12/08/2020
Today David Wallace-Wells, New York Magazine You may be surprised to learn that of the trio of long-awaited coronavirus vaccines, the most promising, Moderna's mRNA-1273, which reported a 94.5 percent efficacy rate on November 16, had been designed by January 13. |
Ken Fisher, RCM That multiple COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out globally has sparked widespread hope—and pharma fever among investors. Snap up vaccine-maker shares now, the thinking goes, and you’ll catch a slice of the riches these moonshots promise. But beware. Lightning-quick COVID immunizations are undeniably great news and a testament to human beings’ indomitable ingenuity. But they’re unlikely to inject their creators with profits that markets haven’t already pre-priced—making vaccine-driven stock price surges unpredictable and short-lived. Here’s why. The... |
Adam Hanft, Worth The allure of rural America and the pandemic as an excuse for city-shaming. |
Walter Block, RCM The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, operating under the US Department of Health and Human Services, has effectively ended all evictions from residential rental units until the end of 2020. It is interesting to note how very different the law treats food and clothing, on the one hand, from shelter, on the other. If someone breaks into a Walmart, grabs a cake and some shoes, and tries to leave without paying, the repercussions are clear: that person is a shoplifter, and will be treated harshly not only by the forces of law and order, but will also lose out in the court of public... |
John Tamny, RealClearMarkets In Phishing for Phools, a 2016 book that George Akerlof co-authored with Robert Shiller, the authors wrote without even a hint of irony that people “do not do what is really good for them, they do not choose what they really want.” Please think about the previous bit of absurdity from the two economists. Maybe think a while. If they’re to be believed, we’re all just a collection of idiots. That’s what their allegedly careful economic analysis concludes. |
Nicole Gelinas, New York Post The Paycheck Protection Program was expensive, complicated, unfair and graft-prone. But it worked. |
Editorial, New York Times The Senate's plan is flawed. Doing nothing would be much worse. |
John Cochrane, National Review The U.S. has avoided a debt crisis for decades. That doesn't mean it can't happen, absent real policy changes. |
John Nichols, The Nation Republicans want to protect corporations from Covid-related lawsuits. Senator Bernie Sanders says it's wrong morally and economically. |
David Hart, American Institute for Economic Research When I think about the great free trade movement in England in the 1840s, what drove its supporters to oppose protectionism was not a deep knowledge of the intricacies of comparative advantage or the geographical specialisation of production, but a moral sense which we lack today. This moral sense cuts in two different directions. On the “positive side” there was the idea that you looked after yourself and your family and did not go looking for government handouts, that you got paid for supplying someone with a benefit in some voluntary exchange, and that nobody owed you a job or... |
Richard Rahn, The Washington Times Four decades ago, I had an extraordinary piece of good luck -- I became friends with the great Walter E. Williams, who passed away last week at age 84. |
Jeva Lange, The Week Official site of The Week Magazine, offering commentary and analysis of the day's breaking news and current events as well as arts, entertainment, people and gossip, and political cartoons. |
John Merrifield & Matthew McGehee, Inst for Objective Policy |
Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, Charles Schwab What are fractional shares? This week's Ask Carrie explains how they work and how they can make stock investing easier and more accessible. |
Brad McMillan, Commonwealth Financial Network |
Brian Wesbury & Robert Stein, First Trust Advisors |
Russell Redenbaugh & James Juliano, Kairos Capital Management |
Joshua Gottlieb & Avi Zenilman, University of Chicago |
Cooper Howard, Charles Schwab We expect the municipal bond market to return to a sense of normalcy in 2021. |
Joakim Book, American Inst for Economic Research I have a friend who constantly complains about her low pay. All things considered, she’s rather privileged: lives a good and healthy life, in a safe and beautiful country; she’s thinking of buying a house; she controls her own hours (her work is corona proof); she doesn’t have a possessive boss breathing down her neck. Still, on the topic of pay or work, she never passes on the opportunity to inform everyone that she’s “underpaid.” |
Editorial, The New York Times The city's mom-and-pop establishments need help now. |
Editorial, New York Post Facebook is overhauling its algorithms for removing hate speech, The Washington Post reports, because policies it thought were race-blind were upsetting a lot of black users and employees. |
Editorial, NYS Is it possible the Democrats could find their way to honest money? Feature the Twitter posting the other day with Senator Bernie Sanders talking about the plight of — to use his Marxist lingo — the working class. “Growing income and wealth inequality and the decline of the working class in our country is not a new phenomenon attributable to the pandemic,” he says. The number of years he traces back the phenomenon is 47. |
George Lopez, The Hill The effective enactment of sanctions would bolster our national interests. |
Robin Hartill, Motley Fool To max out your 401(k) in 2020 or 2021, you'd need to contribute $19,500. If you're 50 or older, you're allowed to make a $6,500 catch-up contribution, so $25,000 is your maximum. Let's face it: $19,500 a year is a lot of money, particularly if you're just starting your career. But if you can contribute the maximum to your 401(k) plan each year, it's shocking just how fast you can become a millionaire. |
Editorial, Issues & Insights The political left wants to capture and control free markets, the only engine of prosperity we've ever known. |
Wes Moore, CNN For many Americans, this holiday season will be marred by loss and deprivation due to the pandemic. Not only will we be mourning the more than 275,000 Americans we've lost to the virus, but its widespread effects on unemployment, businesses and access to food have left a staggering one out of six Americans unsure of where their next meal is coming from. |
John B. Taylor , Project Syndicate Former US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's forthcoming appointment to lead the Department of the Treasury is good news for advocates of rules-based monetary policymaking. Following a period of emergency measures, what the US needs now is a return to clear and predictable decision-making. |
Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund The ease of underestimating how bad things can be in the short run and how good they can be in the longer run is a leading cause of bad forecasts, bad decisions, and confused people. |
Evan Simonoff, Financial Adviser Waiting for value stocks to end their lagging performance versus glitzy growth has become as exhausting and surreal as waiting for Godot. |
Rani Molla, Vox A look at what's in store for Zoom in a post-pandemic world. |
Fisher Investments Editorial Staff, Fisher Investments |
Fisher Investments Editorial Staff, Fisher Investments |
Fisher Investments Editorial Staff, Fisher Investments |
Macromon, Global Macro Monitor Stocks are being driven by a rapid rise in money supply but how long can that go on as inflationary pressures build? |
John Tierney, City Journal Lockdowns are more about faith than science. |
Jamie Powell, Financial Times The tasteless make a comeback. |
Kenneth Rogoff, Project Syndicate Macroeconomists broadly agree that productive infrastructure spending is welcome after a deep recession, especially when interest rates are at record lows. But in advanced economies, any new project typically requires navigating difficult right-of-way issues, environmental concerns, and objections from apprehensive citizens. |
J.D. Tuccille, Reason Able to do our jobs from where we please, life for many of us will reflect a bit more of what we want rather than what we have to do to get by. |
Jonathan Clements, HumbleDollar Markets aren't predictable but pundits are. |
Jeff Carter, Points and Figures Thoreaux's original essay needs some updating. |
|
|
|
|
