Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [finance]

The management of money in which an individual or a business decides how the money will be used to generate more revenue or profit.

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Are many successful entrepreneurs post-secondary education dropouts?

One often hears anecdotes about how successful CEOs / founders / entrepreneurs are college or university dropouts, usually bringing up the same set of examples with one or two CEOs du jour. Most commonly Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, lately also Mark…
user792
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Do the rich in the US donate an average of 15 percent of their income?

Dick Smith in a recent rant about "selfish" rich Australians made a claim that: In the United States, the rich donated an average of 15 per cent of their income, Smith said. But in Australia it was less than 1 per cent. ''In America, I'm told…
going
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Is mathematical modelling of investment markets a "science"?

A relative of mine works for a big bank (of bailout fame) in the investment division. We had a discussion where he claimed that what he does is actually a science. Me being an engineer called baloney on this. IMHO there is no science that can…
John Alexiou
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Do management consulting firms add more value to their clients than the fees they charge?

A [recent question here] prompted me to ask the more fundamental question of whether the fees charged by professional advisors can be shown to be worth it. Many consulting firms certainly claim their advice adds value. Here is the claim from…
matt_black
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Did the IMF admit that capital controls have been successful in Malaysia?

A DW article says Malaysia stood out as a country that refused IMF assistance and advice. Instead of further opening its economy, Malaysia imposed capital controls, in an effort to eliminate speculative trading in its currency. While the IMF mocked…
Fizz
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Is Miss America Organization the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women?

The official website for Miss America Organization claims: The Miss America Organization is one of the nation's leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, the Miss America…
Franck Dernoncourt
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Did a court rule that advertising claims by S&P that it has credibility and reliability aren't supposed to be taken seriously?

Matt Taibbi writes in 'You F--ked Up, You Trusted Us': Talking Ratings Agencies With Chris Hayes: In that case, the Second Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs suing S&P could not make a fraud claim based upon the company's reassurances in its Code of…
Christian
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Was the GameStop short squeeze caused by small individual investors?

I've seen a fair number of articles recently (example) describe the GameStop short squeeze as a victory for the little guy over Wall Street. They claim that it was a bunch of small individual investors on Reddit's wallstreetbets forum who kept…
pacoverflow
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Has the Federal Reserve been propping up stock prices since March 23 2020?

I happened upon this r/askeconomics post that hasn't been answered. In The Hill, Thomas Lyns of Northwestern Univ and Daniel Taylor of UPenn's Wharton proclaim So, where does all the Fed money go if it isn’t trickling down to labor markets and…
user16959
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Did any U.S. president try to set up an interest free monetary system in the past?

On this ultra-fascist page 12 Things You Were Not Told About Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany, it is claimed that: If America nationalized their currency as Hitler did for Germany, they would effectively sever all ties with international bankers, the…
Tim M. Schendzielorz
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Were Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy the only two presidents who ever attempted to end the Federal Reserve Banking Cartel?

The image below is widely circulated on Facebook: Is it true that Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy the only two presidents who ever attempted to end the Federal Reserve Banking Cartel? The definition of a Banking Cartel is given in the Wikipedia…
JonathanReez
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Did Elon Musk pay more in taxes than every politician in the world combined?

A tweet claims Elon Musk paid more in tax than every politician on earth combined: Which, if correct, is extraordinary. So, did he?
stevec
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Are fifth freedom flights more often discounted than regular flights?

I read on https://www.flypointyend.com/5th-freedom-flights/ (mirror): The fifth freedom allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline's own country. Fifth Freedom flights are often…
Franck Dernoncourt
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Does winning the lottery increase odds of committing suicide?

I've heard on a few occasions claims that one should not play the lottery because it increases the odds of committing suicide later. Here are a few articles I found that at least reference the…
dsollen
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Is Sesame Street at risk of losing funding with Trump's new budget proposal?

Trump's latest budget proposal includes cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. There have been claims that this would endanger funding to Sesame Street. However, Sesame Street moved off of PBS and onto HBO over a year ago, so is Sesame…
David says Reinstate Monica
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