The basic premise of most corporate bond indexes is flawed. There has to be a better way.

Fixed income has been the fastest-growing corner of the ETF market this year, pulling in $31.5 billion in new capital through September. Those inflows worry me, for a number of reasons.

First, as I’ve written about previously, those inflows have forced some corporate bond ETFs to trade at large premiums to their net asset values. Those premiums are sustainable so long as investors continue to buy. Unfortunately, like all ETF premiums, if fund flows reverse, those premiums can collapse and turn into discounts, and investors will be left holding the bag. (See related story here.)

But there’s an even more fundamental problem with corporate bond ETFs, which stems from the way their indexes are constructed. This is the elephant in the room in corporate bond indexing, and it amazes me that it

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Dateline Raleigh, NC, November 6, 2008: Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives discuss confiscating our 401(k)s and IRAs, by Carolina Journal Online reporter Karen McMahan.

This shocking pronouncement is certainly an attention grabber, which if even partially true, would have an impact on nearly every employed and retired American. The basis for the report is testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor in early October.

Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci is one of many witnesses (scholars, retirees, activists, an investment mogul, and benefits experts) who were interviewed by the committee members. (I was skipped over once again, but a receptive person in the HCEL was willing to forward a listing of my articles to the right person. I expect an invitation to testify momentarily)

McMahan writes: “Dr. Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research, …

by Edward Hugh: BarcelonaHungary announced on Sunday that it had reached agreement with both the International Monetary Fund and the European Union on a broad economic rescue package, which will include substantial financing, in a bid to stabilize a Hungarian economy which has been both shaken by the global financial crisis and faces long term macro economic and structural problems which make any easy solution to the situation hard to expect."A substantial financing package in support of these strong policies will be announced when the program is finalized in the next few days," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement that did not indicate the size of the package. Hungary announced the loan at more or less the same time as Ukraine received a USD16.5bn loan from the IMF. Under normal circumstances both these moves would be good news for Central and East European equity markets assets. This was not the case on this occassion, however, and Hungary's stock markets fell more than 10% on opening yesterday, suggesting that either investors are not convinced the packages will be sufficient, or that they fear there is more to come.

New York Times bestselling author and green living investment expert, David Bach has been selected to join the board of directors of Perf Go Green Holding, a marketer and distributor of biodegradable plastics.

Dave Bach, Founder and Chairman of FinishRich Media, is a great addition to the company as Perf Go Green’s mission is to create a green company for the development of eco-friendly, non-toxic, food contact compliant, biodegradable plastic products as a practical and viable solution to eliminating plastic waste from the world environment. Mr. Bach complements that mission as the author of Go Green & Live Rich, the bestselling book that shows consumers money-saving tips on how to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, and he has also helped millions of people learn how to “go green” and save money in the process.

Perf Go Green’s CEO Tony Tracy commented on Mr. Bach appointment and

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