STAN'S BLOGS

I gave up long ago trying to find the best mutual fund manager. Every time I'd find the best, the next year that one wouldn't be the best anymore and someone else, coming out of the blue, would be. It's a story well known in the financial services industry, you'll hear it touted all the time on financial talk shows as a "warning." I got to the point where I just looked for someone I liked, who was easy to work with, that did a decent job over the last five years, and, as was the case years ago with the well managed American Century , someone that had fewer choices. Yes, that's fewer choices! I was wasting too much time, and going crazy, trying to decide from the 80-250 funds that Vanguard and Fidelity , although two of my favorite companies then, had to offer. Other companies like Nicholas Funds and American Funds (not American Century) had too few options in those days. American Century, then Twentieth Century, had just the right amount of well m

[I advocate and maintain a balanced budget and low-to-no debt] The Bureau of the Public Debt states that outstanding U.S. Public Debt as of 02/03/2006 is now $8,195,544,127,376.07... that's 8.2 trillion dollars and the highest point ever in U.S. history. The Feb 07, 2006 estimated population of the United States is 298,060,012. So, figured on a per capita basis, each citizen's share of this debt is $27,496.29. ( U.S. Department of the Treasury ) This debt, 64.7% of GDP (2005 est.), has grown $2.5 trillion in just the last five years alone; in 1992 the debt stood at 4.1 trillion—that's half of what it is today. We pay interest (around 4.6% at today's rates) on that debt to Fed banks, private organizations and individuals. You and your kids will have to pay that debt down eventually with tax money or reduced government services (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, Homeland Security). If left unchecked and it continues to grow, we risk a collapse of our financial system at so

Is it really intelligent to totally approve of or dismiss any one political figure, party or issue? The probability is that there's some good and a little bad in everything. A new understanding of political thought is needed and could help solve today's pressing issues that are now being batted around by ineffective "butting head politics." People that understand this concept do their homework and try to be "fair and balanced" when they research today's hot issues. They read, they listen, they mine the Web and hold the option to change their mind, like true scientists, if overwhelming evidence presents itself. They listen to Rush Limbaugh in the mornings and Air America Radio in the afternoons. They read articles from a number of media sources and political bents. So for all those that scan the Web newswires of Independent Media Center , are not afraid to bounce over to Fox News , just in case they missed something, and realize it takes both sides of a