Things keep getting worse for Goldman Sachs. Late yesterday news broke that federal prosecutors are looking into whether to bring criminal fraud charges against the Wall Street firm. (The outstanding SEC lawsuit involves only civil charges.) No word yet on any details about what those new charges may entail. Nonetheless, stock analysts are already downgrading [...]
American consumers are finally opening up their wallets. Spending by consumers rose by 3.6% in the first three months of 2010, more than double the 1.6% rate of the fourth quarter. That’s the biggest gain in this gauge in three years. More importantly, it is a subtle but significant shift in the drivers of economic [...]
As China marches on to global greatness, one of its major deficiencies is in corporate management. It’s not that Chinese executives aren’t smart or hardworking, but the fact is they have little experience managing operations outside of China. Many Chinese outfits talk about becoming global players, but making those dreams reality won’t be easy. Anyone [...]
Investors large and small are watching a spectacular financial fire rage across Europe, with Greece headed for either all-out default or a painful restructuring of its debt, and fellow members of the European Union in earlier stages of their own crisis. (As of Tuesday afternoon, the leaders of the European Union were announcing their fifth [...]
In a tough economy, Republic of Tea made itself a better place to work
As the Senate takes up debate on financial industry overhaul, there is one issue above all others that is imperative to work out: how to deal with institutions that are Too Big To Fail. The reason the government stepped in with taxpayer money at firms like Citigroup and AIG is still alive and well. Our financial giants [...]
The Federal Reserve’s policy making committee still has its lasers focused on the weak points in this economic recovery. In the minutes of the open market committee meeting, released today, the Fed noted that the economy is improving but it also noted ongoing weakness in the labor market and the fact that bank lending continues to [...]
Last month a software engineer at Apple accidentally left his iPhone in a bar. A fellow patron picked up the phone and asked the people in the bar around him if it belonged to any of them. It didn’t. He took the phone home and the next day noticed that the phone looked odd. He jimmied open its [...]
So now Europe may have a real crisis on its hands. It’s been clear to financial markets for months that the debt woes in Greece could spread to the Eurozone’s other financially unsound PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain). But the Eurozone’s leadership didn’t bother to take heed. Instead of dealing with the zone’s problems [...]
Today’s Goldman Sachs hearing in the Senate is fantastic theater. The kind of theater that makes you want to run to the restroom to vomit. I’ve been watching the hearing on TV, and I am nauseated to report that they still don’t get it. The world came to the brink of financial ruin, and the [...]
