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Archive for February, 2006
Global Fund Gets Facelift
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006Our hollow prosperity
Thursday, February 16th, 2006Posted: February 15, 2006, 1:00 a.m. Eastern, By Patrick J. Buchanan
Now that the U.S. trade deficit for 2005 has come in at $726 billion, the fourth straight all-time record, a question arises. What constitutes failure for a free-trade policy? Or is there no such thing? Is free trade simply right no matter the results? Last
year, the United States ran a $202 billion trade deficit with China,
the largest ever between two nations. We ran all-time record trade
deficits with OPEC, the European Union, Japan, Canada and Latin
America. The $50 billion deficit with Mexico was the largest since
NAFTA passed and also the largest in history.
When
NAFTA was up for a vote in 1993, the Clintonites and their GOP
fellow-travelers said it would grow our trade surplus, raise Mexico’s
standard of living and reduce illegal immigration. None
of this happened. Indeed, the opposite occurred. Mexico’s standard of
living is lower than it was in 1993, the U.S. trade surplus has
vanished, and America is being invaded. Mexico is now the primary
source of narcotics entering the United States….
The Bushites point proudly to 4.6 million jobs created since May 2003, a 4.7 percent unemployment rate and low inflation….The
entire job increase since 2001 has been in the service sector – credit
intermediation, health care, social assistance, waiters, waitresses,
bartenders, etc. – and state and local government. But,
from January 2001 to January 2006, the United States lost 2.9 million
manufacturing jobs, 17 percent of all we had. Over the past five years,
we have suffered a net loss in goods-producing jobs. “The
decline in some manufacturing sectors has more in common with a country
undergoing saturation bombing than with a super-economy that is ‘the
envy of the world,'” writes Roberts.
… Non-Hispanic
whites, over 70 percent of the labor force, saw only a 1 percent
employment increase in 2005. Hispanics, half of whom are foreign born,
saw a 4.7 percent increase. As Hispanics will work for less in
hospitals and hospices, and as waiters and waitresses, they are getting
the new jobs. But
are not wages rising? Nope. When inflation is factored in, the Economic
Policy Institute reports, “real wages fell by 0.5 percent over the last
12 months after falling 0.7 percent the previous 12 months.” …
The
affluent free-traders, whose wealth resides in stocks in global
companies, are enriching themselves at the expense of their fellow
citizens and sacrificing the American worker on the altar of the Global
Economy. None dare call it economic treason.
“Socially Responsible” Funds
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006from the Wall Street Journal Online
By JOSHUA ALBERTSON, February 14, 2006; Page D2
Sky-high oil prices haven’t been kind to mutual funds with a mandate for socially responsible investing.
Over
the past 12 months, equity funds with a socially responsible bent have
gained 11.54%, nearly four percentage points less than the average for
all equity funds, according to investment-research firm Lipper. Over
three years, it’s an annualized 17.2% for socially responsible
portfolios versus 20.67% for all equity funds. SRI equity funds account
for only 0.62%, or $32.4 billion worth, of all equity-fund assets.
Though
criteria vary, socially responsible funds generally avoid sectors that
go against certain ethical guidelines. The biggest such sectors are
alcohol, tobacco, defense, pornography and gambling.
![[fundscreen]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/it_portfolio11032003154642.gif){kind=small}
1 SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE FUNDS
• These nine funds are2 top performers in their categories and have low costs.
MORE ON FUND SCREENS
For more information about Fund Screens, sign up for a free trial at www.smartmoney.com/wsj_fund3.
Energy
stocks, particularly those that focus on fossil fuels like oil and
coal, also violate the tenets of many socially responsible funds. Much
of the group’s underperformance of late can be attributed to its
relative distaste for the energy concerns that have led the market for
the better part of three years. The top two funds on our screen this
week, Ariel Fund and Ariel Appreciation, eschew the sector entirely.
But
before we paint socially responsible funds into the
too-constrained-can’t-compete corner, it’s worth noting that Lipper
only requires that they include some sort of moral criteria in their
investment philosophy. That’s a pretty low entry barrier that leaves
room for a large amount of discretion from fund to fund — and a lot of
stock-picking options for most socially responsible fund managers.
This
week, we searched for equity-fund portfolios tagged with the socially
responsible investing label. We demanded five-year returns in the top
50% of each fund’s classification and expense ratios in the bottom 50%.
Each of the nine no-load funds on our list is open to new investors,
requires a minimum initial investment of $5,000 or less and has total
net assets of at least $50 million.
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Benedict XVI on Volunteers
Saturday, February 11th, 2006From the encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, #30 b: Church
agencies, with their transparent operation and their faithfulness to the duty of
witnessing to love, are able to give a Christian quality to the civil agencies
too, favouring a mutual coordination that can only redound to the effectiveness
of charitable service.
Numerous organizations for charitable or
philanthropic purposes have also been established and these are committed to
achieving adequate humanitarian solutions to the social and political problems
of the day. Significantly, our time has also seen the growth and spread of
different kinds of volunteer work, which assume responsibility for providing a
variety of services. I wish here to offer a special word of
gratitude and appreciation to all those who take part in these activities in
whatever way. For young people, this widespread involvement constitutes a school
of life which offers them a formation in solidarity and in readiness to offer
others not simply material aid but their very selves. The anti-culture of death,
which finds expression for example in drug use, is thus countered by an
unselfish love which shows itself to be a culture of life by the very
willingness to “lose itself” (cf. Lk 17:33 et passim) for others.
Famous Quotes on Katrina and America
Wednesday, February 8th, 2006“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things
over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of
catapult the propaganda.” –George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Source (Listen to audio clip)
“You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean,
that is fantastic that you’re doing that.” –President Bush, to a
divorced mother of three in Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005 (Source) (Listen to audio clip)
“Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New
Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going
relatively well.” –FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” –President Bush, to
FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring hurricane-ravaged
Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005 (Source) (Listen to audio clip)
“Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?” –House
Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees
from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 9, 2005 (Source)
“What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is that they all
want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.
And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were
underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well
for them.” –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the hurricane evacuees
at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)
Aid Dependency
Wednesday, February 8th, 2006From the Center for Global Development, 01/10/2006
Does
foreign aid help develop public institutions and state capacity in
developing countries? In this Working Paper, the authors suggest that
despite recent calls for increased aid to poor countries by the
international community, there may be an aid-institutions paradox.
While donor intentions may be sincere, the authors conclude that it is
possible that aid could undermine long-term institutional development,
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. … The conclusions are two-fold: countries which receive a
substantial portion of their revenues from foreign aid may be less
accountable to their citizens, and they may face less domestic pressure
to maintain popular legitimacy. The more aid countries receive from
abroad, therefore, the less incentive they have to invest in effective
public institutions. … Also, allocating aid toward alternative development activities
might be most beneficial. Funding the eradication of endemic diseases,
peacekeeping activities, regional or global public goods, and debt
relief would most likely side-step the aid-institutions paradox.