The Agenda: A Closer Look at Middle Class Decline - NYTimes.com


The Agenda: A Closer Look at Middle Class Decline - NYTimes.com:

Interesting NYTimes Blog article:


"Since median inflation-adjusted family income peaked in 2000 at $64,232, it has fallen roughly 6 percent. You won’t find another 12-year period with an income decline since the aftermath of the Depression.

Why?  Hard to say, their attempt:


"In the simplest terms, the relatively meager gains

ANALYSIS: Should airlines hedge their bets on fuel?




English: Chart of jet fuel prices for major US airlines. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ANALYSIS: Should airlines hedge their bets on fuel?:

Remember the difference between operational hedges (example Delta's purchase of an oil refinery) and financial hedging (hedging with financial derivatives).  And my prior on this is that hedging should be done and it is best to do it with financial hedging

Sandy Weill: Break up the big banks - Jul. 25, 2012




English: Sanford Weill outside Waverly Inn restaurant in New York City on December 17, 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sandy Weill: Break up the big banks - Jul. 25, 2012:
Reverse course?  Weill seemingly admits the repeal of Glass-Steagall was a mistake.


"The man responsible for creating Citigroup -- the world's first financial supermarket -- said Wednesday that the nation's largest banks

What Americans Earn : Planet Money : NPR

What Americans Earn : Planet Money : NPR:

Some takeaways: Almost one household out of every four (24.9 percent) makes less than $25,000 a year. About one in three households (30.1 percent) made between $50,000 and $100,000. One in five households (19.9 percent) made more than $100,000 a year.

Why Floundering Is Good | Psychology Today


Why Floundering Is Good | Psychology Today:


Yes!  I have ammunition now. :)  but My students may not like this but it fits exactly what I have said since even before I started teaching.     (thanks to Farnam Street for pointing this one out!


"...it’s better to let the neophytes wrestle with the material on their own for a while, refraining from giving them any assistance at the start. In a

NBA Players Forced to Save Toward Retirement for First Time - Bloomberg




English: Chicago Bulls Scottie Pippen 1995 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NBA Players Forced to Save Toward Retirement for First Time - Bloomberg:


To combat the near epidemic problems of professional athletes going broke after failing to safe for tehir retirement, the new NBA agreement includes a forced saving plan:

"Beginning next season, players also will surrender 5 percent to 10 percent of

Futurity.org – In tool trade, chimps reveal a quirky bias


Futurity.org – In tool trade, chimps reveal a quirky bias:

The endowment effect essentially says that you value something you own more than it is worth from an outside perspective.  Now it appears that chimps suffer the same bias:

"Drawing on prior theoretical work by Jones on the evolution of seemingly irrational behaviors, Brosnan and Jones found consistency between chimpanzees and humans

PolitiFact | Viral Facebook post on CEO-worker pay ratio has obscure past

PolitiFact | Viral Facebook post on CEO-worker pay ratio has obscure past:

Several of my facebook friends have posted this and, well, there are so many things wrong with this picture it barely deserves mention, but if it is not mentioned, people will only see one side of the discussion. 



So let's see is this true? 

Yes US CEOs are highly paid both historically (excluding late 1990s-early

A Home in the Colonias | The New York Times

A Home in the Colonias | The New York Times

This video is about 5 years old, but it shows some the living conditions where we will be working in South Texas.    The New York Times


Here is some more:
Border Communities: The Case of Colonias in Texas by Cecilia Giusti

"Education levels are very low there. In El Cenizo, one established colonia in Webb County, only 15 per cent of people older

Shrinking Universe


AM reading: Common Sense of Mutual Funds by John Bogle.  Here is a really cool insight:

Page 359: he is writing about the fact that given normal restrictions (not owning more than 2% of portfolio in any single asset and not owning more than 5% of shares of any individual company), the number of potential investments drops significantly.  For example, using 2009 data, a 1 Billion fund could

Why U.S. Companies Continue to Pay Dividends - Bloomberg

Why U.S. Companies Continue to Pay Dividends - Bloomberg:

Love it!  Virtually identical to our class discussions:

"It seems clear from our recent work that dividends are very resilient, and are unlikely to disappear. What explains this staying power?

First, some argue that dividends provide important “signals” about the strength or quality of the firm’s underlying earnings stream. (Because

Wall Street Warriors

A look at what it can be like to work on Wall Street. (this episode focuses on "winners" in Hedge funds, commodities, and currency trading):

I am back

I realize I have been gone, but I was very busy nursing my mom in her battle against breast cancer. It pains beyond words that we lost the battle. I will try to get more articles up in the coming weeks. I also encourage you to "like" financeprofessor on facebook where I do share articles in a much faster manner.