compressed into two minutes and change (thanks, Amy Goehner):
The Frankfurter Allgemeine discovers photography and I discover Malenkov
In the clearest sign yet that the world is about to come to an end, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung–the grayest newspaper I know of on this planet–is going to start running color photos on the front page every day starting Friday. (“Inviting, fresh, clear,” the paper claims of its new look.)
The FAZ did run front-page photos in …
Is Bloomberg LP a sexist workplace?
That’s what three women say in a lawsuit filed last week. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the financial information company on behalf of the women, all longtime top execs there.
They had suffered unfair demotions, lower pay, and were denied promotions, they say. What had they done–leaked sensitive financial data? …
Banks rediscover the uses of the kitchen sink
The W$J’s Heard on the Street column reports that people are thinking the big writedowns at the likes of Citi, UBS and Deutsche Bank may be bigger than the actual losses:
When valuing securities that have all but stopped trading, clarity is relative. Some investors say they fully expect banks and brokers to take the maximum possible
…
The front page of the Wall Street Journal: Where eras go to die
Yesterday it was the GOP’s grip on the business vote:
The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title.
Today it’s Wal Mart:
The Wal-Mart Era, the retailer’s time of overwhelming business and social influence in America, is drawing to a close.
What epoch will come to a …
America has a nasty-boss epidemic
It wasn’t just Isiah. His boss, James Dolan, chairman of Madison Square Garden, had long cultivated a workplace rife with hostility and disdain for lowly employees. In this searing column in today’s New York Times, Selena Roberts writes that Dolan was handed his job by his daddy, Cablevision boss Charles Dolan, to “focus him.” Then, says …
Bruce Bent on money funds and the securitization of trash
I had a chat Tuesday with Bruce Bent, the founder and chairman of The Reserve the Reserve Funds and inventor of the money market mutual fund. I wanted to hear what he thought about the mini-panic in money market funds that began in August, when there was talk that some money funds with investments in subprime mortgage securities might …
Isiah, Clarence: two revisionist ex-bosses
I haven’t read Clarence Thomas’s new book–I was going to write “yet” just there, but then I remembered I’m not ever going to read it. But I’ve read elsewhere that he makes some unkind remarks about his former employee, Anita Hill. Today Hill responds in a scathing op-ed in The New York Times, charging that Thomas–like so many employers …
More evidence for why low teaser rates are an abomination
From Tom Toles. (Thanks to Mrs. CC for the tip.)
The Citi and UBS writedowns: Are we done yet?
A couple of weeks ago, economist Lena Komileva told me that the only thing that would really get credit markets functioning smoothly again was for the big banks to admit that the mortgage securities they owned were worth an awful lot less than previously reported. That would start a mass downward revaluation of asset-backed securities, …
Is executive coaching a total crock?
So I attended a really interesting conference this weekend. I can’t tell you about it yet because we’re still reporting the story, but I wanted to share one part of it with you all so you could tell me what I’m missing.
It was a session billed as a tutorial on the power of coaching. You know, coaching–as in personal coaching, executive …
Felix Salmon’s Ben Stein obsession becomes a regular feature (and hooray for that)
After getting lured last week into critiquing the collection of half-informed non sequiturs that is Ben Stein’s New York Times column (in the comments to a post on Danish killer slugs, of course), I was thrilled to see that I will never have to waste my time on such matters again because Felix Salmon is now promising a “weekly Ben Stein …