Nice intro paragraph from Wall Street Journal's "Ahead of the Tape" column

The good news for Federal Reserve policy makers is that the risks to the economy are balanced. The bad news is that the weight keeps getting heavier on both sides of the scale.

The two sentences above are the simple, effective sentences that open Justin Lahart's "Ahead of the Tape" column in the May 9 Wall Street Journal. They get across the idea of stagflation without using technical terms. In fact, Word software says this sentence is written at a level below a seventh grade education.

When I addressed the CFA Society of Washington, D.C. last week, an audience member asked me, "Won't our clients be offended if we write at a lower grade level?" What do you think? When you skimmed the Wall Street Journal this morning, were you offended by Lahart's writing?

CFA Society of Washington, D.C.'s provocative investment topics

The participants in my presentation to the CFA Society of Washington, D.C. on “How to Write Investment Commentary that People Will Read” suggested the following topics might intrigue readers of their investment commentary.

• If the Democrats retain control of Congress, capital gains tax will rise once the current provisions expire in 2010
• Small cap stocks will continue to perform well
• Economic growth will continue strong, despite housing and other problems
• Oil will fall to $30/barrel
• Iran will discontinue nuclear activities
• We must achieve energy independence
• The residential housing market is not as bad as it seems
• Why the market won’t correct
  

Thank you, all participants, for your energetic involvement in our interactive exercises. You made the session very enjoyable for me.