financial fiascoes

The Real Obama Flaw: Wall Street Now Too Big To Jail

The Real Obama Flaw: Wall Street Now Too Big To Jail

WhatNowCartoons The GOP has been attacking President Obama for all the Wrong Reasons: Benghazi Libyan embassy fight when the GOP had previously cut the State Departments defense funding. Or No New Taxes when there is general consensus that  tax revenues have dried up and tax reform is way overdue. Or the constant return to Obama’s birth certificate. Yet for the past four years, the  Obama administration…

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One More Time: How Goes Executive Pay?

One More Time: How Goes Executive Pay?

The NYTimes had a recent story, The Infinite Pool of Executive Pay. It is  a little hit and miss. The report  comes down on the increase of 18.7% percent in corporate perks. But then we also learn  that overall median pay for the  top 100 CEOs  increased by just 2.8%. However, I had a devil of a time resolving this with the following direct quote:…

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Banks as Flak Catchers for Major Corporations

Banks as Flak Catchers for Major Corporations

Tom Wolfe’s book Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers is about  PR and Spokespersons  who seemingly can turn any criticism to the advantage of their client. But “flak catcher” had a second nuanced meaning – those who bore the brunt of public scorn diverting attention away from client and upon themselves. As well, attention was diverted from  other 3rd parties who perhaps deserved the…

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Historic Financial Penalty = Feds Cave Again

Historic Financial Penalty = Feds Cave Again

I dread reading the following headlines in the NYTimes or the Wall Street Journal – Gargantuan Fines Imposed on Wall Street Institution or Record Breaking Damages Inflicted on Bank. It might as well read =>  Hugest Biggest Historically Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious Compensatory Damages Imposed on Piteous Bank because of course it means the opposite. The Federal Government after the worst Wall Street Induced Recession of the last…

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Where is the David Einhorn for America

Where is the David Einhorn for America

David Einhorn, the tiny $7Billion Hedge Fund manager, has tweaked the nose of computing’s Goliath, Apple. Since a week Thursday, David  has shocked the US business world with his direct, loud, and “uncivil’ attack on Apple’s huge cash hoard of nearly $130Billion. And Apple’s cash hoard islikely getting bigger on a  growth rate of 10%per quarter for the next year or two at least. And Apple is not…

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Twinkies Demise

Twinkies Demise

The Hostess Twinkies demise is a business case study that also has political implications. I would love to see if any of the major Business Schools like MIT, Harvard, Univ. of Chicago have taken this defining case on. David Weidner of WSJ and Marketwatch tells the story on who killed the Twinkie: Modern finance is ruthless. Desperate companies sell themselves to Wall Street mercenaries who…

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Daily Fact: GOP Presidents have worst record for Stock Market Performance

Daily Fact: GOP Presidents have  worst record for Stock Market Performance

No less an authority than the Economist shows that under Democratic Presidents the stock market   has outperformed by a wide margin  what was accomplished by Republican Presidents. And this GOP poor economic and stock market performance  goes back  80 years. The fundamental problem is that Republican Presidents have had poor economic policy and tolerated Business excesses. Hoover and Republican predecessors indulgence lead to the…

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US Banking:Bank of America Is Sc**wing Shareholders Again

US Banking:Bank of America Is Sc**wing Shareholders Again

Bank of America is reported in the Dealbook of the NYTimes as settling a class action suit by Bank of America shareholders for $2.43B. An earlier Dealbook  story decribees the reasons for the lawsuit. This lawsuit, brought by Bank of America shareholders, claims that Bank of America and its executives, including its former chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, failed to disclose what would be a $15.31…

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Daily Facts: Trust in US Financial Institutions

Daily Facts: Trust in US Financial Institutions

Each quarter the Kellogg School of Northwestern University and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business do a survey of  more than 1,000 American households examining the trust in US Financial institutions. The latest results for June 2012 are labelled Too Big To Trust. The Stock Market has the lowest confidence level at 15% matched at the same 15% level by  large corporations. The…

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Business as Sharks

Business as Sharks

Shark Week was last week and I am not talking about the GOP Convention. But Financial Shark Week is being resurrected this week in the Wall Street Journal  and  the NYTimes. It started with Andrew Ross Sorkin noting in the Dealbook section of the NYTimes, that Facebook’s IPO-Initial Public Offering of stock was priced too high : Now, three months after the offering, the company…

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