We bring you the TBB Best of Web links on yet another Sunday: Warnings about the public pension crisis and alarming elderly fraud, an epic project about climate change and ocean shock, a harrowing African migrant journey from Nigeria through the desert and crossing the Mediterranean sea to Europe, a complete travel guide to Iraqi Kurdistan and the amazing Earthrise movie.
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Every Sunday I pick the best reads that blew my mind in the previous week. It can be…anything! I like to be eclectic and despise salesy/clickbait/sameold content you read…everywhere else!
As always, click on the headline to be taken to the original source. Sometimes I insert my incendiary comments on article excerpts between [brackets].
If you enjoy my blog, please pass it on to someone you care about so they can enjoy it too. And do some clicking on the colorful linkies above, thanks!
A Giant Pile of Money. How Wall Street Drove Public Pensions Into Crisis and Pocketed Billions in Fees
This is long and a phenomenal beating of the people in charge of public pensions, the intermediary slick salesmen and the amazingly crappy and expensive “alternative” investments these funds have been investing in the past 18 years. Since the dot com crash actually…
Most of the private pensions (the ones that are left) are covered by ERISA, the landmark legislation passed in 1974 that created adequate funding guidelines, “prudent man” investing guidelines and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (PBGC) which steps in when the business with the pension plan fails. But guess what? That left a huge gap, the pensions of the public employees! We are talking teachers, firefighters, policemen, etc who are left unprotected. And susceptible to the slick salesmen…article goes into a great detail about that. If you don’t barf after reading this…you probably applaud poser bloggers pretending they care all for you and want you to travel for free while selling you travel rewards credit cards!
Just a few horror excerpts:
Illinois, where lawmakers are wrestling with unfunded pension liabilities of $129 billion, and Kentucky, where the state’s unfunded public pension liabilities top $27 billion.
“I could never figure out why somebody working at a hedge fund is worth 10 times more than the guy at Fidelity,” Pohl said. [Lol]
“You’ve got Wall Street marketers with virtually unlimited expense accounts, under orders by their bosses to do anything necessary to win over these government pension officials who control trillions,” Siedle said. “So people living these mundane lives are being flown to five-star hotels in Maui, in Honolulu, in Phoenix, in Puerto Rico, in Bermuda. They’re being flown to New York, where they see the hottest Broadway shows, or they’re in Las Vegas at Cirque du Soleil. I’ve seen everything from trips to strip clubs to helicopter rides over Maui to hot-air balloon rides in Albuquerque.”
Ok, I better stop, I am already too angry. I need to finish the post. Read it and weep.
Our Senior Clients Are Under Siege
This article, written by my colleague who recently lost his father, should wake you all up about elder fraud. If you have elderly parents/relatives please be careful out there!
Elder fraud and exploitation is at epidemic proportions in this country. It is shameful. It has been a problem for years, but I didn’t really grasp the voracity of this scourge until this year as dad’s dementia worsened and he passed away. Before Dad died, it was bad. After his passing, it has gotten worse. My newly widowed mother is approached via mail, email, or phone by some con artist every day. Usually more than once a day. Literally, every day.
Some of the ruses are old standbys like a bogus lottery. She’s been hassled by fake tech support, phony IRS agents and grandchild impersonators. These are annoying enough but once your husband’s passing makes the public record, apparently, a whole slew of new hustles begins. Scammers claiming problems with Social Security, his pension, military benefits and banking abound. We lost count of the number of people claiming to be a debt collector. Worse, lately, strangers have appeared at her doorstep.
It continues with some great advice on what to do.
Be vigilant!
The planet’s hidden climate change
This is an epic piece of work by Reuters! After you read this you may realize that, you know, this may not be a hoax, sad lol! This is to be bookmarked to enjoy over the next week #warning
It is interactive with some amazing stuff built in. Stuff I dream about doing on my site here. But before I get to that I better just start learning how to do them fancy arrows 😉
The harrowing, step-by-step story of a migrant’s journey to Europe
This follows a young immigrant from Nigeria making his way to Europe. Puts everything into perspective and calling it “harrowing” may be an understatement!
Reading it will likely make you feel very uncomfortable, you have been warned!
A Complete Iraqi Kurdistan Travel Guide
If you are interested in visiting this area you should read this guide!
Earthrise
A bonus link for you. An amazing video about…
Earthrise tells the story of the first image captured of the Earth from space in 1968. Told through the voices of the Apollo 8 astronauts themselves, the film recounts their experiences and memories and explores the beauty, awe, and grandeur of the Earth against the blackness of space. This iconic image had a powerful impact on the astronauts and the world, offering a perspective that transcended national, political, and religious boundaries. Fifty years later, Earthrise compels us to remember this shift and to reflect on the Earth as a shared home.
I remember vividly this image in a dream I had as a child…I wonder if it means I will travel in space one day before I croak #developing
And I leave you with this…
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
It was a great morning…until I checked my Amazon portal. I am okay not making much bringing you a quality blog but…losing $16.57 is just brutal. Add to the no conversions yet for November and hit for $15 Mailchimp to deliver the blog posts via email to 501 subscribers (can we make it 499 so it goes down to $10 per month!)…and this just surpassed my own very high threshold of tolerance for self inflicted pain you guys.
Time to do some more baby blog evolution steps:
-No more keeping track of Titan shenanigans, you know, selling the Amex Gold card for 25k to moron readers when they could easily get 50k…I am tired of doing this, you guys are tired of it and you get it. Enough. I saved many newbies, the rest…can not be saved, sad!
-BestOffersPatrol is retiring. You guys know your stuff. I can not keep up with the ever changing credit card offers landscape and update it….I NEED TO SPEND LESS TIME ON MY BLOG! You got questions about credit card offers, ASK! The link to the Mile Nerd Credit Cards page will stay on if you need it.
-Actively looking to delete at least another 25 blogs on Feedly next. My blog will continue focusing more and more on quality gems and less on marginal bloggers who never make it here.
-Will have blog business action stuff. But even less bashing. I mean, how many times can you shake your head by looking at bizarre Emily pics flashing dollar bills?
-Considering going to three times per week, M W F. And sprinkling in there the Best of Web posts. Again, being more and more selective instead of trying to be more inclusive…I mean, do you guys really need to know the 2019 Discover 5% categories or some hotel service aspect article? This will likely happen when my credit card links are taken away any day now.
-Comment section stays but will likely comment a bit less…I think.
Thanks for understanding.
Amazon returns suck 🙂
Good morning.
The pension link was grim reading.
Thanks for all the efforts.
27 blogs deleted in Feedly.
Now tracking 211.
Evolution is on!
And now time to run.
Good morning DML and Sam 🙂
Man, I thought due to the quality here, you would have a LOT more subscribers. I read the blog every time it comes out. Maybe not all the links but this is my fave. I know it is a lot of work, and tough but at least for me, I appreciate what you do. Oh, and I haven’t returned anything to Amazon in ages!
Many of the recent email list subscriber cancellations are from readers who visit my site regularly so I think they just decided not to clog their email inboxes with another email 🙂
I am allergic to promoting my blog…and it shows, sad!
Thank you.
Anything to make money in China these days…
Dragging your son into the family business though is a bit much…
WTF!!!!!!
These sex dolls in China are family companions more than toys
https://qz.com/quartzy/1447857/these-sex-dolls-in-china-are-family-companions-more-than-toys/
Buzz-
Here’s a pension fund that doesn’t have to worry about a bunch of its employees going to Broadway shows:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-does-nevadas-35-billion-fund-manager-do-all-day-nothing-1476887420
Sorry there’s a firewall-maybe since you’re part of WSJ contributors you can let the TBBers read the whole article.
I’d give Nevada even a better deal-they can just have their pension track the dummy portfolio I set up with my son that has 3 ETFs for big indexes. All I ask is a reserved seat for one Saturday in October in the Caesar’s sports book.
As for the changes to TBB, I have a few thoughts:
1. Get me off the subscriber list.
2. Write a headline to the subscribers asking if they need or want the daily reminder. If they say no or don’t respond, axe ‘em.
3. Include a ‘renewal’ link in the subs email every 3 months. If any don’t hit the link, axe ‘em.
4. No more writing about Titans? No buzz in the Buzz?
So Amazon took back some money-isn’t that money they paid you to begin with? They can’t charge you for something they didn’t pay for (Though it seems Uber thinks it can: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amex-platinum-uber-credits-now-live-48-hours-use-first-one/). #dirtbagexpress
Well I hope you’ll take a deep breathe and reconsider this one. Otherwise it’ll be drinks on the house in Colorado Springs. And not their house either.
How about this: Let’s double down, If king Blondie loses at least one house of Congress Tuesday, stay on the Titans through end of the year. If not, do anything you feel like as nothing will matter anyway.
What do you say?
I remember reading that WSJ article when it was published, it’s great!
Maybe cut and past the url in an incongnito tab will work?
I have no logged into Mailchimp account for a few years. The darn thing just maintains itself, the email goes out at 8 am to the list when there is a new blog post. It never fails! I will wait for someone to unsubscribe and get it back down to under 500 🙂
I think I will ask them in the blog to unsubscribe so I do not have to log into Mailchimp and figure out how to send my own email to them…I don’t remember how to do it! Don’t know how to add the renewal thingie in it either…That’s too much to learn…and it appears WordPress, the main blogging software, is coming out with a massive update in a few weeks…so that will keep me busy…if not put me out completely!
News about Titans, sure. Me keeping track of all the blog posts where Titans screw readers selling the Amex Gold card for 25k…no more, just too much time, these guys are relentless. I will just wait for DoC to link to them and…not even mention that either…Losing battle, sad!
Yes, it was money returned that was credited to me…But still hurts man!
If the Dems don’t take back at least the House…will anything matter anymore?
Nov 12 is 6 years anniversary here…SIX years….mindblown.
BREAKING: THANKS to MH for the generous Paypal donation today. And for the kind words. TBB will live on in some way or form. I am not a quitter. Just need to keep aligning time spend TBBing without harming blog quality too much and just keeping everything justified in an overall sense.
And now I gotta go run…
85% of Monday’s blog post is in already!
Thank God this is NOT Sam Simon
George do you think that the recent changes to AMEX and more recently CITI allowing referrals and self referrals have an effect on your blogs bottom line?
Do you think DANSDEALS will ever tell his readers about AMEX referrals?
Do you think that MilesToMemories will ever stop using CLICKBAIT headlines only to disappoint readers when they click on it.
Do you think MilesToMemories should change it’s name to MilesToMamories?
Do you think Sam is even from this Country?
The effect on my blog bottom line is immaterial. But I bet it is hurting the Titans. So…TPG is acting like these referrals do not exist.
DansDeals readers will walk on fire for Dan. He earns it…
If MtoM could start with fewer exclamation marks that would be great.
I know Sam, I met Sam. Sam is cool. You are not Sam. Then again, we are all different. Be more inclusive and more human towards the caravan, gracias.
And will Ramses ever learn how to spell, space and capitalize?
It is Ramsey not Ramses…..and the answer is NO…..he is too busy laugh while he is typing. OK STAM?
laughing not laugh…..sorry i was laughing and typing again, I crack myself up
Ramses. My Farrow.
That’s heavy