Commentary on why you better beware financial market planners, measuring inequality, the cost of bank lending discrimination, the dangers in being ‘fair’, wrong headed economics, and men without work.

Beware. 

Please understand the risks that will impact your lifestyle.

New York Times -- How a Financial Pro Lost His House
ONE night a few years ago, when the value of our home had collapsed, our debt was out of control and my financial planning business was shaky, I went to take out the trash.

The GINI index ranked by country. Canada is 102 least unequal (2005 data).

CIA – The World Factbook
This index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. The index is calculated from the Lorenz curve, in which cumulative family income is plotted against the number of families arranged from the poorest to the richest.

Why do banks lend less money to women?

Financial Times -- Women still get a raw deal in business and finance
Theresa May, the British home secretary, recently acknowledged that the UK would benefit from an additional 150,000 start-ups each year if women could launch businesses at the same rate as men.

Time to wipe the slate clean and start again?

Atlantic -- The Financial Folly of Fairness
When I was a young and naive economics writer, I used to write about developing countries a fair amount.  Time and again they would make these bizarre and pointless moves, like suddenly and for no apparent reason defaulting on a bunch of debt.

It’s the economics (as much as, or more) than the politics.

vox -- Clear thinking about economic policy
For some, the fiscal problems in the US and Europe are a case of bad politics getting in the way of good economics. This column argues that there was plenty of bad economics as well. It looks at the work of the two recent Nobel Laureates in offering some clear thinking.

The mancession.

Globe and Mail -- Young men without work
There’s a young man I know called Ben, whose story has become familiar.