The America Invents Act, which I co-sponsored and which passed the Senate in March by an overwhelming 95-5 vote, would end fee diversion and give PTO the ability to reduce the 700,000-long backlog of patent applications awaiting consideration.
Front-end fees for museums range between $600 and $10,000, and annual fees go from $500 to $5,000.
The figures, critics said, raise doubts about whether the high front-end fees actually accomplish what First Command says they will: instilling discipline and providing the personal attention that helps inexperienced investors stay the course.
But less happy customers say that the front-end fees have sapped the earning power of their hard-earned investments and locked them into disappointing or inconsistently managed funds.
I look with discomfort on the dangerous tendency of LBO partnerships, bolstered by their success, to take more of their compensation in front-end fees rather than in back-end profits earned through increased equity value.
An article in Business Day on Friday about a decision by First Command Financial Services, which caters to military officers, to stop selling contractual plans, a type of mutual fund with high front-end fees, misstated the size of Fidelity Destiny II, a fund it sold.
The survey conducted by the Austrian government found a level of support for ending fees that Mr. Rübig said was common across the bloc.
