Daily commentary about business and finance.

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• Bush's Bushwa   The president and his aides keep lying about when the recession started.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 30, 2002
  
• Cash Is King Why you can't buy tech companies with stock anymore.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 27, 2002
  
• Bust up the Ratings Cartel The other Wall Street research problem. 
  Daniel Gross Dec. 23, 2002
  
• Labor's Losses A union-sponsored corporate rip-off.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 19, 2002
  
• Bring Back the Long Bond! The Bush administration killed the 30-year bond last year. It needs to revive it.
  Mike Steinberger Dec. 18, 2002
  
• What January Effect? The first month used to be the best month to buy stock. Not anymore.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 17, 2002
  
• Feds to NY: Drop Dead! Washington tries to force Wall Street jobs out of Manhattan.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 12, 2002
  
• Snow Job President Bush appoints yet another phony businessman, this time as treasury secretary.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 10, 2002
  
• The Headless Economy Bush's new economic policy: Fire everyone!
  Daniel Gross Dec. 6, 2002
  
• Chasing Bad Money How J.P. Morgan Chase fell apart.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 5, 2002
  
• Regatta de Blank The joy of watching billionaires lose the America's Cup.
  Mark Lewis Dec. 5, 2002
  
• The Seven-Percent Solution Another way Wall Street rigs the IPO game.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 3, 2002
  
• Mercury Poisoning What happens when a Detroit car company moves to California?
  Daniel Gross Nov. 27, 2002
  
• The Government's Cram-Down Artists Tough love for troubled airlines.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 22, 2002
  
• The Maestro Is a Hack How Alan Greenspan has become a Bush puppet.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 21, 2002
  
• Rudy Can't Fail   Why Rudy Giuliani, who knows as much about telecom as you, may be the next chairman of WorldCom.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 19, 2002
  
• No More Grubmans How to fix Wall Street's analyst mess.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 14, 2002
  
• Andersen, Meet Aetna What's the best way to prevent future accounting scandals? Audit insurance.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 12, 2002
  
• The Greatest Generation Goes to B-School What a new book about Harvard Business School's class of 1949 can teach today's CEOs.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 8, 2002
  
• Last Night's Other Big Loser: The Balanced Budget The GOP monopoly means a return to the era of structural deficits.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 6, 2002
  
• The Pitt Why SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt has failed.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 1, 2002
  
• Confidence Game Should you believe those dismal consumer confidence figures?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 31, 2002
  
• Le Reve Gauche Gambling tycoon Steve Wynn's latest IPO shows what Wall Street has learned from the scandals and what it hasn't.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 28, 2002
  
• Did the Stock Market Rally Because Sen. Wellstone Died? 
  Daniel Gross Oct. 25, 2002
  
• Capital One, What's in Your Wallet? Not as much as you thought.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 25, 2002
  
• Spitzer Picks Nits The faulty premise of the state corporate scandal investigations.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 24, 2002
  
• School Lies Why do so many executives lie about their education?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 22, 2002
  
• Bush's 300,000 Phony Construction Jobs The president says the lack of terrorism insurance has cost 300,000 jobs. Don't believe it.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 17, 2002
  
• Oil Slicks BP's new eco-friendly ad campaign makes no sense.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 15, 2002
  
• Bush League Economics Can't anybody here play this game?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 11, 2002
  
• Free the SEC Why the Senate shouldn't control the SEC's budget.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 8, 2002
  
• Follow the Yellow Page Road How an old-economy business is bailing out the new-economy telecoms.
  Mark Lewis Oct. 7, 2002
  
• The Democratic Dividend The stock market prefers Democratic presidents to Republicans. Why?
  Carol Vinzant Oct. 4, 2002
  
• Short Port Report How the West Coast port shutdown could ruin Christmas.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 2, 2002
  
• Honest Brokers Does Prudential have the solution to sleazy stock analysts?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 1, 2002
  
• Redemption Song Will mutual funds drag down the market?
  Daniel Gross Sept. 27, 2002
  
• Lemon Pledge The dot-com billionaire who's reneging on his million-dollar promises.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 24, 2002
  
• The Fund That Roared Why is Alabama's pension plan trying to bail out US Airways?
  Daniel Gross Sept. 20, 2002
  
• The Redemption of Swine Can Ken Lay make a comeback?
  Heather Bourbeau Sept. 19, 2002
  
• Hershey Barred How Pennsylvania officials screwed poor kids out of $1 billion by stopping the sale of the candy-maker.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 18, 2002
  
• The Bond Market's Raging Bear Why stock investors should ignore bond guru Bill Gross.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 13, 2002
  
• Paperwork Crime Why the SEC is going after Tyco's executives.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 12, 2002
  
• Bernie Bin Laden Don't blame 9/11 for the bear market. Blame the corporate scandals.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 10, 2002
  
• Money for Nothing? Those no-interest car loans could be killing the economy.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 9, 2002
  
• The New Warren Buffett Way From value investor to vulture investor.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 4, 2002
  
• Edison's Dim Bulbs Why is the for-profit public-education company struggling?
  Daniel Gross Aug. 30, 2002
  
• IPO Quid Pro Quo? Why the Salomon-WorldCom IPO deals are so sleazy.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 28, 2002
  
• Sallie Mae Sallies Forth A government-sponsored corporation learns to love the free market.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 27, 2002
  
• The State Quarters Why are they so ugly? A slide show.
  Carol Vinzant Aug. 27, 2002
  
• The "529" Rip-Off Those new college savings plans aren't so great.
  Austan Goolsbee Aug. 23, 2002
  
• Round-Tripping How Enron and Qwest ruined a smart New Economy business practice.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 21, 2002
  
• Hit Charade The music industry's self-inflicted wounds.
  Mark Jenkins Aug. 20, 2002
  
• No Options on Options How corporate America is being coerced into expensing options.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 15, 2002
  
• ESOP's Fable United's employees own most of the airline. So why are they helping to kill it?
  Daniel Gross Aug. 13, 2002
  
• Fool's Gold The economy's in chaos. The world's a mess. So why are gold prices stagnant?
  Mark Lewis Aug. 13, 2002
  
• The Dividend Double-Tax Deception The folly of eliminating taxes on dividends.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 8, 2002
  
• The Louse in the Mouse House Why Disney's Michael Eisner should be fired.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 6, 2002
  
• AOL, A-OK What did AOL's accountants do wrong? Not much.
  Noam Scheiber Aug. 1, 2002
  
• The Poor Standard of Standard & Poor's How the S&P 500's bad bubble-stock picks have cost investors billions.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 1, 2002
  
• Citi of Fear What are Citigroup's weird ads really saying?
  Tim Carvell July 31, 2002
  
• Bertelsmann's Big Bungle Thomas Middelhoff was the best CEO in the media business. So why did Bertelsmann fire him?
  James Ledbetter July 30, 2002
  
• The Gadfly Shortage Why didn't more shareholders make trouble before the corporate scandals?
  Nell Minow July 29, 2002
  
• Emergency Room Execs Wall Street should be suspicious when a troubled company hires a new CEO.
  Daniel Gross July 26, 2002
  
• Smoke Screen Why is Philip Morris supporting FDA regulation of cigarettes?
  Samuel Loewenberg July 25, 2002
  
• Blame Iacocca How the former Chrysler CEO caused the corporate scandals.
  James Surowiecki July 24, 2002
  
• WorldCom Is Bankrupt; So How Did It Get a $2 Billion Loan? 
  Daniel Gross July 24, 2002
  
• Corporate Scandal Trading Cards Collect 'em all!
  David Plotz July 20, 2002
  
• Restating the Obvious Why new CEOs love bad news.
  Daniel Gross July 19, 2002
  
• Falling Back Into the GAAP Wall Street finally discovers what's wrong with "pro forma" earnings.
  Mark Lewis July 19, 2002
  
• Give That CEO a Pay Raise! 
  Daniel Gross July 11, 2002
  
• Outsider Trading: How Martha Stewart Beat Fidelity 
  Carol Vinzant July 10, 2002
  
• Vivendi's Real Problem: France 
  James Ledbetter July 3, 2002
  
• Adelphia's Family Fools 
  Daniel Gross July 2, 2002
  
• Corporate Dishonesty 
  Nell Minow July 1, 2002
  
• Ma Bell Beats MCI (Sort Of) 
  Mark Lewis June 28, 2002
  
• The Accounting Trick That's Killing WorldCom 
  Daniel Gross June 26, 2002
  
• Does Martha Stewart's Story Make Sense? 
  Carol Vinzant June 24, 2002
  
• Failure Is the New Success 
  Tim Carvell June 21, 2002
  
• Warrin' Buffett 
  Erin Arvedlund June 18, 2002
  
• Bethlehem Steel, from A-list to Delist 
  Mark Lewis June 17, 2002
  
• Subpoena Martha Stewart! 
  James Ledbetter June 12, 2002
  
• Emperor Rupert's Dynastic Decree 
  James Ledbetter June 12, 2002
  
• The Trouble With the Trib 
  James Ledbetter June 4, 2002
  
• A Proposal for the Long Term 
  Rob Walker May 30, 2002
  
• Can Lifestyle Mavens Make a City Boom? 
  Rob Walker May 29, 2002
  
• Messier Makes a Mess Vivendi and AOL have the same basic problem.
  Mark Lewis May 28, 2002
  
• What Spider-Man Can (and Can't) Do for Marvel 
  Rob Walker May 23, 2002
  
• Falling Out of the Gap 
  Rob Walker May 22, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Hot Soup, Cold Comfort 
  Rob Walker May 20, 2002
  
• Was Henry Blodget an Evil Genius? 
  Rob Walker May 16, 2002
  
• A Consumer Mystery Explained 
  Rob Walker May 15, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: A Cable Channel's Road Show 
  Rob Walker May 13, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Cheering Cisco, Fearing Nuclear Attack, Etc. 
  Rob Walker May 9, 2002
  
• Merrill Lynch and the Rating Game 
  Rob Walker May 7, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: The Return of Harry and Louise 
  Rob Walker May 6, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Merger Closure, Buggy Whips, Etc. 
  Rob Walker May 2, 2002
  
• Bye Bye, Bernie 
  Rob Walker April 30, 2002
  
• Doritos' Extreme Stupidity 
  Rob Walker April 29, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Tyco's Latest Plan, Congrats to AOL, Etc. 
  Rob Walker April 25, 2002
  
• Ozzy as Manager 
  Rob Walker April 24, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Sermon on the Mountain Dew 
  Rob Walker April 22, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: JetBlue Takes Off, H-P Squabble Lingers On, Etc. 
  Rob Walker April 18, 2002
  
• Why Quitting Is Back 
  Rob Walker April 17, 2002
  
• Do You Love Your Accountant? Why? 
  Rob Walker April 16, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Cadillac's Rock of Ages 
  Rob Walker April 15, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: GE Speaks, Andersen Shredding Tales, Etc. 
  Rob Walker April 11, 2002
  
• Genius of Capitalism: Steve Madden 
  Rob Walker April 10, 2002
  
• IBM Hits Restart 
  Rob Walker April 9, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Cindy Crawford Still Drinks Pepsi 
  Rob Walker April 8, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Settling Accounts, Dobbs-Bashing, Etc. 
  Rob Walker April 4, 2002
  
• My Pro Forma Life 
  Rob Walker April 2, 2002
  
• Should Accountants Go to Jail? 
  James Ledbetter March 29, 2002
  
• Where There's a Pipe, There's Smoke 
  James Ledbetter March 28, 2002
  
• Budgets and Bellbottoms 
  James Ledbetter March 27, 2002
  
• The Rise of Business Scandals 
  James Ledbetter March 25, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Lee Jeans Gets Surreal 
  Rob Walker March 25, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Duplicitous Greenspan, Double Halliburton, Etc. 
  Rob Walker March 21, 2002
  
• H-P and Proxy Politics 
  Rob Walker March 20, 2002
  
• The Mogul Crunch 
  Rob Walker March 19, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Kmart vs. Target 
  Rob Walker March 18, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: "Corporate McCarthyism," Conseco Clarity, Etc. 
  Rob Walker March 14, 2002
  
• John Bogle and the Power of Passivity 
  Rob Walker March 13, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Bill Ford in the Driver's Seat 
  Rob Walker March 11, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Counting Andersen Out, the Welch Affair, Etc. 
  Rob Walker March 7, 2002
  
• Genius of Capitalism: LTV's William Bricker 
  Rob Walker March 5, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: 7 UP's New Guy 
  Rob Walker March 4, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Junk at the Gap, Stock Analyst Proposal, Etc. 
  Rob Walker Feb. 28, 2002
  
• Consumer Rumors, Part 2 
  Rob Walker Feb. 28, 2002
  
• Consumer Rumors, Part 1 
  Rob Walker Feb. 27, 2002
  
• Felix Rohatyn Is Concerned 
  Rob Walker Feb. 25, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Ads for Ads 
  Rob Walker Feb. 25, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Accounting Lessons, Dot-Come-Again, Etc. 
  Rob Walker Feb. 21, 2002
  
• Profits, Patriotism, and Sunny Bermuda 
  Rob Walker Feb. 19, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Early Olympic Results 
  Rob Walker Feb. 18, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure: Enron-esque, Brawny Make-Over, Etc. 
  Rob Walker Feb. 14, 2002
  
• Why Would a Company Hide Good News? 
  Rob Walker Feb. 13, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: For FedEx, It's All About Delivery 
  Rob Walker Feb. 11, 2002
  
• Minimal Disclosure 
  Rob Walker Feb. 7, 2002
  
• Genius of Capitalism: The Sequel 
  Rob Walker Feb. 6, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Super Bowl Special 
  Rob Walker Feb. 4, 2002
  
• Grateful Shred 
  Rob Walker Jan. 30, 2002
  
• Meet the New Non-Greenspans 
  Rob Walker Jan. 30, 2002
  
• The Rumor Market: A Follow-Up 
  Rob Walker Jan. 29, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Cottonelle's Bizarre End Run 
  Rob Walker Jan. 28, 2002
  
• What's Hot Now? Prudence! 
  Rob Walker Jan. 24, 2002
  
• Enron-o-Rama: From Scandal to Spectacle 
  Rob Walker Jan. 24, 2002
  
• Amazon Rises, Kmart Falls 
  Rob Walker Jan. 23, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Chunky's Spokesmamasboys 
  Rob Walker Jan. 21, 2002
  
• The Rumor Market 
  Rob Walker Jan. 17, 2002
  
• Ken Lay, Al Dunlap, and the "Genius of Capitalism" 
  Rob Walker Jan. 15, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: The Levi Bowl 
  Rob Walker Jan. 14, 2002
  
• A Journalistic Math Problem, Times Two 
  Rob Walker Jan. 9, 2002
  
• Wall Street Learns How To Say "Sell" 
  Rob Walker Jan. 9, 2002
  
• Ad Report Card: Instant Nostalgia From Sprite 
  Rob Walker Jan. 7, 2002
  
• Moneybox Superdome Update: The Deal Gets Sweeter 
  Rob Walker Jan. 2, 2002
  
• Disney Casts Itself as the Victim. Again. 
  Rob Walker Jan. 2, 2002