February 24, 2007
Greenhouse Guesses
Could ABC have made Dick Cheney look any more evil than in this photo they pasted next to the interview they had with him on global warming? Can't say he deserved much more flattery than the picture, as his claim that humans' contribution to global warming is "still debatable" is grossly negligent and tragically irresponsible.
Posted by Michelle Smith at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2006
ABN-Amro and Vietnam: Case of the Undiscerning West
Is Vietnam's legal system cracking under the pressure of its mind-boggling growth rate? Four bankers being held hostage in Hanoi certainly think so. Should the Western world agree?
Posted by Michelle Smith at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2006
Tiny Cut of the Tax Cut Story
Although much of the excitement over Bush's State of the Union address yesterday was over foreign policy issues, rights to privacy, and mistimed applause from the Democrats, key declarations about tax cuts created enough buzz for Market-Racket to want to review them in more detail.
Posted by Michelle Smith at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2005
China's 8-Ball
One of the benefits of having functioning brain cells during such an important period in China’s history is the educational entertainment of all the lofty theorizing. Everyone likes to talk about the higher meaning of what seems like every transaction southeast of the Great Wall. Last week was another example, as reports about Thursday’s initial public offering (IPO) of China’s Construction Bank (CCB) were scrutinized with so much fervor that you’d think China’s stock prices held the secret to next year’s Super Bowl winner or tomorrow’s PowerBall ticket.
Posted by Michelle Smith at 07:24 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Refco's Spoiled Stock
Refco’s swan dive into a financial breakdown this week demonstrates the severity with which markets handle accounting fraud these days. Just two months after its IPO, the company, one of America's largest futures and commodity brokers, announced that debt owed to it by its CEO hadn’t been properly booked on its balance sheet. The CEO paid back the loan with interest shortly after the announcement, but within days the company’s stock price plummeted so low that the company had to halt operations due to a liquidity shortage. Struck from sticker shock at the sight of the $430 million price tag for this “hidden” debt, investors gave as much consideration to hanging on to their shares of Refco as one does to old mayonnaise when cleaning out the fridge.
The knee-jerk reaction of the shareholders begs an important question: if the loan got paid back, then why did shareholders keep running away?
Posted by Michelle Smith at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2005
America's Outsourcing Heartburn
Is America outsourcing too much?
At a time of relatively high unemployment, tales of outsourcing woes that have stripped white-collar job securities from our decently educated strike fear into the hearts of many middle class Americans. Rumors that “most of our best jobs can be outsourced”, and that “Americans have no place to move up”, and that outsourcing is making us "lose our national sovereignty" provide for a grim future. Worse, the fact that we, proud Americans, do not have the competitive advantage in business that many of us thought we were born with, is just plain appalling.
Perhaps this article can provide some perspective to help save this nation from heartburn.
Posted by Michelle Smith at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2005
Buying Bonds, Buying Headaches?
Argentina had big news today. After three years of focusing on paying off its debt and trying to get its economy in order after the biggest default in history, the government announced its first issuance of dollar-denominated bonds since its 2002 financial crisis. Similar to when a guy celebrates paying off his credit cards by going out and charging a big screen TV, Argentina’s friends have reasons to be concerned.
Posted by Michelle Smith at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
Could you please pass the sake?
Japanese banks have been plagued by trouble for decades. So when good news came out last week that they had finally achieved a key loan performance target set three years ago, there was call for celebration.
Posted by Michelle Smith at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)