Daily commentary about business and finance.

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• Operation Just Cause In the name of helping Lady Liberty, American Express is reaping lots of publicity.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 31, 2003
  
• Burnt Offerings The IPO market has learned useful lessons.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 19, 2003
  
• Silver Bells, Platinum Bells Not everyone is splurging this holiday season.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 16, 2003
  
• Hail to the Coach Why should Uncle Sam be so generous to West Point football?
  Daniel Gross Dec. 12, 2003
  
• Dollar Doldrums Where have all the European investors gone?
  Daniel Gross Dec. 10, 2003
  
• Abercrombie & Fitch's Blue Christmas The dirty little secret behind the racy catalog: lousy sales.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 8, 2003
  
• Jet Lag How Boeing blew it.
  Douglas Gantenbein Dec. 5, 2003
  
• Party Poopers Why low interest rates aren't good news.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 4, 2003
  
• Drug Jitters What Samuel Waksal needed was a dose of confidence.
  Daniel Gross Dec. 2, 2003
  
• Man Overboard Conrad Black's retinue of insiders, cronies, and clunkers.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 20, 2003
  
• Hello, Mr. Blue Chips TIAA-CREF gets a money makeover.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 18, 2003
  
• Bobos in Purgatory Can you hate Bush but love his tax cuts?
  Daniel Gross Nov. 13, 2003
  
• Bookworm Barnes & Noble knows how to buy and sell … stocks.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 11, 2003
  
• Listening to Delaware The best economic indicators you've never heard of, Part II.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 7, 2003
  
• Our Mutual Friends Why the scandal won't deter mutual fund investors.
  Daniel Gross Nov. 4, 2003
  
• Wall Street's Hot M&A Fantasy Do a few big mergers herald a market renaissance?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 31, 2003
  
• The Bush Boomlet The economy just had a great quarter. Does that really mean it's booming?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 29, 2003
  
• The Economics of Suicide Why trying to kill yourself may be a smart business decision.
  Charles Duhigg Oct. 29, 2003
  
• The Shipping News The best economic indicator you've never heard of.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 24, 2003
  
• New York Magazine for Sale Buy now and save $10 million off the cover price!
  Daniel Gross Oct. 23, 2003
  
• The Japan That Can't Say No Japan's banks are a disaster. So why do Americans keep buying them?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 21, 2003
  
• Northeast of Eden A preposterous Republican argument that the Northeast doesn't matter anymore.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 17, 2003
  
• The Cheney Curse The veep hasn't helped Halliburton. He has hurt it.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 14, 2003
  
• Lies, Damn Lies, and Focus Groups Why don't consumers tell the truth about what they want?
  Daniel Gross Oct. 10, 2003
  
• Don't Blame Wal-Mart for the Wal-Mart Economy Low wages, the trade deficit, the collapse of U.S. manufacturing—the business press says Wal-Mart's responsible. Actually, you are.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 8, 2003
  
• Antidisestablishmentarianism The partisan duel over the latest Bush trick to embellish economic data.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 3, 2003
  
• You're Not Rich, but Now You Can Fake It How Starbucks coffee, BMW cars, and Godiva chocolates have become luxuries for the masses.
  Daniel Gross Oct. 1, 2003
  
• Temps Fugit Why America needs more temp jobs.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 29, 2003
  
• So Sue Me What's the best way to punish corporate criminals? With lawsuits, not prison sentences.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 23, 2003
  
• Exciting Career Opportunity! Could you run the New York Stock Exchange?
  Daniel Gross Sept. 18, 2003
  
• Take Your Money and Leave The growing war between public pension funds and private equity firms.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 17, 2003
  
• What Bush Learned From Enron How to hide an $87 billion debt by pretending it's off the books.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 15, 2003
  
• The Bull About the Beef Has the Atkins diet really transformed the American economy?
  Charles Duhigg Sept. 15, 2003
  
• Wall Street Will Abandon New York … And all the other lousy post-9/11 economic predictions.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 10, 2003
  
• The Alamo for Telemarketers Will the Do Not Call list really eliminate 2 million jobs?
  Daniel Gross Sept. 9, 2003
  
• Dammit, Janus The world's lamest spin job.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 5, 2003
  
• Going Private The private dreams of publicly held companies.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 4, 2003
  
• Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Losing Jobs President Bush's new manufacturing policy is doomed.
  Daniel Gross Sept. 2, 2003
  
• Does Richard Grasso Deserve $139 Million? Why the New York Stock Exchange chief may not be overpaid.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 29, 2003
  
• The Road to Nowhere Is the U.S. auto industry doomed?
  Daniel Gross Aug. 26, 2003
  
• Degenerating Situation Why blackouts and gas shortages are very modern inventions.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 21, 2003
  
• Dividend Dead End The dividend tax cut fulfills none of its promise.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 18, 2003
  
• Tearing Their Heirs Out Why Merrill Lynch has the urge to purge.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 14, 2003
  
• Arnold's Bad Business Is his campaign the new Planet Hollywood?
  Daniel Gross Aug. 11, 2003
  
• The Disaster Market Can Wall Street figure out the cause of a space shuttle crash faster than NASA's experts?
  Daniel Gross Aug. 8, 2003
  
• J'Accuse! Jean-Marie Messier and Edgar Bronfman Jr. battle over anti-Semitism, anti-non-Semitism, and who's the worse businessman.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 6, 2003
  
• Socialism, American-Style Why American CEOs covet a massive European-style social-welfare state.
  Daniel Gross Aug. 1, 2003
  
• America's Oddest Tax Dodge Can Section 861 of the Internal Revenue Code save you from income taxes?
  Daniel Gross July 30, 2003
  
• Bookmakers for the Bomb-Makers The Pentagon scraps its startling plan for a terrorism futures market.
  Daniel Gross July 29, 2003
  
• Up by Law The bull market for Wall Street lawyers.
  Daniel Gross July 25, 2003
  
• Marked for Debt The Bush administration says we'll grow out of our deficit. But the Bush tax cuts make that impossible.
  Daniel Gross July 18, 2003
  
• Worry Less About the Deficit You're saving a mint by refinancing. So is the federal government.
  Daniel Gross July 17, 2003
  
• Project Greenmail Scenes you won't see on the new Donald Trump reality TV show.
  Daniel Gross July 14, 2003
  
• Bush's Data Dump The administration is hiding bad economic news. Here's how.
  July 11, 2003
  
• T-Commerce Beats E-Commerce The triumph of the QVC shopping channel.
  Daniel Gross July 8, 2003
  
• The 5.4 Percent Solution How much should foundations have to give to charity? More than they do.
  Daniel Gross July 3, 2003
  
• No Help Wanted for Help-Wanted A tribute to the Help-Wanted Index, the economic gauge that shouldn't work but does.
  Daniel Gross July 2, 2003
  
• The Univision Division A fight about Spanish-language media jostles Washington.
  Daniel Gross June 27, 2003
  
• The Rich Do Get Richer How the decline in income mobility undercuts one argument for the Bush tax cut.
  Daniel Gross June 24, 2003
  
• Less Than Zero How next week's Fed interest-rate cut will jostle $2 trillion in money-market investments.
  Daniel Gross June 20, 2003
  
• A Dividend Divided The dividend tax cut is supposed to benefit all stockholders, so why does it only help half of them?
  Daniel Gross June 17, 2003
  
• Contrite Executive Watch, Part 3 Sam Waksal apologizes to everyone but Martha Stewart.
  Daniel Gross June 11, 2003
  
• As Wal-Mart Goes … Are Wal-Mart's weekly sales the best index of national economic health?
  Daniel Gross June 10, 2003
  
• The Great Rebate Scam They owe you a $50 rebate. Here's how they will try to delay, trick, and bully you out of collecting it.
  Carol Vinzant June 10, 2003
  
• Contrite Executive Watch, Part 2 This Rite Aid executive isn't sorry enough for cooking the books.
  Daniel Gross June 6, 2003
  
• Martha the Oracle Four years ago, Martha Stewart warned her shareholders what could happen to her. They didn't listen.
  Daniel Gross June 5, 2003
  
• This Elephant Dances Too Well Did accounting trickery help Louis Gerstner turn around IBM?
  Daniel Gross June 4, 2003
  
• Marginal Benefits Twenty years ago, cutting marginal income tax rates was a good idea. Today, it makes no sense at all.
  Daniel Gross June 3, 2003
  
• Contrite Executive Watch, Part 1 Grading the CEOs who say "Sorry."
  Daniel Gross May 28, 2003
  
• Dr. Inequality Bush's new economist has a curious prescription.
  Daniel Gross May 23, 2003
  
• Heir Jordan Will Nike's $90 million gamble pay off?
  Seth Stevenson May 22, 2003
  
• Who's Afraid of George Soros? Huge hedge funds could once threaten major currencies. Not anymore.
  Daniel Gross May 21, 2003
  
• Good Deal Defending the SEC's settlement with MCI.
  Daniel Gross May 20, 2003
  
• Dull Blade Farewell to OMB Director Mitchell Daniels, the budget-cutter who couldn't cut.
  Daniel Gross May 16, 2003
  
• Less Bang for a Buck Why a weaker dollar isn't boosting the economy.
  Daniel Gross May 14, 2003
  
• The Root of All Evil? Will derivatives kill us or make us stronger?
  Daniel Gross May 13, 2003
  
• JOA DOA? It's time to kill the antitrust exemption that allows rival newspapers to act like partners.
  Daniel Gross May 8, 2003
  
• Dull Blade Farewell to OMB Director Mitchell Daniels, the budget-cutter who couldn't cut.
  Daniel Gross May 6, 2003
  
• George Walker Hoover? President Bush is on track to match Herbert Hoover's record of job destruction.
  Daniel Gross April 30, 2003
  
• Retaining Gall Why are airlines paying "retention" bonuses to executives no one else would hire?
  Daniel Gross April 29, 2003
  
• CEOld The foolishness of forcing corporate executives to retire at 65.
  Daniel Gross April 23, 2003
  
• Sub-Primedia Why KKR is having such a hard time fixing its magazine company.
  Daniel Gross April 22, 2003
  
• Crony Reform How the access capitalists at the Carlyle Group became real businessmen.
  Daniel Gross April 15, 2003
  
• Mail Fraud Here comes yet another shortsighted plan to bail out the Postal Service.
  Daniel Gross April 11, 2003
  
• Debt Be Not Proud The president and Congress crash into the debt ceiling and pretend nothing happened.
  Daniel Gross April 8, 2003
  
• Attention: Deficit Disorder The budget deficit is $287 billion. Oh, wait a minute, it's $460 billion. No, scratch that, make it $540 billion …
  Daniel Gross April 4, 2003
  
• Cigarette Burns State governments learn the cost of their addiction to tobacco revenues.
  Daniel Gross April 3, 2003
  
• The Quiet Americans Why CEOs are afraid to support the war.
  Daniel Gross April 1, 2003
  
• Kill the Airlines ... ... In order to save them.
  Daniel Gross March 26, 2003
  
• Air Jordan What EDS is hiding about its new CEO.
  Daniel Gross March 21, 2003
  
• The Ghosts of 9/11 vs. the Axis of Evil New York's cops and firefighters brawl with Halliburton over whether it's OK to do business in Iran.
  Daniel Gross March 21, 2003
  
• Wall Street Is War Street Why it's worrisome that the markets love the war.
  Daniel Gross March 18, 2003
  
• 401(ko) Charles Schwab's self-destructive decision to stop matching employees' retirement contributions.
  Daniel Gross March 17, 2003
  
• Ford's Focus If the company starts making profits again, it won't be from selling cars.
  Daniel Gross March 13, 2003
  
• When Bad Things Happen to Good Companies AES was the anti-Enron of the energy business—socially responsible, moral, earnest. That hasn't stopped its decline.
  Daniel Gross March 11, 2003
  
• Wall Street's latest tax dodge. They give you corrupt stock recommendations. They're forced to pay a $1.4 billion fine. Then they write it off their taxes.
  Daniel Gross March 6, 2003
  
• Do They Know Jack? Jack Welch's disciples have gone forth to preach his gospel. So far, most of them are failing.
  Daniel Gross March 4, 2003
  
• Old Chairman Hubbard The departing Bush economic adviser's intellectual cupboard is bare, but that won't stop the administration from continuing his supply-side policies.
  Daniel Gross Feb. 28, 2003
  
• Mall Rats How Alfred Taubman's real estate company is shortchanging its shareholders.
  Daniel Gross Feb. 26, 2003
  
• A Clarification About James Barksdale 
  Daniel Gross Feb. 25, 2003
  
• What Goes With the Flow Will foreigners stop investing in America?
  Daniel Gross Feb. 21, 2003
  
• Boeing on Welfare Is the aircraft manufacturer taking too many government handouts?
  Daniel Gross Feb. 18, 2003
  
• Fortune 500, Meet Daytona 500 What NASCAR can teach us about business.
  Charles Duhigg Feb. 17, 2003
  
• Higher Profits, Lower Taxes It's not just Enron that's been dodging corporate income taxes. The rest of the Fortune 500 has been duping the IRS, too.
  Daniel Gross Feb. 14, 2003
  
• The Hedge-Fund Witch Hunt Eliot Spitzer's latest investigation is pursuing the wrong guys.
  Daniel Gross Feb. 13, 2003
  
• Fiscally Blond Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy is finally outshining her doppelgänger, H-P's Carly Fiorina.
  Daniel Gross Feb. 11, 2003
  
• The Dot-Firm's Dot-Bomb How a leading West Coast law firm killed itself.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 31, 2003
  
• Tech's Phony Dollar-a-Year Men How CEOs make millions by eliminating their own salaries.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 30, 2003
  
• Now, Dow? How an irrelevant index survived the tech meltdown.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 29, 2003
  
• Used Book Sale AOL slims down—the wrong way.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 24, 2003
  
• A Republic, Not a Direct Democracy Why mutual-fund investors don't need a suffrage movement.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 22, 2003
  
• Mea Culpa Mea Microsoft culpa.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 17, 2003
  
• Man of Steel Is Wilbur Ross the next Andrew Carnegie?
  Daniel Gross Jan. 16, 2003
  
• The Options Handcuff Why cash-rich companies like Dell and Microsoft don't (and won't) pay dividends.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 14, 2003
  
• Restoration Comedy Bobos can't save Restoration Hardware from its boo-boos.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 10, 2003
  
• Artificial Stimulant What's wrong with Bush's new economic plan.
  Daniel Gross Jan. 6, 2003
  
• American Tyco Was Tyco criminal or merely sleazy?
  Daniel Gross Jan. 2, 2003