme. The participant would, for example, buy a piece of art for $10,000, get it appraised for $30,000, and then donate it to a university or hospital. The donor would receive a tax credit equal to 43.7 per cent of the appraised value, or $13,110, which was $3,110 more than his original cost. Problem is, Canada Revenue Agency has consistently rejected such schemes. To date, it has disallowed a stunning $4.5 billion in donations claimed by more than 130,000 Canadian taxpayers on account of these dodgy deals." |
| More Taxes: U.S. taxman to go easy |
| Why taxing the rich won’t help |
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| Growth in the age of deleveraging |
| 12/15/11 10:55 AM EST | Debt |
| "Accumulating the mountain of debt now weighing on advanced economies has been the work of a generation. Across G-7 countries, total non-financial debt has doubled since 1980 to 300 per cent of GDP. Global public debt to global GDP is almost at 80 per cent, equivalent to levels that have historically been associated with widespread sovereign defaults." |
| More Debt: Peak credit |
| Lessons from Canada's 'basket case' moment |
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| Peak credit |
| 12/15/11 10:54 AM EST | Debt |
| "We’ve heard about “peak oil.” We’ve heard about other resources, and how production will decline over time. But what of credit?" |
| More Debt: Lessons from Canada's 'basket case' moment |
| The great debt scare |
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| What Bay Street doesn't want you to hear |
| 12/03/11 4:05 PM EST | Brokers |
| "A substantial number of do-it-yourself investors are paying for financial advice they are not getting and never will. That's what can happen when you buy mutual funds from an online broker. While you typically pay nothing to buy and sell your funds, the cost of owning them can be identical to what is paid by investors who have advisers. There's almost a conspiracy of silence on this matter in the investment industry and it results from the fact that the status quo serves brokers and fund companies quite well." |
| More Brokers: A milestone in low-cost investing |
| Asking the right and wrong questions |
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| U.S. taxman to go easy |
| 12/03/11 4:03 PM EST | Taxes |
| "Americans living in Canada who’ve neglected to pay their U.S. taxes are getting a big break from Uncle Sam. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is poised to waive potentially massive penalties for Americans who agree to come clean and don’t owe any taxes, The Globe and Mail has learned." |
| More Taxes: Why taxing the rich won’t help |
| More corporate tax won’t help |
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| Unintended consequences: nanny state edition |
| 11/30/11 8:56 PM EST | Government |
| "Today and tomorrow mark the last days that put-upon parents can satiate their youngsters by simply throwing down $2.18 for a Happy Meal toy. But, thanks to the new law taking effect on Dec. 1, this is no longer permitted. Now, in order to have the privilege of making a 10-cent charitable donation in exchange for the toy, you must buy the Happy Meal. Hilariously, it appears Mar et al., in their desire to keep McDonald's from selling grease and fat to kids with the lure of a toy have now actually incentivized the purchase of that grease and fat -- when, beforehand, a put-upon parent could get out cheaper and healthier with just the damn toy." |
| More Government: How to kill an economy |
| A model for Ontario |
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| How to kill an economy |
| 11/26/11 9:59 PM EST | Government |
| "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s move to expand price controls this week sparked panic purchases by consumers, leading to shortages of everything from coffee to toilet paper." |
| More Government: A model for Ontario |
| Congress: Trading stock on inside information? |
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| House of horrors |
| 11/26/11 11:56 AM EST | Real Estate |
| "Based on the average of the two measures, home prices are overvalued by about 25% or more in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden (see table). Indeed, in the first four of those countries housing looks more overvalued than it was in America at the peak of its bubble." |
| More Real Estate: Rising from the ruins |
| Real estate never goes down ... |
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| Why taxing the rich won’t help |
| 11/23/11 12:39 AM EST | Taxes |
| "It’s tempting to look to our millionaires and demand they pay more in taxes, but the same inconvenient truth applies. When you add up all the money made by all the people who earn more than $1 million a year, it amounts to around $700 billion. But since the millionaires already pay close to $200 billion in taxes, the government would have to increase rates to nearly 100 percent — which is about the worst idea ever — for it to have any real impact." |
| More Taxes: More corporate tax won’t help |
| Tax math |
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| More corporate tax won’t help |
| 11/23/11 12:38 AM EST | Taxes |
| "A tax rate is one thing. Tax collected is another. Indeed, in Canada progressives like to point out that there’s no need for corporate income tax cuts, since the rates in the U.S. are much higher. But no one pays the posted rate in the U.S." |
| More Taxes: Tax math |
| A Short History of the Income Tax |
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| Lessons from Canada's 'basket case' moment |
| 11/23/11 12:18 AM EST | Debt |
| "Finance officials bit their nails and nervously watched the clock. There were 30 minutes left in a bond auction aimed at funding the deficit and there was not a single bid. Sounds like today's Italy or Greece? No, this was Canada in 1994." |
| More Debt: The great debt scare |
| Debt junkies |
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| A model for Ontario |
| 11/17/11 11:08 AM EST | Government |
| "California has long been among America’s most extensive taxers and regulators of business. But at the same time, the state had assets that seemed to offset its economic disincentives: a famously sunny climate, a world-class public university system that produced a talented local workforce, sturdy infrastructure that often made doing business easier, and a history of innovative companies. No more. As California has transformed into a relentlessly antibusiness state, those redeeming characteristics haven’t been enough to keep firms from leaving. Relocation experts say that the number of companies exiting the state for greener pastures has exploded. In surveys, executives regularly call California one of the country’s most toxic business environments and one of the least likely places to open or expand a new company. Many firms still headquartered in California have forsaken expansion there." |
| More Government: Congress: Trading stock on inside information? |
| Capitol gains |
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| Congress: Trading stock on inside information? |
| 11/14/11 11:39 PM EST | Government |
| "The next national election is now less than a year away and congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and their energy raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they'll need just to hold onto a job that pays $174,000 a year. Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country, don't always apply to them. When Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, and other lawmakers wouldn't answer Steve Kroft's questions, he headed to Washington to get some answers about their stock trades. Most former congressmen and senators manage to leave Washington - if they ever leave Washington - with more money in their pockets than they had when they arrived, and as you are about to see, the biggest challenge is often avoiding temptation." |
| More Government: Capitol gains |
| A national debt Of $14 trillion? Try $211 trillion |
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| Rising from the ruins |
| 11/07/11 10:41 PM EST | Real Estate |
| "The economic landscape is unquestionably littered with the wreckage of the crash. Home prices languish near post-bubble lows, over 30% below peak. The plunge in prices has left nearly a quarter of all mortgage borrowers owing more than the value of their homes nearly 10m are seriously delinquent on their loans or in foreclosure. The hardest-hit markets are ghost neighbourhoods, filled with dilapidated properties. Housing markets are far from healthy. Yet current pessimism seems overdone. A turnaround in sales, prices and construction may be closer than many imagine." |
| More Real Estate: Real estate never goes down ... |
| Too hefty to handle |
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