Category Archives: Ridiculously obvious scams

Hubert Horan: Can Collateralizing Frequent Flyer Programs Help Save the US Airlines?

Dissecting the latest airline gimmick to separate investors from their money: pledging their frequent flyer programs.

“A Scandal’: Contracts Show Trump Giving Big Pharma Free Rein to Price Gouge Taxpayer-Funded Coronavirus Drugs

Drug price gouging is so widespread in the US that it seems unlikely that there will be enough outrage to limit coronavirus drug price gouging.

Education 101: Don’t Open a New Charter School in the Middle of a Pandemic

A hard look at charter school misleading ads, racial segregation, and dodgy economics.

How Much More Cash Can Uber Burn?

Moar Uber wheel-spinning.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About the Fed’s New Credit Allocation Policy

Why using credit as an economic remedy evenutally does more harm than good.

New Investment Gimmickry: Covid-19 Bonds

Covid-19 has engendered investment grifting.

SEC Issues Devastating Risk Alert on Private Equity Abuses; Effectively Admits Failure of Last 5+ Years of Enforcement

The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations says private equity conduct is really really bad.

The Economy Isn’t About Money. It’s About Putting Food on the Table

Our Enlightenment predecessors recognized not one but five economies – and the pandemic has reinvigorated our taste for them.

Who Pays for Stranded Assets? Taxpayers Are Footing The Bill For 100-Year Old Oil Wells

Why shuttering oil wells is a physical, economic, and political mess.

CalPERS Plans to Blow Its Brains Out: Seeks to Increase Risk by Boosting Private Equity, Private Debt, and Leveraging the Entire Fund

CalPERS latches on to new, really bad investment ideas.

Private Equity Clearly Inferior to Public Equity: Delivers Similar Returns With Lower Liquidity

More evidence that private equity underperforms on a risk-adjusted basis.

Yesterday’s Georgia Primary Voting Debacle: A Preview of November’s General Election?

How Georgia’s voting system enables voter suppression and election theft.

Private Equity Gets New Pockets to Pick: Your 401(k), in Funds Repeatedly Cited by the SEC for Abuses

While the US was busy with coronavirus and George Floyd protests, private equity stormed the retail investor barricade.

Revealed: Nearly 400,000 British Companies Evade Anti-Money Laundering Checks

David Cameron promised to stop scammers and kleptocrats hiding behind British shell companies. But almost one in ten UK firms still do not declare ‘persons of significant control’