Over the last generation (since 1983), every two or three years the United States has had a fiscal deficit greater than in 2004, relative to the Gross Domestic Product. Two of these larger deficits occurred in 1991 and 1992, during the Clinton Administration. Steve Verdon, on Deinonychus antirrhopus, presents several charts illustrating this point, along […]

The Wall Street Journal has noted that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigation into kickbacks and other improper incentives in the insurance industry is widening and moving toward the area of employee-benefits. Since there are real problems with the proper exercise of fiduciary responsibility for 401(k) plans, there could be long-term implications for capital […]

Representative Barney Frank has proposed an amendment to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that would require corporate executives to repay gains from stock options if the value of company stock declines by a “material amount” within one year of options being exercised. Although not going to the heart of the options/buyback schemes that have distorted equity markets over […]