As we all plan our investments for 2009, no factor is more important than the economy.  It is a subject on which everyone has an opinion.  That is the natural state in the American democracy, dating back to the observations of Alexis de Tocqueville.  His famous work, Democracy in America, is still read by every student of political science. While a complicated work should not be summarized in a sentence, the Wikipedia article includes a good warning: Democracy in America predicted the violence of party spirit and the judgment of the wise subordinated to the prejudices of the ignorant. The 21st Century Democratic opinion has advanced into the 21st century.  Modern scholars are impressed with how well de Tocqueville's work has held up, but there are some changes.  With the help of the Internet, everyone is able to offer ...

Regular readers of “A Dash” know that it is a blog about a book. The audience for the book is the intelligent individual investor, perhaps unhappy with his or her current financial advisor. There is always a market for this, since there will always be some financial advisors who are trailing the market in their performance.

The ads from the online brokerages will cite this evidence and appeal to the intelligent investor. Encouraged by advertisements in print media and on television, the investor decides that he can do better. He already reads business columns and watches some business programs. He is conversant with the major financial issues of the day. He probably reads some of the major slick magazines.