Wall Street Journal senior writer Gregory Zuckerman was interviewed on Yahoo Tech Ticker saying it's a cruel summer where hedge funds are struggling too:

Still on the road, so no time to say much, but this caught my eye:

New Democratic strategy for creating jobs focuses on a boost in manufacturing, by Lori Montgomery and Brady Dennis, Washington Post: President Obama and congressional Democrats -- out of options for another quick shot of stimulus spending to revive the sluggish economy -- are shifting toward a longer-term strategy that promises to tackle persistently high unemployment by engineering a renaissance in American manufacturing.

A couple of weeks ago the New York Times published an article about the materialistic young in China, as exemplified by the behavior on dating shows. The poster child for Chinese materialism turned out to be a contestant on the popular show If You Are The One (非城勿扰), who was asked if she would like to go for a bicycle ride, she responded "I’d rather sit and cry in the back of a BMW" and be unhappy than be poor and happy. The authorities responded with heavy handed censorship:

There’s no doubt that over the longer term, fees make a world of difference and can impact your bottom line. Nobody likes forking over a big fee for an investment and passive investment management companies have capitalized on this trend since 2000. When it comes to investing, lower fees can make or break your performance in a tough year for the markets.