The Car Business March 30, 2009

Remember the old car company called American Motors? It looks like the name will have to be resurrected because that’s about what GM has become.
The Obama Administration has taken the extraordinary step offering a government guarantee on the warranties of GM (and Chrysler) cars. This after forcing out the CEO of GM and rejecting [...]

Now It’s The Mall March 24, 2009

Word comes this week that General Growth Properties is cutting back hours at most of its malls in our region—including Columbia, Towson Town, White Marsh and Mondawmin.
On one hand, this seems somewhat contrary to what retailers should be doing to try to ride out the recession. I know of one small shop owner, for example, [...]

A 90% Tax Rate March 19, 2009

Has common sense fled Capitol Hill?
On Thursday, The House of Representatives passed, by a margin of 329-93, a bill to impose a 90% tax on the bonuses pocketed by AIG employees.
Let me be clear. The payment of the bonuses was disgusting.
Over the past few months, I’ve used this space frequently to “call out” the culture [...]

The AIG Bonuses March 17, 2009

Just about everybody is furious about the bonuses being paid to employees of AIG, the insurance giant whose risky business practices have played a gigantic role in our economic mess. The news only gets more infuriating with Tuesday’s disclosure from the New York Attorney General that a whopping 73 AIG executives got at least $1 [...]

Suddenly Unfashionable March 3, 2009

I was reading a piece in The New York Times a few days ago about one of New York City’s premier real estate agents. For more than ten years, one of her trademarks was the Rolls Royce she used to take clients to see properties on the market. (We are, of course, talking about those [...]

The F-Word (s) February 26, 2009

Have you stopped to think how a variety of f-words have become part of our everyday vocabulary?
Fraud makes news just about every week now. The latest–the arrest of two Wall Street money managers who are accused of stealing $667 mil from investors. It’s actually rather paltry by today’s standards, set by Bernie Madoff (alleged fraud [...]

The Housing Bailout February 20, 2009

Quite a debate is underway about who stands to benefit from the housing plan announced this week by the President. It centers on whether so called “bad players” should be among those getting a break—both irresponsible lenders and borrowers who should have known they may have been biting off a whole lot more than they [...]

Greenspan’s Delusion February 16, 2009

Must see TV is currently CNBC’s documentary: House of Cards.
It’s a two-hour presentation that lays out, step by step, the chronology of how we ran our economy into the biggest, deepest ditch since the Great Depression. I say “we” rather loosely—the documentary is much more specific about laying blame at the doorstep of [...]

Bipartisanship Bust February 13, 2009

The revised economic stimulus plan passed the House of Representatives on Friday without one, single, solitary Republican vote. This is generating nearly as much debate as the plan itself—and for good reason. The question, of course, is whether bipartisanship is really possible. Given its failure in these circumstances—the worst economic crisis since the Great [...]

The Bankers February 11, 2009

It was quite a sight in Washington on Wednesday with the CEO’s of the 8 big banks appearing on Capitol Hill. Essentially, they were there to answer one simple question:
What exactly did you do with all that bailout money you got? The total handout to them, at this point, is in the neighborhood of $150 [...]