Don't Let Him Near the Treasury

This I found very bizarre. Finanical advice magazine Money carries a regular feature, "One Family's Money," in which experts sort out a family's financial worries by offering advice on budgeting and investments. In the November issue, the family is that of Eric and Beverly Massa.

Eric is an antiwar Democrat running for Congress, and his political campaign is posing a serious threat to the family's finances. On analyzing the Massas' financial situation, Bill Burns, president of Burns Matteson Capital Management, concludes that although the Massas have been diligent savers, their portfolio is out of balance and burdened by high-fee investments. Burns suggests that Massa, a former Corning employee, should sell his Corning stock, sell some of his funds and replace them with longtime top performers, switch his savings for his children's college education from 529 plans based in South Dakota to a New York State 529 to secure in-state tax benefits, and ensure that he and his wife make some changes to their approach to retirement savings.

I guess as PR stunts go, it's one way of showing voters you're just a regular bloke with financial problems like everyone else, but it still seems odd to me that a politician would want to let the public know he doesn't know how best to look after his own money and needs the advice of others. But then, I suppose it's accepted that politicians do that anyway. At least he doesn't say anything daft, like, "Kuh, I'm a complete numbskull when it comes to money. Beverly doesn't let me anywhere near the bank statements. I have no idea what's going on."

Now, do we applaud this as an example of transparency in politics or is it yet another example of the decline in privateness?