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Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics


Kevin O’Neill leads off the show talking Notre Dame basketball, manipulative statistics and tax policy. Kathy Dervin is in-studio. Chief and Kathy welcome the ‘Snarky Professor’, Hal Snarr of Westminster College, to talk fed policy and much more. Finally, John Neal of PTI Securities & Futures‘ Peoria, AZ location wonders when the Middle Class will ever get represented in this country. 

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Guests & Co-Hosts

Kevin O’Neill

Kevin O’Neill is our Wednesday and Friday morning sports guy. His segment emphasizes what happens off the field as much as what happens on the field. All businesses have their intrigue, but the inner workings of sports organizations find their way into the public domain frequently. Unless a rant from the Chief spills into Kevin’s segment (not an unusual occurrence), he will highlight some of those sports related business issues; but be advised that those highlights usually come with an opinion. Read more.

Kathy Dervin

Kathy Dervin has been with Stocks & Jocks since 2011 as our Friday morning contributor, producer and banking guru. She has worked in the financial markets industry since 1993, including PC Quote/HyperFeed 1993 to 2003 and Thomson Reuters 2003 to 2013. She is currently Vice President at an investment bank. Read more.

Hal Snarr

Hal W. Snarr is the son of a third generation Idaho potato farmer who was raised in an ignoble but resolute Mormon household. His career is a result of a fortuitousseries of accidents.

Hal got his first taste for teaching after shining in Naval Nuclear Power School, but was not aware of what a Ph.D. was until he took Calculus I, II and III for fun at Idaho State University. A couple of years later he found himself teaching algebra and proving theorems in the master of science in mathematics program at ISU. Although he was having fun, he wanted to use mathematics in more meaningful ways. He discovered how to do this while taking mathematical economics at ISU. In this course, he gained an intuition of the eigenvalue. This set him on his present path. After all, wouldn’t you do the same if you had just learned that negative eigenvalues mean you are on the peak of a three dimensional surface because steps taken in thex and y directions are downward?

His unconventional journey gives him a unique insight into the cohorts he studies.Most economists were not raised by low-income single mothers who had to, on occasion, reluctantly use public assistance and purple money (old school food stamps). As a teenager, he also observed beer-for-purple money exchanges.

Between 2004 and 2013, Hal was taught economics and statistics at North Carolina A&T State University. In 2013, Hal accepted a similar position at Westminster College. He regularly teaches money and banking, macroeconomic principles, business statistics, introductory regression analysis, and labor economics. His research studies how welfare and other policies affect labor supply, marriage, fertility, migration, dependency, and poverty.

Hal’s hobbies include producing instructional videos for his YouTube channel, The Snarr Institute, and commenting on economic policy proposals and politics on Twitter and Facebook. He occasionally writes op-eds for PolicyMic and OpEdnews. He enjoys home improvement projects, vehicle repair, watching the news and movies, walking, attending church services, a good debate, and spending time and traveling with his family.

John Neal

John Neal directs PTI Securities’ Glendale, Arizona office serving the firm’s clients in the Phoenix metro area and across the Western U.S. He oversees day-to-day operations, including client services, investor education, staff management and marketing. John has more than 12 years of management experience in the securities and financial services industry. He joined PTI Securities in 2003 in this role. Prior to that time, he was a branch manager with Phoenix area firms, Granite Capital Management and, most recently, Independent Financial Management. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, John earned a bachelor’s degree in international management from Arizona State University in Tempe. Away from work, John enjoys reading, live music and outdoor activities. He also volunteers with the St. Vincent De Paul Society and the Lupus Foundation of America. Married with two children, John and his family live in Peoria, Arizona.

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