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Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who is worth millions of dollars according to her congressional financial disclosure statement, says Congress needs to tackle income inequality because it “poses an existential threat to our nation and our way of life.” […] According to her congressional financial disclosure statement for 2012, DeLauro is worth between $5 million and $25 million. …

Tax season opens in 26 days. And here's my big prediction: a lot of taxpayers will be taken by surprise. Despite all of those "no new taxes" type promises, tax bills are expected to edge higher for a number of taxpayers for the 2013 tax year. And 2014 holds even more surprises. Here's a quick look at what to expect:

You don't get something for nothing, You can't have freedom for free, You won't get wise, With the sleep still in your eyes, No matter what your dreams might be, “Something for Nothing” ... The biggest obstacle to economic recovery is ignorance, among the public and in Congress. Even reasonable proposals like those advanced by DeLong are basically frozen out by the strange logic that currently holds sway inside the White House and within the FOMC. In both cases, the idea of real debt restructuring and economic revival is shunned in favor of policy stasis and financial repression. The current...

Investment & Finance Thread 2014 New Year(Jan. 6 - Jan. 13 edition) Anyone want more stuff or less stuff posted here please let me know.Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me.  The list of everyone's links is here.  Open invitation continues always for input on ideas for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.   Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket.  2013 was an amazing year-- stocks up 30%+ w/ metals tanking like 40%.  Don't know about you but I spent most of it ready to bail out...

Investment & Finance Thread (Dec. 16 - Jan. 6 edition) Anyone want more stuff or less stuff posted here please let me know.Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me.  The list of everyone's links is here.  Open invitation continues always for input on ideas for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.   Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket  Everyone's taking the holidays off so we'll resume thing next year and all the very best to you and yours!   Until then, this week's econ reports here, Last week's stocks: 

Investment & Finance Thread (Dec. 9 - Dec. 13 edition)Last week's stocks rebounded in shaky volume.    This week's econ reports here, earnings reports:   Anyone want more stuff or less stuff posted here please let me know. Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me.  The list of everyone's links is here.  Open invitation continues always for input on ideas for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.   Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Dec. 2 - Dec. 6 edition)---- work in progress.Last week's stocks saw new highs.  This week's reports include:Dec 2 ISM Index, Construction Spending, Auto Sales Dec 3 Truck Sales, MBA Mortgage Index, MBA Mortgage Purchase Index Dec 4 ADP Employment Change, Trade Balance, New Home Sales , ISM Services, Crude Inventories, Fed's Beige Book Dec 5 Challenger Job Cuts, Initial Claims, Continuing Claims, GDP - Second Estimate Q3, GDP Deflator - Second Estimate Q3, Factory Orders, Natural Gas Inventories Dec 6 Nonfarm Payrolls, Nonfarm Private Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, Hourly Earnings, Average Workweek, Personal...

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Nov. 25 - Nov. 29 edition)---- work in progress.Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me.   The list of everyone's links is here.Open invitation continues always for input on ideas for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Nov. 18 - Nov. 22 edition)---- work in progress, under construction.  Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarketPing list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me.  The list of everyone's links is here.There are soo many good ways of doing this,  by checking out the investment forums at Tradeking,   Scottrade, and TDAmeritrade & others they got all kinds of ways of link investors together.  The stockmarket thread  at usmessageboard.com has investors posting comments 2 or 3 times per month, but the one on Ameritrade's thinkorswim...

Zombie aficionados debate whether the living dead should be fast- or slow-moving. But there's no denying that the Zombie Apocalypse Stock Portfolio — companies that should do well in a zombie outbreak — has been lightning-fast. The zombie portfolio of seven stocks — SolarCity (SCTY), Generac (GNRC), Sturm Ruger (RGR), Smith & Wesson (SWHC), Cabela's (CAB), GNC (GNC) and Pall Corp. (PLL) — has soared by 230% since "The Walking Dead" premiered on Oct. 31, 2010. That compares to 50% for the S&P 500 index. So far this year, the Zombie Apocalypse Stock Portfolio has jumped 63% vs. the S&P...

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Nov. 11 - Nov. 15 edition)---- financial, WallStreet, stockmarket Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news This is where you can exchange some investment opinions and advice; if you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite economic blogs and precious metals blogs and sites.  Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me I might ping you to other interesting...

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Nov. 4 - Nov. 8 edition)----  Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news   This is where you can exchange some investment opinions and advice; if you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite economic blogs and precious metals blogs and sites. Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me I might ping you to other...

On Oct. 16, Congress gave President Obama a blank check. That’s right. For the next three months, our chief executive will be able to increase the national debt as much as he wants, and as a practical matter, no one will be able to stop him. A newly enacted law, H.R. 2775, temporarily suspends the U.S. government’s statutory debt limit and shifts Congress‘ borrowing power to the president. This is a radical and unprecedented delegation of power that should trouble every American.

The Ann Arbor City Council is considering divesting its city retirees’ pension fund from investments involving fossil fuel companies in an effort to combat "global warming." But the city could be urging its pension board to pull out from lucrative stocks at a time when the system is already underfunded. The city’s Employees’ Retirement System has its own board and it would make the final decision. A recent study showed that oil and natural gas stocks have been among the most lucrative nationwide for many public pension funds. Financial experts warn against limiting investments (or excluding certain categories) if investors...

For the five year anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, Ed Lazear and I have released a paper titled “Observations on the Financial Crisis,” published through the Hoover Institution. It’s just over 25 pages and also has a fairly detailed timeline of events as an appendix. Ed was chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers when I was director of the National Economic Council. Here are the 19 observation headlines. I urge you to read our supporting arguments, especially if you’re going to comment on or respond to them. Each argument takes only about a page. “The recession that...

"'Your No. 1 client is the government,' John J. Mack, Morgan Stanley's chairman and chief executive from 2005 to 2009, told current CEO James Gorman in a recent phone call. Mr. Gorman, who was visiting Washington that day, agreed." - Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2013. The five year anniversary of the ‘financial crisis' has predictably generated all manner of commentary about its presumed causes. What's most unfortunate five years later is that ‘financial' and ‘crisis' are still used together. It's unfortunate simply because despite what you read, the crisis was decidedly not financial, nor was it caused by a...

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has filed his final House financial disclosure report more than six months late, a filing that sheds little light on how he will pay a $750,000 forfeiture for looting his campaign treasury. **SNIP** The Tribune reported last month that Jackson Jr. appears eligible for federal disability payments of $8,700 a month, or 60 percent of his congressional pay. That works out to $104,400 a year, though payments in later years would drop to $69,600 annually. On top of the financial hit from his criminal case, Jackson Jr. could have another one: a possible $200 late...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking to create a "Google Earth" of every financial transaction of every American, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) warned today in a Senate speech opposing confirmation of Richard Cordray as CFPB director. "This bill (creating the CFPB) was supposed to be about regulating Wall Street. Instead, it's creating a Google Earth on every financial transaction.

The Obama administration, already under fire for the IRS scandal and National Security Agency snooping of the computers and cellphones of Americans, is also spending millions to have private contractors conduct a dragnet for confidential and personal credit and bank transactions without a warrant. Newly obtained documents from the Obama-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reveal that the administration has OK'd a project to accumulate the personal financial data of some 5 million and share it with other agencies to build a "nationally representative panel of credit information on consumers for use in a wide range of policy research projects." The...

When asked if bank account confiscation will be going worldwide, Jim said, ”Well, it’s now in their bag of tricks, but yes, they can do anything they want too now. I for one am worried and I’m taking preparations. Who knows if I’m right or not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry as all of those people who had money in Cyprus have learned. They thought they had a normal bank account…but now it’s been [taken] with the sanctions of many governments and institutions.”