WSJ: Bottom-Up vs. Top-down

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Sometimes you’ll see investment research that discusses so-called top-down and bottom-up estimates of how much money the companies in the S&P 500 index will earn overall.

The differences can sometimes be meaningful. Read more here.

Rob Young from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

WSJ: What's Driving the Bank Stocks?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Bank stocks in recent years have appreciated along with a rise in long-term interest rates, outperforming the broader market over much of that time. Can investors count on this trend continuing, as long as the 10-year yield is rising?

Not necessarily, analysts say, pointing out that long-term interest rates are just one of several factors that drive bank profitability. Read more here.

Photo by Eduardo Soares on Unsplash

PJ Media: How Artificial Intelligence Can Lead to Better Pay for Human Workers

By SIMON CONSTABLE

More than a few people have their knickers in a twist over artificial intelligence (AI). But they shouldn’t. The technology will make us all richer.

Some folks fear AI to the point where they get paralyzed, whereas the reality is that this new technology will augur consistent pay raises. Here’s the skinny on a situation that shouldn’t be at all terrifying, but is. Read more here.

Forbes: Free Government Money For All? Some People See A Need For It

BY SIMON CONSTABLE

This last decade there's been a growing concern that the capitalist system isn't working enough for all members of society. Income inequality, job insecurity, the working poor, etc. have all been pointed to as problems that need solving, at least by some people.

Now step forward Universal Basic Income (UBI,) a form of standard government-funded stipend that citizens would receive each month if the idea were ever realized on a broad scale. Its proponents think it might solve the perceived ills of our system.

It is also the topic of a soon-to-be-published book titled "Give People Money: How A Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, And Remake The World," which was written by journalist Annie Lowrey. Read more here.

Forbes: Washington's Latest Plan To Waste Your Tax Dollars

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There's wasteful, and then there's government wasteful.

You can guess which one is worse.

Just in case you didn't already know, earlier this month there was a stark reminder of our need to be ever vigilant against government excess. This time, the offending item was in the latest defense spending bill and includes the plan to ship coal to Germany all the way from the U.S., all on the taxpayer dime. Read more here.

P.J. Media: How to Make ObamaCare Pay

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It looks like some enterprising individuals have found a way to make the Affordable Care Act (ACA) more affordable -- at least for themselves.

A new study reveals how they did it, and comes just in time to plan for next year when yet another round of absurdly hefty hikes in insurance premiums are already in the offing.

Read more here.

Forbes: Still Going Strong -- How One Startup Bucked The Financial Crisis And Thrived

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's something of a maxim on Wall Street that the best trades are often those which are hardest to make. For instance, when the price of a stock has dropped like a stone, there is generally a lingering doubt that buying the stock is the right thing to do. Thoughts whirl around all based on one question: What does everyone else know that I don't?

Imagine then how nerve-wracking it must have been to start a new financial company in 2008, the very depths of the financial crisis. That was a time when waking from even a few hours sleep might bring news of yet another company's demise. It was a period when even the storied firms of Wall Street, such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, were not immune from financial disaster. Read more here.