What often vexes the language of money is something I’ve come to call “reversification”—a process by which words take on a meaning that is the opposite of, or at least very different from, their initial sense. Consider the term “hedge fund.”
Your 401(k) Is Healthy. So Maybe You Are, Too.
What do retirement savings have to do with physical health? A new study from the journal Psychological Science finds that people who are good at planning their financial future are more likely to take steps to improve their physical health — and then actually become healthier.
.. Some people, he said, respond well to information and education, but others — like the employees who neither saved nor took care of themselves — may need stronger solutions. “Having a single-pronged policy is not effective,”
The Greenspan “Put”
The Greenspan Put: In July 1995, the Fed cut the funds rate 25 basis points. What made this so odd was that it followed a string of seven rate increases over the previous 12 months. There was another 25 basis point rate cut in December, and yet another in January of the following year.
There was no real justification for these cuts. The mid-1990s economy was growing nicely, and the stock market was up significantly, over 34 percent. In 1996, equities tacked on another 20 percent for the year.
Wall Street correctly figured out that these cuts had put a floor under equity prices. Thus the “Greenspan put” was born.
Finance Paid $1.3 billion in lobbying in 2009
The industry paid lobbyists $1.3 billion in 2009 and through the first three months of 2010, according to the Center for Public Integrity, which added up the spending by the 850 businesses and trade groups fighting financial reform. Many of these same businesses are now spending as much money, if not more, to lobby for curbs on the new law.
.. Under the new law, for example, lenders and investors can’t just package mortgages and sell them to clients, as they did in the years leading up to the financial meltdown; they would need to hold on to at least a 5 percent share of most mortgage-backed securities.
.. Dodd-Frank calls for a sweeping overhaul of the $600 trillion derivatives market—a culprit in the economic meltdown. After the Republicans took the majority in the House, they tried slashing the funding of the agencies charged under the bill with derivatives oversight. When that didn’t work, the focus shifted to delaying the implementation of derivative-related reforms for as long as possible—until at least October 2012.
.. Roughly 3,000 lobbyists were engaged in the fight over Dodd-Frank, according to the Center for Public Integrity—more than five lobbyists for every member of Congress.