Archive for January, 2010
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Hearings
The hearings for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission are going on right now. Zachery Kouwe of the New York Times’ blog Dealbook is “live-blogging” the hearing right now (how’s that for an example of compound-transitive-verbing?!). Meanwhile, today’s NYT op-ed section has a nice survey of questions some experts would like to ask the bankers in ...Read more.
Banks Prepare for Big Bonuses, Public Wrath (NYT)
From the New York Times: Banks Prepare for Big Bonuses, and Public Wrath By LOUISE STORY and ERIC DASHPublished: January 9, 2010 Everyone on Wall Street is fixated on The Number. The bank bonus season, that annual rite of big money and bigger egos, begins in earnest this week, and it looks as if it ...Read more.
December Job Numbers (BLS)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics came out with its Employment Situation report today. The unemployment rate stayed the same at 10.0%, but 85,000 jobs were lost in December. Here are the basics of the report: Nonfarm payroll employment edged down (-85,000) in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau ...Read more.
2009 Management Guff (Lucy Kellaway)
I’ve started to look forward to Lucy Kellaway’s (of the Financial Times) annual run-down on “management guff,” especially her award for the best/worst in what we call “verbing” (she calls it “the best noun pretending to be a verb”). Good year for management guff By Lucy Kellaway | Published: January 3 2010 17:38 Every year ...Read more.
How Many People Are on Food Stamps?
A pop quiz: How many Americans are on food stamps? How many children in the United States are on food stamps? For how many people in the United States are food stamps their only means of regular financial support? An article from Saturday’s New York Times gives the surprising (to me, at least) answers: One ...Read more.
Bringing Overpaid Executives to Heel
From today’s LA Times. Hat-tip to Danny Postel. The cover story in our Nov/Dec issue, Have the Rich Won?, makes a similar argument. Bringing overpaid executives to heel Power, not productivity, determines earnings. That’s why new laws are needed to check the unfair distribution of the fruits of workers’ labors. By Moshe Adler | January ...Read more.
