Business

One by one over the past several months, Europe's largest investment banks have each rolled out their new pricing models detailing how they'll charge for research in 2018 once the new MiFID II regulations go into effect.  Pricing strategies have varied from expensive all-in packages costing nearly $500,000 a year to pay-as-you-go plans that charge for each research report individually.  Here are a couple of recent examples:

College is going to be one of the biggest investments of your life...

...which is why you should just trust what the student loan companies tell you without even thinking twice about how much you could be screwed after school has ended.

Connecticut Governor Daniel Malloy is among the country’s least popular governors after forcing through two tax hikes that sent individuals and corporations fleeing from the state. Luckily for the state and its people, Malloy apparently has no interest in sticking around to take the heat when it comes time for the next hike: He has announced that he will not seek a third term.

Submitted by Paul Brodsky from Macro Allocation

Being Here

     “As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.”

      - Chauncey Gardner (Chance, the Gardner)

This piece takes a roundhouse swing at politics, real and imagined, and discusses critical economic issues that politicians should actually apply a little intelligence to, but are not. Capitalism will ultimately set things right, but it will have to overcome the political dimension’s best efforts to ignore real issues.

With volatility at record lows...

The Japanese bond market remains paralyzed with trading volumes hitting record lows as private bondholders no longer dare to even breathe without instructions from the central bank.

Gross purchases of JGBs by investors dropped 22% to 12.6t yen ($115.1b) in July, the least since May 2016, according to the latest data from Japan Securities Dealers Association Monday. On a rolling 12-month average basis, the volume was at an all-time low.