Are dividend stocks in a bubble?

In a word, no. Despite a run-up in prices, high-yielding equities are still a good deal -- as long as you're selective.

FORTUNE -- Lowell Miller isn't your standard slick Wall Street mogul. A sandal-wearing self-described "reformed hippie" who once wrote poems for Rolling Stone, the 64-year-old runs a thriving $4 billion investment business in, of all places, the bohemian hamlet of Woodstock, N.Y. Asked the obvious question -- "Were you MORE

Housing is indeed heading higher

As Fortune predicted last year, a robust recovery in home prices is under way.

FORTUNE -- In spring 2011 this writer penned a controversial cover story titled "The Return of Real Estate" that predicted a strong rebound in housing. At the time, prices and sales were still tumbling, and the prevailing view among economists and pundits was that the slide would drag on and on. But Fortune's contrarian forecast proved right. MORE

Sheila Bair: "I'm sure Vikram still blames me"

Fortune columnist and former head of the FDIC Sheila Bair discusses the ouster of Citi CEO Vikram Pandit.

FORTUNE -- Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC during the financial crisis, was strongly critical of Vikram Pandit in her new book Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself. Bair was appalled that Pandit, a hedge fund manager, was chosen to rescue one MORE

It's time to break up the Euro

Don't believe the politicians. The common currency can't survive as is. Here's the right way to handle a split.

FORTUNE – Roger Bootle prides himself on being something of a modern-day Nostradamus -- with good reason. In 1999 the British economist predicted a bursting of the dotcom bubble, and in his 2003 book, Money for Nothing, he forecast a worldwide crash in housing that would prove dire for the financial system. MORE

What happens when kids run America's democracy

Fortune found out when it turned over the electoral college to four children as part of the board game The Presidential Game.

FORTUNE -- Though America's youngsters are unlikely ever to adore C-SPAN or riff on Medicare, a new board game is getting kids pumped about politics. It's the Presidential Game, virtually the only entry that's centered on Presidential elections. Amazingly, it makes a sport of mastering the math and strategy MORE

Where's all that government spending really going?

You might be surprised how the math actually adds up.

FORTUNE -- It's well-known that government spending has grown rapidly in the three-and-a-half years since Barack Obama succeeded George W. Bush as president. It's also clear that since GDP hit bottom in early 2009, economic growth has proven exceedingly weak compared with the rapid ascent from past downturns.

Now, a debate is raging over whether the big jump in outlays filled a MORE

Centerview Partners: Small bank, big influence

Why this boutique investment bank matters on Wall Street -- and beyond.

FORTUNE -- As big investment banks wrestle with tarnished reputations and accusations of conflicts of interest, the allure of Wall Street boutiques only grows. They offer advice -- nothing else -- and have none of the other operations, such as trading, that breed conflicts. One firm little known outside of financial circles, Centerview Partners, has become a key player. MORE

Paul Ryan, a $15 Thai dinner, and me

What I learned from conversations with the Republican vice presidential candidate before he took the national stage.

FORTUNE -- I first met Paul Ryan at his office in the Longworth House Office Building on a frigid evening Wednesday in late February 2010. The reception area featured frayed burgundy carpeting and the model of a giant cheese wedge, saluting Wisconsin's prized product. The reed-thin Congressman appeared coatless with a pen behind his MORE

Two legends in economics wrestle over the euro's future

In one corner, Robert Mundell, 79. In the other, 84-year old Allan Meltzer. Two respected economists on opposite sides of the euro debate.

FORTUNE -- Robert Mundell and Allan Meltzer rank among the most influential economists of the past half-century. Mundell, a professor at Columbia University, garnered a Nobel Prize in 1999, in part for his work in defining what he calls "optimum currency areas." No academic has ever enjoyed such MORE

The death of Bob Diamond's dream for Barclays

Caught up in the Libor scandal, the star investment banker and American CEO of the British bank was forced to resign. His departure represents the end of an era for big banks.

FORTUNE -- By the time the call came, Bob Diamond knew his tenure as CEO of Barclays was at an end. It was 9:30 p.m. on Monday, July 2, and Diamond had just gotten home from the office when MORE