The cover story of the most recent BusinessWeek magazine, “Prisoners of Debt”, is an interesting read about the attempt to collect on debts discharged by bankruptcy by the debt collection industry. While this is certainly a shady and controversial practice…
“I was pressured for 2 weeks to change both my value and the conditions of my appraisal report …. of an appraisal I completed that did not come to their predetermined value for a ‘valued’ Wamu client.” – Appraiser (subscription…
According to a New York Times article this morning, late last week Chief Executive Stan O’Neal, without the permission of Merrill’s board, contacted Wachovia Chief Executive G. Kennedy Thompson to ask if he might be interested in acquiring Merrill as Merrill…
20 years ago Friday, on Monday October 19, 1987, the stock market crashed in its worst one day drop ever (22.6%). Black Monday stands as Wall Street’s apacolyptic moment. Why? Nobody can give a satisfying answer. And, of course: Can…
“In America, they give you a second chance but not a third.” – Victor Niederhoffer In its most recent issue, The New Yorker ran a fascinating profile of trader and hedge fund manager Victor Niederhoffer. During the 1990s, Niederhoffer, incidentally a…
50 years ago today one of the truly great books of the 20th century was published: Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. The hostility evoked by any mention of Rand’s name is of course a given. But at root Rand’s ideas celebrated…
Henry Blodget, the infamous Merrill Lynch analyst who put ridiculous price targets on internet stocks during the tech bubble (the most notorious being his $400 target for Amazon.com in October 1998) and was ultimately barred from the securities industry, wrote in a…
In a blistering and fact filled diatribe at TheStreet.com, “Facebook Won’t Help Microsoft”, Senior Writer Vishesh Kumar makes clear the meaning of Microsoft’s potential purchase of a slice of Facebook at a price that would put a $10 billion value…
“CNBC is a financial channel for Wall Street. We’re for Main Street.” – Rupert Murdoch, CEO News Corp In about 3 weeks the much anticipated Fox Business Channel will launch. In the wake of News Corp (the parent of Fox…
I just read a truly incredible story from Fast Company magazine about a 17 year old girl from Detroit who, without any help from her parents or connections, created a million dollar (and growing) website. The site is called Whateverlife.com and…