We could compile volumes of real-life horror stories about the abuse inflicted by financial ‘advisors’ following self-serving “suitability” standards…there is no reasonable argument for allowing this to continue. And yet so far, it is.
A new regulatory proposal that would require brokers to act in clients’ best interest would save many investors money, says Mitch Tuchman, managing director of Rebalance IRA, an online advisory service. Here is a direct video link.
Here is a modern day twist on “if a tree falls in the forest”…the insolvent Greek government could not make their debt payment due to the International Monetary Fund today, but so far, the bankers are not calling it a default.
The party line is that Greece is permitted to miss today’s €300 million payment by bundling all payments due in June into one €1.5 million lump sum on June 30. Of course, Greece doesn’t have the money for the larger payment either, but so far, the lenders involved are opting to whistle through that graveyard in the hopes of maintaining the facade that their bonds are solid assets, for just a little while longer.
While Greece may find some further credit to draw on for the month end lump to the IMF, they owe a further €5.2 billion to Treasury bill holders in June and €6.7 billion to the European Central Bank in July and August, and, and, and….See the full crushing inventory of Greek debt payments due here. All while the Greek economy officially slumped back into recession during the first quarter of 2015.
This is agony. Watching bankrupts continue borrowing to keep unsustainable spending alive is always gruesome to behold. Restructuring with large debt write-offs is the only way to restart on a financially feasible path. So far though, the Greek people have indentured their government with the impossible dual mandate of getting debt write-offs from their European creditors while also staying inside a common currency with them.
One of these days…the reality of the Greek bankruptcy will have to be acknowledged and over-valued financial assets in Greece and throughout their global creditors (banks and other governments) repriced accordingly. Until then, the officially sanctioned torture of the Greek people by their banker ‘advisers’ continues.
When I was a kid, people thought driving after a few drinks was fine and seat belts were superfluous.
Today they think driving while fiddling with their phones is acceptable.
The truth is that distracted driving is now causing more accidents, injuries and deaths than drunk driving.
Drivers should be aware that we are not able to ‘sneak’ use and deny it after the fact. Investigators routinely check phone records for evidence drivers were texting or talking at the time of an accident. As with drinking and driving and seat belt use, what we need is a cultural transformation where distracted driving is denounced as a reckless activity. In order to break the habit of reaching for our phone we can put it out of reach in the trunk or backseat before we start driving.
This week Ontario amended the Highway Traffic Act via the Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act coming into effect this fall. See: Ontario approves tougher distracted driving penalties. Changes include:
- Increase fines for distracted driving from the current range of $60 to $500 to a range of $300 to $1,000, assign three demerit points upon conviction, and escalate sanctions for novice drivers who are convicted.
- Apply current alcohol-impaired sanctions to drivers who are drug-impaired.
- Require drivers to let pedestrians completely cross the road before proceeding at school crossings and pedestrian crossovers.
- Increase fines and demerit points for drivers who “door” cyclists, and require all drivers to maintain a minimum distance of one metre when passing cyclists where possible, as well as allow cyclists to use the paved shoulders on unrestricted provincial highways.
