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These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

In November, the Federal Reserve will likely launch a second round of quantitative easing but don’t expect “QE2″ to make big waves. The failure of the Group of 20 finance ministers’ talks permits China to continue to subvert Fed efforts to rekindle U.S. growth.

More Fed purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities would drive down borrowing costs and, it is hoped, boost business investment and home purchases. However, big corporations are already flush with cash and mortgage rates are near record lows, and the potential benefits from additional monetary promiscuity are limited.

U.S. businesses lack customers, and even zero interest rates won’t inspire General Electric Co. (GE) to build factories and add workers if light bulb sales are stagnant. Without more jobs, prospective homebuyers are too nervous to quit renting or purchase bigger homes.

Moreover, China’s export-oriented development policies and undervalued yuan subvert the impact of U.S. monetary policy on the demand for U.S. products, and U.S. investment, hiring decisions and housing markets.

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By Daisy Maxey 
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The retirement guarantees provided by annuities are more important to investors than ever, advisers say, even as many advisers still avoid using them in clients’ portfolios.

As a solution, some advisers say the insurance companies that offer annuities need to simplify their products, help educate investors and advisers and battle the perception that they are too costly.

In the wake of the recent downturn, which decimated some portfolios, investors understand the importance of annuities in a way they hadn’t before, said Doug Lockwood, an independent adviser, certified financial planner and president of Harbor Lights Financial Group in Manasquan, N.J. The products “play a more important role in people’s lives; they can touch it and feel it now, while they couldn’t before.”

Nevertheless, Lockwood says annuities aren’t a major part of his business. He places clients in annuities on a case-by-case basis, using them as a diversification tool. Advisers would be more comfortable using annuities if they were more streamlined and transparent, and the companies need to do a better job of explaining them, he says.

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By Arden Dale
   A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN

Drink, drive, crack up the car…and write off the damage on your tax return. For one taxpayer, that scenario became reality after he appealed a decision by the Internal Revenue Service.

The U.S. Tax Court last week allowed the driver of a car to write off thousands of dollars of damage after he totalled it while under the influence.

While it’s not unusual to deduct property damage (this is claimed as a casualty loss deduction on Form 4684), the circumstances of the case–which required a judge to decide if the driver was or wasn’t willfully negligent–set it apart.

It also shows that disgruntled taxpayers can challenge the IRS, and win, on some pretty odd cases.

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By Arden Dale 
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN 
 
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Zurich to Panama City, first class. That will likely be a simple travel itinerary for people trying to do something not so simple: Move their hidden money out of Switzerland.

In the turmoil over tax evasion and UBS AG (UBS), many other banks, including Credit Suisse (CS) and LGT Bank, are shedding American customers with undeclared accounts. It is leaving these people with the problem of moving a lot of money to some other place or declaring it to the Internal Revenue Service themselves.

Finding a new hiding place won’t be hard. Panama, the Cayman Islands, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong are among prime destinations for tax evaders, despite a push by global authorities to change that.

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By Jilian Mincer

A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Compared with other financial experts such as brokers and investment advisers, the duties of certified public accountants often seem boring and safe.

But after the last year’s market meltdown and fraud scandals, boring and safe looks pretty good.

So more and more people are turning to accountants for help that goes well beyond tax advice and preparation, including budgeting for college and retirement savings.

“I think the CPA has become the trusted adviser of the current generation,” says Joni M. Becker, a CPA in Faribault, Minn. “People are starving for financial information and for somebody to help them through this.”

Accountants have the advantage of already being familiar with a client’s finances. They also happen to be eager to find new kinds of work, as they compete with low-cost tax preparers.

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By JILIAN MINCER
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN

NEW YORK — Mega retirement plans aren’t the only potential targets for lawsuits over fees.

Until now, most of this litigation has involved large employers with multimillion-dollar plans. But in June, trustees for a Wichita, Kan. sports medicine practice may have filed the first fee-related lawsuit for a small 401(k) plan.

The Kansas lawsuit was filed on behalf of its 27 participants against VLP Corporate Services, Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW), Charles Schwab Bank and SJP Advisors.

“I think it’s a yellow flag for employers,” says Gregory L. Ash, chair of Spencer Fane’s ERISA Litigation Group, which isn’t involved in the suit. “Just because they’re a small plan doesn’t mean they’re immune from a lawsuit.”

He says more cases are likely because baby boomers, the media and Congress are focusing greater attention on retirement plans, especially since last year’s dramatic market losses. Continue reading…

By Daisy Maxey 
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN 
 
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Employers can, and sometimes do, change an employee’s 401(k) investment options even after they’ve been made. This little-understood practice is likely to become more common.

It’s fairly well known that, under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, employers can automatically enroll employees in a 401(k) plan and place their contributions in default options such as a target-date fund, a balanced fund or a managed account.

But it’s not only the inert investor who may have their nest egg savings redirected. In a number of situations, even after an employee has joined a 401(k) plan and made investment selections, he may be shifted out of them into a default option by his employer. For example, when a sponsor is making substantial changes to its lineup of choices or is changing service providers, it can reset participants to the default options.

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By Daisy Maxey
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–If the Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking a consensus on curbing short selling of stocks, it has one.

Day traders, teachers, physicians, fund managers, banking executives, advisers, a housewife and a hedge fund manager are among hundreds of people telling the SEC it should restore the so-called uptick rule.

Oh, also a 68-year-old trucker: Wayne Adamson said he is now obliged to keep working because of a diminished nest egg. He blames hedge funds and other short-sellers, in part. Continue reading…

For an increasing number of law students, a dream job with a six-figure salary and generous benefits is somewhere on the other side of a nightmare.

Start dates for incoming associates are being pushed off by top firms worldwide, which are glutted with staff and starved for work. While there are no consolidated figures, insiders say thousands are stuck in limbo.

Start dates are being pushed back by a few months into early 2010 for some students graduating this spring. They are the lucky ones. Others are being asked — or told — to take a full year off.

Those who have to wait are sometimes offered public-interest legal work in the interim, for a stipend of as little as one-quarter of their planned salary. That leaves them struggling to make health insurance and student loan payments. Then there is the worry of whether the law firm job will exist once the deferred start date rolls around.

Graduates put on the shelf need to “get a very good sense of exactly what the firm is offering,” says Susan Robinson, associate dean for career services at Stanford Law School. She suggests students find out what stipend they will receive, whether the firm will pay for bar exam expenses and benefits and if they will officially be on the firm’s payroll.

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By Daisy Maxey 
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN 
 
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The economic downturn is weeding out the weakest exchange-traded funds and providers – forcing closures and slowing launches – but it hasn’t staunched innovation, particularly among the largest players.

ETFs “saw a tremendous amount of growth in 2008, so it has slowed down a bit from that, but it’s still continuing,” said Scott Burns, director of ETF analysis at Morningstar Inc.

A recent report from Merrill Lynch noted that “the challenging market environment has limited traction for many of the newer, more narrowly focused ETFs based on less well-known indices.”

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