30% Commissions!?! Where Do I Sign Up? How do you get to be the world’s second most valuable company? “Insanely great” products, to be sure. But also out-of this-world margins and fat commissions. Like 30% on every iTune it sells online. 30%! Full-service Realtors, who charge a measly 6%-7%, can only dream about such lush...Read More
The Wall Street Journal . . . or The Onion? Sometimes — OK, a lot of the time — I think The Wall Street Journal needs a meta-editor. Their job? To spot risible inconsistencies and contradictions between articles literally on the same page. Or, if you’re reading online, between articles barely centimeters apart. Are They...Read More
City Lakes Real Estate Blog 2.0: Due Early 2011 A capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. –Lenin I suppose the blogging equivalent of Lenin’s famous line is, “a blogger whose ads are served by Google will end up promoting that which they denounce.” Which explains all The Wall Street Journal ads...Read More
“Batting 8th Today . . .” To a blogger, making RealClearMarkets.com is a bit like a novelist being mentioned on Oprah’s book list: it delivers an instant, nationwide “pop” in your traffic (actually, international — RealClearMarkets.com reaches readers in dozens of countries, not to mention senior policy makers in Washington, Wall Street-types, etc.). So, it’s...Read More
Protecting Consumers From Banks It turns out that Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren will head the new Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, after all. The Bureau, which Warren proposed creating, is charged with ensuring that “consumers are protected from unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices and from discrimination.” Seeing as how millions of consumers are routinely...Read More
Business Decisions, Big and Small What happens to a homeowner who strategically defaults? (that is, they walk away from their home because it’s worth less than what they owe). Their credit is damaged — if not wrecked — for as long as seven years. What happens to a commercial property owner who strategically defaults? If...Read More
