Forbes' Moral and Financial Irresponsibility

Let me start out by saying that I love Forbes magazine. It provides thoughtful insights and interesting treatments of current events. Rich Karlgaard, the publisher, is fantastic and Steve Forbes has great ideas--chief among them--the flat tax. That being said, Forbes really dropped the ball lately. Forbes has joined America's second favorite pastime of compiling lists by assembling a list of a hypothetical personal budget that one would have to have in order to live "comfortably" in selected American cities. Of the countless moral and financial errors made in this list, here are some of the most egregious: 1) Out of an after tax income of $407,200 not one penny was earmarked for charity or any other philanthropic activity. 2) Out of the same $407,200 budget a paltry $4,100 is set aside for savings--less than 1% of one's after tax income. 3) The combined value of the primary residence and the vacation home (mortgaged to the hilt no less) is $4,500,000, or more than 11 times the after tax income. Forbes claimed that they did research with mortgage lenders to obtain figures for payments, but I wonder if a lender, even in this real-estate crazed market, would let someone leverage into that much house. So, if we consider the implied message of Forbes' budget we understand that no one can possibly be "comfortable" unless they pull in a yearly income in excess of $600,000, then those people who are part of the 0.3% of the US population who do then only spend their money in a completely self-centered manner, at retirement they have to sell their homes because they are flat broke because they haven't saved hardly anything, and the bank repos their properties at the slightest hiccup that life brings their way. Sorry Forbes, I love you, but you're completely out of your mind and soul on this one.

Hedge Funds Should Look East

The Wall Street Journal reports in an essay entitled, Why Hedge Funds Hunt for Animals, Search the Stars, that new hedge fund managers are having a hard time coming up with names for their startup funds that are not already taken. According to some estimates there are over 8,000 hedge funds and these fund managers seem to have a fascination with names derived from Greek and Roman culture. No wonder they're having problems, they are fighting over a narrow universe of terms. Why not blase a new trail and name your fund after Near Eastern themes? How does the Cyrus Fund sound? How about Hammurapi Partners or Rabu Capital? I think this idea has legs. If anyone has several tens of millions they would like to give me (with terms of 2% annual fee plus 20% profits) I'd be happy to implement this.

I'm back from hibernation

I have recently recieved some rather cute posts by two individuals that will for now remain nameless. They have drawn attention to the fact that I have not posted anything new for a very long time indeed. I am back, on a limited basis. I hope you two are happy. Just kidding.