The Bigger Problem That The Tim Walz NGO Scandal Has Exposed Authored by Edward Woodson via American Greatness, The Minnesota nonprofit fraud scandal, now expected to cost taxpayers more than $9 billion, is being dismissed by many as an isolated failure. However, this is far from the case, and writing it off as such would be a colossal mistake. What it actually revealed is a broader problem in the...
The Bigger Problem That The Tim Walz NGO Scandal Has Exposed Authored by Edward Woodson via American Greatness, The Minnesota nonprofit fraud scandal, now expected to cost taxpayers more than $9 billion, is being dismissed by many as an isolated failure. However, this is far from the case, and writing it off as such would be a colossal mistake. What it actually revealed is a broader problem in the Swamp—that institutions claiming to represent others often operate with little accountability and then quietly drift away from the very people who are footing the bill. In Minnesota, nonprofit organizations became the perfect vehicle for abuse—shielded from scrutiny, politically protected, and flush with public money. However, in Washington, trade associations operate in largely the same way. They collect millions in dues from American businesses while increasingly choosing to serve their own leadership’s personal and political interests instead of those of their dues-paying members. Their members only care about being able to deliver good-paying jobs to their employees and securing a more favorable regulatory climate so they can deliver lower-priced goods for the American people; however, you’d never know that if you looked at the public policy priorities of their association leadership officials, who seem more interested in fitting in at woke radical leftist cocktail parties. Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, has repeatedly broken with Republicans by sharply criticizing Donald Trump, including after January 6, when he called Trump’s actions “mob rule,” urged Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and faulted the administration’s handling of COVID-19. Despite that record, Timmons later congratulated Trump on his November 2024 victory and suggested they should “work together like we did before.” At the same time , Timmons praised and partnered with Joe Biden, backing the administration’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign ...
The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF ( NYSEMKT:IEMG ) and Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF ( NYSEMKT:SCHE ) both target broad emerging market equities, but IEMG stands out for its much larger assets under management, higher daily trading volume, and a modestly higher expense ratio. Both IEMG and SCHE provide diversified exposure to emerging markets, tracking thousands of stocks across tech...
The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF ( NYSEMKT:IEMG ) and Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF ( NYSEMKT:SCHE ) both target broad emerging market equities, but IEMG stands out for its much larger assets under management, higher daily trading volume, and a modestly higher expense ratio. Both IEMG and SCHE provide diversified exposure to emerging markets, tracking thousands of stocks across technology, financials, and consumer sectors. This comparison highlights nuanced differences in costs, returns, risk, and portfolio structure to help investors understand which ETF best aligns with their needs. Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Continue reading
bgwalker/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Thesis Walmart Inc. ( WMT ) is making an aggressive push into AI, rolling out tools like its assistant Sparky to squeeze more efficiency out of a sprawling operation that runs on thin margins. It's already helping the company work more efficiently. Last quarter, Walmart’s operating income increased along with sales growth, and its e-commerce business bec...
bgwalker/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Thesis Walmart Inc. ( WMT ) is making an aggressive push into AI, rolling out tools like its assistant Sparky to squeeze more efficiency out of a sprawling operation that runs on thin margins. It's already helping the company work more efficiently. Last quarter, Walmart’s operating income increased along with sales growth, and its e-commerce business became profitable. With these improvements, Walmart is putting itself in a stronger position to compete with Amazon in retail. Be that as it may, I am taking a very bearish view. The market is pricing this stock as if it has already executed a flawless AI transformation and successfully fended off Amazon. That’s unrealistic. There are real risks here. Integrating AI is difficult and expensive, and Amazon is relentless. None of that appears to be reflected in the current price. The Spark Powering Walmart Inc.'s Retail Reinvention Seeking Alpha As February 19 approaches and Walmart prepares to report Q4 earnings , I think there’s a bigger story here. Specifically, who controls the next phase of retail profitability in North America? And right now, Walmart is making a serious run at territory long dominated by Amazon ( AMZN ). Not with price cuts. Not with store openings. But with agents. AI agents. Seeking Alpha Last quarter, Walmart increased its operating income by 8% even though sales only grew by 5.9%. That shows the company is becoming more efficient and making more profit from each dollar of sales. And if Walmart’s Q4 results match Wall Street expectations, EPS of $0.72 and revenue of $188.46 billion, it would confirm that this improvement is continuing. It would also mean Walmart is closing the profitability gap with Amazon, whose North American retail business reported a 9% operating margin in its most recent quarter. One example of how it intends to get there is via Sparky , Walmart’s generative AI shopping assistant. On one level, it's kind of like a simple shopping al...
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, told CNBC's " Halftime Report " on Friday that he added to his CBRE position after the stock plunged on investor fears that artificial intelligence could weigh on office real estate demand. CBRE and a slate of office real estate stocks dropped this week after Elon Musk said last week on a podcast that AI will one day replace the office towers that wer...
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, told CNBC's " Halftime Report " on Friday that he added to his CBRE position after the stock plunged on investor fears that artificial intelligence could weigh on office real estate demand. CBRE and a slate of office real estate stocks dropped this week after Elon Musk said last week on a podcast that AI will one day replace the office towers that were once filled with workers. Shares of CBRE tanked 12% on Wednesday, and they're heading for a 16% decline on the week. Fears that the world of commercial real estate is in for a shakeup from AI are overdone, according to Brown. "Literally none of this is disruptable," he said. "These stocks have just been absolutely crowbarred. But if you know literally anything about commercial real estate, you understand that nothing that's playing on your screen is based on reality." CBRE 5D mountain CBRE 5D chart Brown pointed out that commercial real estate has since rebounded from Covid, when investors had similarly misguided views of "empty skyscrapers all over the world." "If you didn't learn your lesson from that, I don't know what to tell you," he said. "I just think that's such an insane narrative. I don't believe it, and I think we're all going to have a good laugh five years from now when it doesn't materialize." Brown added that buying CBRE on the current dip was an easy decision. "I looked at this and laughed. I hit the buy button this morning. I'm not telling you it's a forever hold. I think it's an easy trade," he said.
MercadoLibre 's (NASDAQ: MELI) stock has stayed nearly flat this year. The Latin American e-commerce and fintech giant is still growing like a weed, but concerns about the region's macro headwinds and political instability seem to be compressing its valuation. Nevertheless, I believe it will bounce back in the near future for three simple reasons. Image source: Getty Images. First, the company has...
MercadoLibre 's (NASDAQ: MELI) stock has stayed nearly flat this year. The Latin American e-commerce and fintech giant is still growing like a weed, but concerns about the region's macro headwinds and political instability seem to be compressing its valuation. Nevertheless, I believe it will bounce back in the near future for three simple reasons. Image source: Getty Images. First, the company has plenty of room to grow. It served 76.8 unique active buyers in its latest quarter, but it still generates most of its revenue in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. It's expanding into higher-growth markets like Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, and it might return to Venezuela (which it exited in 2017) after the recent U.S. military intervention. Continue reading
As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy -- they expect to make money. So let's look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. On Thursday, Mattel's CEO, Ynon Kreiz, made a $1.01M purchase of MAT, buying 65,000
As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy -- they expect to make money. So let's look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. On Thursday, Mattel's CEO, Ynon Kreiz, made a $1.01M purchase of MAT, buying 65,000
Almost any list of the most durable dividend growth stocks will include Realty Income (NYSE: O) . Since its founding in 1969, the company has paid 667 consecutive monthly dividends. It went public in 1994 and has notched 31 years of consecutive annual dividend growth. The stock's juicy 5% dividend yield makes it a very attractive high-yield investment option for income seekers. Image source: Getty...
Almost any list of the most durable dividend growth stocks will include Realty Income (NYSE: O) . Since its founding in 1969, the company has paid 667 consecutive monthly dividends. It went public in 1994 and has notched 31 years of consecutive annual dividend growth. The stock's juicy 5% dividend yield makes it a very attractive high-yield investment option for income seekers. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Ghanaian guitarist, arranger, singer-songwriter and cult hero who rose to fame outside Africa only late in life Ebo Taylor, who has died aged 90, was one of the great innovators of west African music, a Ghanaian guitarist, arranger and singer-songwriter who never received the fame he deserved outside Africa until late in life, by when he had become a much-sampled cult hero. It was only in 2010, wh...
Ghanaian guitarist, arranger, singer-songwriter and cult hero who rose to fame outside Africa only late in life Ebo Taylor, who has died aged 90, was one of the great innovators of west African music, a Ghanaian guitarist, arranger and singer-songwriter who never received the fame he deserved outside Africa until late in life, by when he had become a much-sampled cult hero. It was only in 2010, when he was 74, that he released Love and Death, his first solo album to be given an international distribution. Recorded with members of the Berlin-based Afrobeat academy, it included new versions of songs from earlier in his career that until now had been heard only on imports or compilations. And it showed how – like his far more celebrated Nigerian friend Fela Kuti – he had fused African and western styles to create a style of his own. Continue reading...
The iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF (NYSEMKT:IJJ) differs from the iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (NYSEMKT:ISCV) in its mid-cap focus, lower stock count, higher assets under management, and higher expense ratio, while ISCV provides broader small-cap exposure at a lower cost and with a slightly higher yield. Both funds aim to capture value stocks, but IJJ concentrates on mid-sized U.S. c...
The iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF (NYSEMKT:IJJ) differs from the iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (NYSEMKT:ISCV) in its mid-cap focus, lower stock count, higher assets under management, and higher expense ratio, while ISCV provides broader small-cap exposure at a lower cost and with a slightly higher yield. Both funds aim to capture value stocks, but IJJ concentrates on mid-sized U.S. companies, whereas ISCV casts a wider net among small-caps. This comparison breaks down their key differences in cost, performance, risk, and portfolio makeup to help investors decide which may better fit their strategy. Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Continue reading
Brazilian prosecutors and police launched an extensive crackdown on a Chinese electronics distribution network accused of laundering more than one billion reais (US$190 million) over seven months through a system allegedly related to one of Latin America’s most powerful crime syndicates. The Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, syndicate allegedly sold imported consumer electronics throughout Braz...
Brazilian prosecutors and police launched an extensive crackdown on a Chinese electronics distribution network accused of laundering more than one billion reais (US$190 million) over seven months through a system allegedly related to one of Latin America’s most powerful crime syndicates. The Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, syndicate allegedly sold imported consumer electronics throughout Brazil via a Chinese e-commerce platform called “Knup Brasil”, including mobile phone chargers,...