Ever wonder why two of Minnesota's most loopy political creatures recently teamed up to roll back the Minnesota Personal Protection Act of 2003?
Arne Carlson and Walter Mondale, both former players in Minnesota politics, have formed a group called "Repeal Conceal". It seems the duo couldn't sleep at night knowing their neighbors may have voluntarily subjected themselves to a criminal history check and became licensed to carry a firearm.
Possibly, Arne and Walt are simply jealous. Maybe... just maybe... they know they couldn't pass muster for one of these licenses. Could it be there exists some dark secret that might pop up if their identities were run through a criminal database?
Actually, the real answer is far more amusing and telling: Arne and Walt are terrified of investors.
In the dreary twilight of their careers, Arne and Walt somehow snookered two mutual fund entities into actually paying them to act as if they're knowledgeable about such things. American Express, in a stupefying act of despair, took on Carlson while Blackrock Funds dusted off an unused chair for Mondale's no-longer-important buttocks.
Groucho Marx once asked, after being told of some fee for a service, "If it's fee, why do you charge?" Well, Walt and Arne know all about fees. Fees and expenses are what they live for. And best of all, fees, especially sky-high mutual fund fees, are deliciously legal. Should some half-wit stagger into a Blackrock or AMX office, Arne and Walt will hammer them with some of the highest loads, fees and expenses in the fund industry.
Running several common funds from Blackrock and AMX through various fund analyzers and comparing them to other like funds told a frightening tale: Their high expenses, coupled with their returns, would get you on the slow boat to wealth. Bonds or stocks... it didn't matter. Five to six percent upfront loads, along with extreme ongoing expenses that were sometimes three times higher than their competitors, were common.
And don't make the mistake of thinking their exhorbitant expenses resulted in steerling performance. The ho-hum results would never make up for the eye-popping costs coming from this pair of bandits.
Arne and Walt have another fear: John Bogle. They pray each night they go to bed that none of their fund victims ever get near this guy. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group and vociferous warrior against expensive mutual funds, would chew these two up and spit them out in a thousand pieces. Long ago, Bogle proved that the only thing high expenses and loads produced were poorer investors. No squishy former governor or pompous senator ever came close to improving the common investor's success like John Bogle did.
So...what does this have to do with guns? If you were Arne Carlson or Walter Mondale, the last thing in the world you'd want is an owner of a Blackrock or American Express mutual fund waking up someday and realizing you'd been robbing them blind... and they had a gun.
Arne Carlson and Walter Mondale, both former players in Minnesota politics, have formed a group called "Repeal Conceal". It seems the duo couldn't sleep at night knowing their neighbors may have voluntarily subjected themselves to a criminal history check and became licensed to carry a firearm.
Possibly, Arne and Walt are simply jealous. Maybe... just maybe... they know they couldn't pass muster for one of these licenses. Could it be there exists some dark secret that might pop up if their identities were run through a criminal database?
Actually, the real answer is far more amusing and telling: Arne and Walt are terrified of investors.
In the dreary twilight of their careers, Arne and Walt somehow snookered two mutual fund entities into actually paying them to act as if they're knowledgeable about such things. American Express, in a stupefying act of despair, took on Carlson while Blackrock Funds dusted off an unused chair for Mondale's no-longer-important buttocks.
Groucho Marx once asked, after being told of some fee for a service, "If it's fee, why do you charge?" Well, Walt and Arne know all about fees. Fees and expenses are what they live for. And best of all, fees, especially sky-high mutual fund fees, are deliciously legal. Should some half-wit stagger into a Blackrock or AMX office, Arne and Walt will hammer them with some of the highest loads, fees and expenses in the fund industry.
Running several common funds from Blackrock and AMX through various fund analyzers and comparing them to other like funds told a frightening tale: Their high expenses, coupled with their returns, would get you on the slow boat to wealth. Bonds or stocks... it didn't matter. Five to six percent upfront loads, along with extreme ongoing expenses that were sometimes three times higher than their competitors, were common.
And don't make the mistake of thinking their exhorbitant expenses resulted in steerling performance. The ho-hum results would never make up for the eye-popping costs coming from this pair of bandits.
Arne and Walt have another fear: John Bogle. They pray each night they go to bed that none of their fund victims ever get near this guy. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group and vociferous warrior against expensive mutual funds, would chew these two up and spit them out in a thousand pieces. Long ago, Bogle proved that the only thing high expenses and loads produced were poorer investors. No squishy former governor or pompous senator ever came close to improving the common investor's success like John Bogle did.
So...what does this have to do with guns? If you were Arne Carlson or Walter Mondale, the last thing in the world you'd want is an owner of a Blackrock or American Express mutual fund waking up someday and realizing you'd been robbing them blind... and they had a gun.