First event of the Berkshire Hathway annual meeting: Warren Buffett gets his portrait painted by performance artist Michael Israel. It takes 8 minutes. Afterwards, Buffett goes to shake Israel’s hand… and then thinks twice.
Then Warren did some TV interviews and walked around the exhibition space, visiting the booths and displays …
One thing I meant to tell you about yesterday—before I got seduced by the blueberry martinis and diamond necklaces at Borsheim’s—was my conversation with Brad Kinstler, the CEO of See’s Candies.
In this year’s annual report, Warren Buffett bragged about See’s. Per-capita consumption of boxed chocolates might not exactly be a …
Berkshire Hathaway is expecting a record turn-out for tomorrow’s annual meeting. The crowd-control paraphernalia—what do you call those metal divider things?—is all set up in front of the Qwest Center and ready to go.
There’s plenty for shareholders to ask the Oracle—how his new bond insurance business is going, the deal for …
As you have probably noticed, I’m back from vacation, and Barbara Kiviat is still writing posts. That was partly already in the works because she’s going to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this weekend, but I’ve also asked her to keep on writing here whenever the mood strikes her, and she has agreed. I haven’t actually gotten …
The phrase is Brad DeLong’s, and I like it. The latest indicators, out this morning, are the April payroll employment (down 20,000, after seasonal adjustments) and unemployment rate (5%, down from 5.1% in March). That’s better than most economic forecasters expected, but it’s entirely possible the payroll number will be revised to …
Every year, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption announces its picks for the most adoption-friendly employers. Here’s what it says about its 2008 winner, Wendy’s:
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Wendy’s International, Inc. offers up to $23,300 in financial reimbursement and up to six weeks of paid leave for employees who adopt.
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In this week’s issue of TIME, I presented a modest proposal for the persisting problem of pay inequity. The piece begins:
I have no clue what my colleagues make. I suspect some earn more than I do and others take home less. Like most American workers, I consider my salary my own damn business. Turns out that could be a big mistake–at
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Got in last night for the big Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. They’re expecting more than 30,000 people this year, up from about 27,000 last, and way up from the 450 who showed up in 1986 or the 7,500 who came in 1996.
Even though it’s raining,there’s that Warren Buffett/Charlie Munger excitement in the air. Last night, the Avis ( …
So maybe the Great Decoupling thesis wasn’t nonsense. Reports Time’s Michael Schuman from Hong Kong:
Finding an empty table at a Starbucks in Hong Kong on a Sunday afternoon these days feels like winning the lottery. So does getting a reservation at a good dim sum restaurant or renting an affordable apartment. While the U.S. suffers the
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…and by that I mean an officemate who smells. Badly. Of body odor. Or Wal-Mart perfume. Or ambition.
In my husband’s line of work, this is a serious issue. Not because classical musicians tend not to bathe, but because if you can’t breathe, you can’t play. In an opera or Broadway pit, someone who saunters in reeking of cologne is …
With all the talk here and on Swampland over the past couple of days about John McCain’s health-care plan, it’s worth remembering that there’s already a bipartisan bill in Congress that would do pretty much what McCain says he wants to do as far as taking health insurance out of the hands of employers, yet actually addresses many of the …
For those of you who don’t stop by Swampland first on the way to this blog, here’s McCain’s adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin splainin’ something about his boss’s health insurance plan:
For the typical ESI [employer-sponsored insurance] recipient — $12,000 policy — nothing changes. The tax liability on the policy ($12,000 x .35) when insurance
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