Good financial blogs?

[KamaAina]

A friend asked me to evaluate some financial blogs. They all seem a little bit tinfoil-hattish , but as my portfolio would fit inside a thimble, it's beyond my area of expertise to recommend alternatives.

http://www.maxkeiser.com/ (blogger hosts show on RT)

http://www.zerohedge.com/ (manifesto references the Federalist Papers)

http://www.jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/ (enough charts about gold and silver to satisfy Glenn Beckkk)

[CincyDem]

1. Tin-foil at best

Max is nuts. Seems to be a smart guy but really caught up in the global conspiracy thing.

Zero is great if you're a PhD in financial stuff. Given that your friend is asking for advice, I suspect it's over his/her head. Also, the comment stream for just about every article would make a sailor blush. I've always thought zero was were wall street traders went to vent about anything, independent of the article's topic.

Jesse - as you said, it's all about the metals.

It's hard to make a reco without knowing exactly what your friend wants to get out of it and where he or she lives on the financial literacy scale. One of the most amazing things about the financial services industry is the degree to which they've convinced many people that you can "do it yourself".

While we don't love the health care industry, imagine if the cost reduction plans for health care included "do-it-yourself home surgery kits". Imagine, you can do your own stent insertion, appendectomy or colonoscopy at home for a fraction of the cost. Who needs all those over educated greedy doctors that don't care about you anyway.

You'd think it's nuts.

But...we think nothing of the financial services industry spending decades teaching you that you can do-it-yourself. In fact, you can't. But that said, it's easier for a Goldman Sachs to pick you off if you're on your own versus being helped by someone that understand how the pieces fit.

There were a lot of moving pieces involved in creating the 1% vs. 99%. One aspect of that has been making sure that the 99% doesn't get help because they've been taught they can go it alone.