Worrying about a Black Swan event can do serious damage to a portfolio. Jon Sindreu and Laurence Fletcher write at The Wall Street Journal: In the wake of the global financial crisis, fear of such “black-swan” events drove some investors into hedge funds that offered protection should markets plunge. But the swans have yet to return, and such strategies have fallen out of favor. The patience of many investors has run out after losing money during the intervening years of mainly benign market conditions. According to data by CBOE Eurekahedge, those who invested in these tail-risk … [Read more...]
Car and Driver: When Will You be Able to Buy an Autonomous Car?
I thought this was interesting from the September issue of Car and Driver "Upfront" section: Automakers define “autonomy” according to a scale established by SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers). The scale tops out with control-free pods at Level 5, but even adaptive cruise control counts as Level 1. What most people think of as full autonomy begins with Level 4, in which a car can handle the complete driving task without needing to defer to a human driver—in certain cases. Think of a car that can drive on the highway but may need a human to take over at the … [Read more...]
Is There Anything Good About a VAT? You May Be Surprised
For years Dan Mitchell has criticized the value added tax (VAT). There are major problems with the way European nations have implemented the VAT. The biggest is that they didn't get rid of all their other taxes first. At his blog International Liberty, Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, explains under what conditions a VAT might actually be favorable. He writes: Whenever I see an otherwise sensible person express support for a value-added tax, it triggers a Pavlovian response. And it’s not a favorable reaction. I’ve criticized Tom Dolan, Greg Mankiw, and Paul Ryan, for … [Read more...]
Class Warfare is Holding America Back
As the Senate and Congress ready themselves for a debate over tax reform, Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, writes that the policymakers should ignore the shouting of class warriors and, like Reagan, focus on the entire economy. Faster economic growth is the best solution to the problems of everyone in the economy. Mitchell writes: Reagan’s tax policy (especially the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981) was good because the President and his team ignored the class-warfare crowd. They didn’t care whether all income groups got the same degree of tax relief. They didn’t care … [Read more...]
Fuzzy Math Can’t Hide This State’s Pension Trouble Anymore
For years I have warned against over optimistic return expectations on pension funds (See here, here, here, here, here, and here for starters). States like Illinois are known to have unrealistic pension expectations, but new rules forcing states into more rational calculations for their pension fund returns have outed Minnesota as another pension fund risk taker. At Bloomberg, Martin Z. Braun reports that Minnesota's pension fund liabilities have increased by $16.7 billion dollars using the new calculation. It's amazing what fuzzy math can hide for so many years. Thanks to more realistic … [Read more...]
Is the Amazon Story Wildly Inflated?
Amazon's effect on retail is an amazing story, but despite its disruptive nature, the company hasn't been generating profits or managing risk nearly as well as its retail competitors. Now Charlie O'Shea, an analyst from Moody's is attempting to deflate the Amazon bubble by poking holes in the myths surrounding the company's performance. MarketWatch reports that O'Shea believes Amazon's stock performance potential is overshadowing the on the ground operating performance advantages of its competitors. Amazon’s stock AMZN, +0.29% has outperformed rivals, but it’s mostly based on the company’s … [Read more...]
What Can We Learn from Denmark?
Under the heading of "even a blind squirrel finds a nut," Denmark targets deep tax cuts. What are we waiting for? Peter Levring writes at Bloomberg: By encouraging more people to work, the government expects to generate more revenue via sources such as value-added tax, Jensen said during a press conference in Copenhagen. "There’s still room for growth in public spending, and room to prioritize, as this government does, welfare for Danes," Jensen said. He said critics of the government’s plan were guilty of a "simplification" of economic principles. "This is not a zero-sum game" between … [Read more...]
Navy’s New Missile Shoots Down Advanced Ballistic Threat
Raytheon is reporting that its new Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) intercepted an advanced medium-range missile at sea. It was the third successful ballistic missile intercept for the SM-6. The SM-6 is the only missile that supports anti-air, anti-surface, and sea-based ballistic missile defense. A Raytheon (NYSE: RTN)-built Standard Missile-6 intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target at sea in its final seconds of flight, after being fired from the USS John Paul Jones. The SM-6 missile can perform anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare and – now – even more advanced ballistic missile … [Read more...]
America Can Fix This Lousy Deal for Workers
Writing at International Liberty, Dan Mitchell a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, says that Social Security isn't only basically bankrupt, it's also a "lousy deal for workers." He writes: The part of the crisis that generally is overlooked is that the program is a lousy deal for workers. They pay record amounts of tax into the system in exchange for a shaky promise of a modest monthly check. For all intents and purposes, they are being charged for a steak, but they’re getting a hamburger (with Medicare, by contrast, people are charged for a hamburger and they receive a hamburger … [Read more...]
Keeping History Alive at Fort Adams, Newport, RI
Civil War re-enactors returned to Fort Adams in Newport for a historical weekend. Newport This Week describes the event: The Fort Adams Trust will bring the Civil War to life on Aug. 26-27 within the walls of Fort Adams with dramatic simulations of assaults, as well as re-creations of the daily life of soldiers and civilians during the 1860s. Beginning each day at 9 a.m., visitors can experience a day in the life of the soldiers and citizens, who will be outfitted in authentic 19th-century uniforms and dress, learning about everything from military tactics and cooking to family life during … [Read more...]
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