ClusterStock’s John Carney has plumbed the depths of one of life’s mysteries . . . .

“If you have ever had the misfortune of visiting the men’s restroom on the trading floor of a major financial institution, you know that they tend to make medieval cesspools look sanitary.”

New Jersey Gov. Christie yesterday presented a budget that cuts state spending by 5 percent. New Jersey Democratic legislators, the New York Times says, “were quick to characterize Mr. Christie’s proposal as falling disproportionately on the backs of the middle class, the poor, the elderly, schoolchildren, college students and inner-city residents, while leaving largely unscathed the wealthy and most businesses.” Gosh, did the Democrats leave any interest group out? Did they fail to demonize anyone that it should have? more…

AllAboutAlpha.com says today, citing a research report, that:

“Counter-intuitively, a new study by Tom Nohel of Loyola University, Z. Jay Wang of the University of Illinois and Lu Zheng of UC Irvine actually concludes that managers of “side-by-side” hedge funds and mutual funds actually tend to deliver better mutual fund returns than those who manage only mutual funds. In other words, the possibility of nefarious trade allocations invoked by hedge fund antagonists is not only a red herring, but the exact opposite may be true.” more…

Investor’s Business Daily is one of America’s great papers. Really. IBD’s editorial page today is a good one. Of Al Gore, IBD editorial writers call him, “Doctor of Lies.” The paper notes that while Gore should be stripped of his Nobel Prize, he’s instead receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Tennessee — his “home” state university. (Ahem, Gore grew up in D.C., steeping in the family business of politics; Tennesseans don’t consider him a son.) more…

The perma bears roar, with the help of using pre-modern historical stock valuations.

That’s the conclusion of The Tax Foundation, a “non-partisan” lobby group founded in 1937 that is pushing for — guess what? —sound tax policy. (Good luck with that!) The Tax Foundation also found that over 50 million nonpayers included families making over $50,000. Essentially, the gub’ment (say with best Michigan Militia accent) uses the tax code to “funnel money” to groups of people they want to reward, the Foundation concludes. more…

With Sen. Dodd set to introduce a long-awaited proposal to overhaul how the financial services industry does business with the public, you might want to sit up and pay attention. SEC Chair Mary Schapiro seems to indicate in speeches that she favors one, “harmonized” regulatory system, in which every financial service pro is a fiduciary. That scares some people. more…

Dodd to Unveil Financial Overhaul Bill Monday Without Republican Support, says the Wall Street Journal.

The short answer, is probably yes, at least for a while. Registered Rep. columnist and professional recruiter Mindy Diamond, of Diamond Consultants, has written a must-read article for any advisor who is thinking about switching firms. She concludes that the rich deals of 2009 will still be on offer in 2010 — for the right book. As you know — and have read in these pages many times — in 2009, the sign-on-bonus deals (promissory notes, really) touched the stratosphere, approaching 300 percent (and sometimes more) of trailing production for the best books of business. more…

If you’ve got clients who have had a rough couple of years income-wise, now might be the time to dump that old, annoying spouse. According to Crain’s New York Business, bankers and other financial types who suffered in 2008 and 2009, this is the time since their earnings are down and the alimony would therefore be less. “Unlike stocks, when it comes to divorce, you want to buy high and sell low,” says one lawyer. “These are the low-earning years.” more…