The problem with Obama's retirement proposal (redux)

If it's fair to limit taxpayers' expense for retirement money being set aside by "the rich," it's vastly more fair to limit taxpayers' expense for Obama's own package.

FORTUNE -- It's a lot of fun to be able to make what you think are clear, simple points about the difference between what people in power propose for the likes of you and me, and what they get for themselves.

But every once MORE

Obama has a sweet retirement package. Will you?

No one says the President doesn't deserve his benefits. But it's hard to get past his plan to limit savers to half the value of what he'll walk away with.

FORTUNE -- President Obama's proposal to limit the value of 401(k)s, pensions, and other tax-favored retirement accounts to about $3.4 million certainly sounds reasonable. After all, at a time of big budget deficits, we shouldn't subsidize "the rich" with tax breaks, MORE

Apple proves that a lower corporate tax rate won't matter

A lower corporate tax rate won't deter companies from playing tax and accounting games. Just look at Apple's math.

FORTUNE -- There's a widely shared idea that if the U.S. reduced its corporate income tax rate to 25% from the current 35%, big corporations would stop playing tax games. They would then pour all their attention into profit-making rather than allocating a ton of talent to tax avoidance, and we would MORE

4 years after the stock market bottom, the biggest winners

Stocks have added $11.3 trillion in value, or 138%, since the market bottomed four years ago. That's an annual compounded return of more than 26%.

FORTUNE -- It's so much fun to own stocks these days, with the Dow Industrials and Wilshire 5000 index setting one new high after another, and the Standard & Poor's 500 within 1% of doing the same. Watching the value of your portfolio rise is such MORE

The hidden tax Washington doesn't want you to know

Two new charges may not affect middle-class taxpayers now, but left unchecked, they will.

FORTUNE -- Okay, middle-class taxpayers: Listen up. Our national government in Washington is screwing you again. This time the screwing involves the way that two new income tax surcharges, supposedly designed to affect only the "rich," will reach deeper and deeper into the middle class unless something is done now to rein them in.

I'm talking about the MORE

How Apple should deal with its cash: Go with the Flo

Progressive has an intelligent, rational, and transparent way to deal with the surplus cash that its operations generate. Apple doesn't.

FORTUNE -- The folks at Apple could learn a lot from Progressive Corp., the auto insurance company made famous by the ubiquitous Flo, star of its endless flow of ads.

Apple doesn't need help from Progressive when it comes to selling products. But Apple could really profit by studying how Progressive deals MORE

10-year Treasuries: Buy today, cry tomorrow

If the CBO is right, you would be better off hiding your money under your mattress for the next two or three years than using it to buy a 10-year Treasury note today.

3 lessons for Apple's shareholders

The recent swings in Apple stock prove that a few simple rules of investing always hold true.

FORTUNE -- For most people, Apple mania means buying the company's products and playing with them. But for us financial voyeur types, the fun comes from watching the lunatic lurching of Apple's stock price.

You gotta love it. From the start of last year through its all-time closing high on Sept. 19, Wilshire Associate says, MORE

Why a record month for fund inflows makes me cautious

Investors put more money into mutual funds and ETFs during January than in any month since February 2000. And we all remember what happened next.

FORTUNE -- The way to make money in the stock market is to buy cheap and sell dear. The average mutual fund investor, however, does the opposite: buying at or near market peaks, selling out near bottoms, missing most of the subsequent run-up, then buying again MORE

How Dell could help finance its own buyout

Why banks may be eager to lend Dell $15 billion.

FORTUNE -- Dell Inc. has its major asset—about $11 billion of cash—located primarily outside the United States. That means that it would face a multi-billion-dollar tax bill if it repatriated the money or borrowed against it. Therefore, most people have assumed that Dell's cash is essentially useless when it comes to funding a possible buyout, or helping Dell (DELL) pay its post-buyout MORE