Nevin's Data "Points"

Last week, the Department of Labor took another step toward finishing another piece of unfinished business. It did so by proposing regulations necessary to implement (in confidence, anyway) the provisions of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) dealing with investment advice offered to participants under the auspices of a fiduciary adviser. For the most part, the proposals (see “ EBSA Clarifies Investment Advice Regulations ”) seem fairly unobtrusive—if not downright “squishy” (more on that in another column). And, like the recent proposals on fee disclosure (see “ IMHO: No One (Else) To Blame ”), most of the 129-page document is spent outlining the details of the proposal’s cost/benefit analysis ($10 billion, in case you were wondering—$14 billion in benefits versus $4 billion in implementation/compliance costs). So, if you were having trouble working up the courage to wade through the PDF, take heart—the meat is found in the first 35 pages (with the occasional reference to a glossary a...

I’m old enough to have been a driver (albeit a young one) the last time we had a “real” gas crisis (the one where the issue was not being able to buy gas, not just being able to afford to buy gas). I can still remember the national sense of frustration when a bunch of crackpots in Iran held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days; the concerns when the USSR, using language startlingly similar to that employed during the recent invasion of Georgia, strolled into Afghanistan—and, yes, I can still remember what a “real” recession felt like (the one where we actually had a 5% drop in GDP). I also remember the “response” of our leaders in Washington at the time. Now, it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and judge those who actually have to make the tough decisions, but I think it’s fair to say that a common sentiment was that we were “getting what we deserved.” America had too long strutted the world stage imposing its values on others, some said—this was just the ghosts of Vietnam and Watergate...

At the moment, the industry is scrambling to respond to the DoL’s call for comments on the proposed participant fee disclosure regulations by September 8 (see " Know Way ". I think, based on the conversations I have had to date, that most of those comments will be positive on the scope of the disclosures, and fretful about the timeframe for implementation. Most seem to think that the DoL’s measured approach will be matched by a (more) reasonable timeframe for implementation that that contained in the proposal. Of course, there’s pressure from other sides - Congressman George Miller, who has not only held hearings on the subject, but introduced legislation regarding fee disclosures, is grumbling that the DoL’s version doesn’t go far enough. He’ll no doubt be joined by the voices of unbundled solutions who may well feel that they are disadvantaged by the current proposal’s terms. The ‘debate” over participant fee disclosure has generally focused on one of two concerns – the...

Like most of you, I have found the soaring price of gasoline to be enormously frustrating. Not that we haven’t dealt with this kind of thing before—but in the past, there generally seemed to be a reasonable explanation, whether it be a deliberate shift by OPEC, refineries shut down by a hurricane, or some kind of political turmoil in some far-off nation. This time, we have a series of potential “culprits”—the new economies in India and China, government taxes, greedy oil companies, irresponsible automobile manufacturers, unresponsive legislators, and, more recently, underinflated tires, and even speculative pension fund investments. It seems like everyone—and no one—is to blame for our current predicament (and, as painful as the current situation is, just wait until winter). Some politicians have already picked up on the shift—and, with luck, their August recess will help them better understand just how angry the American people are about the situation. I wouldn’t for a minute sug...