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Essays, Opinion & Advice Posts

Stupid Roth Tricks*

How many times have you read that Roth accounts will be “tax free forever?”  Alas, forever is a very long time, and also not a word much used by adults, outside of church.  So consider this post a kind of apostasy.  It may cost you your faith in Roth. The present income…

Bogus Roth Math

Ever since Roth conversions were liberalized in 2006, a steady stream of accounts have appeared in various media outlets, purporting to show that you ought to do a Roth conversion. Most accounts wave the bloody shirt of Required Minimum Distributions (RMD), and the dread tax burden you will someday suffer,…

Visual Branding

Visual Branding: Rhetorical and Historical Analyses Edward F. McQuarrie and Barbara J. Phillips Forthcoming from Edward Elgar, 2016 Back Story This book will be published toward the end of 2016. It represents the first fruits of breaking free of the journal publication grind (see New Consumer Online page) We bring…

Go Figure!

Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric Edited by Edward F. McQuarrie & Barbara J. Phillips Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0765618016 Amazon The table of contents is available on Amazon, along with portions of the first chapter, which explains the meaning of advertising rhetoric, and how the rhetorical…

State of the professoriate: Rant and lament

Triggered by William Deresiewicz’ book Excellent Sheep, the past year has seen its share of wailing and gnashing of teeth by Humanities scholars, most recently by Jackson Lears in Commonweal.  The laments, while familiar, have new urgency: A soulless pragmatism squeezes the Humanities; universities have succumbed to rationalization and disenchantment,…