Elegy for a Way of Life: The values of self-improvement under attack as Americans embrace sports betting and governments dream of billions more in their coffers
As the football season opened last week in the United States, state governments were lining up to take advantage of sports betting. Lawmakers quietly touted the virtues of legalized betting—-they claim it will provide a lot more money to spend on their pet projects or believe it will—with little examination of the consequences of governments…
Money Management Made Simple: Ockham’s Razor Can Still Guide Us Centuries Later
Don’t hem and haw, talking a problem to death. Solve it. Use a simple, clear strategy. Many in doubt over which solution to take to their money woes should take the simplest one. This is a rule that can be followed in money management. It is based on the same principle as recommended by the…
The Problems of Social Security—Radical Reforms Needed: One generation already hurt. Will the next one also get mulcted? Time to consider the what was once thought impossible: Offer new retirement saving choices and start to unwind the Social Security by making it compete.
As we discussed in the previous segment, Social Security, America’s bedrock government retirement program, is on a collision course with mathematics. More people are collecting for longer periods than in previous generations. Fewer people are entering the workforce who will pay into the system. The Social Security surpluses accrued in the 1970s through the 1990s,…
Don’t Depend on the Government in Retirement: The American Social Safety Net Has Holes
In planning retirement, Americans should be skeptical of the retirement promises of pols, who come and go. That’s because your parents’ dependable Social Security and company pensions no longer exist. This worries many workers who expect Social Security to fund a significant part of their retirement income. Social Security Gets Long in the Tooth As…
The Credit Card Bill Is Too Damn High!: And I’m still paying for a car I don’t have
Many Americans learned nothing about basic money management over the past decade. They lived through the recession of 2008 when they suddenly couldn’t pay credit card bills, and have apparently forgotten those hard times. And, as a philosopher famously warned, those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. It’s Happening Again Indeed, despite…
The City Is a Good Place for a “Low Risk” Crime: Anti-Smoking Efforts Can Backfire
Perhaps even virtue has need of limits. That’s because a good thing—such as persuading people that smoking is a bad thing—can go too far. We see it here in New York, where some of the highest smoking taxes in the world have led an avalanche of illegal cigarettes brought into the city and state. They…
