Juggling Dynamite

The self-serving financial industry is breathing a sigh of relief after President Trump signed an order Friday freezing all new regulations pending White House review. This freeze included the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, which was set to come into effect in April. Proponents have fought the financial lobby for years to get this rule passed. It required that those giving retirement planning/investment recommendations must place the best interests of their trusting clients first ahead of maximizing the ‘advisor’s’ profits. The industry is rejoicing that this threat to their ill-gotten gains, may now be avoided indefinitely. New admin is all about helping working people was it? See: Trump freeze puts fiduciary rule in limbo

Also watch the video Is your financial adviser really a salesperson?

This is an important discussion. In a world where corporations have increasingly been running governments, Trump’s cabinet discards the charade, effectively “cuts out the middlemen” and places corporate heads inside the government itself. The groundwork for this transition has been laid by breach of trust and purchase of both parties over the past 30 years. As I have said before, another business-as-usual status quo government had Clinton won, would also have been a bad thing for democracy and ethics. But having corporate interests literally take the helm is the next phase of this crisis for we, the people. The stakes for all sides are very high now and the conflict and upheaval promises to be great before this era ends.

Journalists Naomi Klein, author of “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate” and Lee Fang of The Intercept talk about the role of corporations inside the Trump administration and the inauguration. Here is a direct video link.

Danielle was the second guest with Jim Goddard on This Week in Money today, talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here by advancing the show playbar to 23:40.