It appears the Honorable Charles Rangel, powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has an ethics problem.  Serious questions have been raised about his living arrangements, specifically his lease of not one, but four, rent controlled New York City apartments. Rent Control is the local... read more

The Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily are two entirely different newspapers that focus on business, IBD especially on the stock market, the Journal less so since a change in management. It was recently taken over by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Still business news is still news. IBD... read more

The Dow still remains below thirteen thousand.  While somewhat above the recent bottom, this is not a strong statement of faith in the three hundred dollar individual tax rebate currently being handed out, what the three remaining Presidential candidates are doing and all the other distractions taking... read more

Bear Stearns is proof of the adage that politicians can make everyone poor. For more than eighty years, Bear Stearns was a reputable Wall Street financial services firm, diversifying its range of services as time passed along with the rest of the industry. In the past year, it has been the victim of... read more

There is good news coming soon for people who make money using capital.  The Federal Reserve appears headed towards cutting interest rates a little bit more and those legendary three hundred dollar tax rebate checks that everyone has heard about, no matter what their opinion on the matter happens to... read more

The federal government is now looking into helping people keep housing they apparently cannot now afford.  No detailed explanation has been given for the cause of this problem.  No financial statements have been issued.  No one is keeping official track of the money involved in keeping risky debtors... read more

I last wrote about the stock market and finance at the end of February.  Since then, time has played ahead and the markets have traded in their fashion but whether anything has changed depends on where you come from and what you bring to this discussion. The Dow is at twelve thousand five hundred approximately,... read more

With the stock market closer to twelve thousand than fourteen thousand as measured by the Dow, headline writers and other news sources are making it clear that financial markets will not truly rally towards the fourteen thousand benchmark and probably beyond until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke,... read more

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of thirty industrial companies is dropping two companies, Honeywell, HON, a diversified manufacturer of power systems and other industrial supplies, and Altria, MO, now just a tobacco company, and replacing them with Bank of America, BAC, a large bank, and Chevron, CVX,... read more

Last year, from the endless depths of its accumulated wisdom and financial acumen, the Federal Reserve was sending interest rates higher.  This made borrowing money ever more costly, making it more expensive to buy a car or own a house.  This slowed sales and experienced investors in the financial... read more