I know this is risky after the last post, but what the hell. What can we expect in 2009. The truth is, no-one really knows. Still, there are some forecasts worth looking at.A sobering prediction from...

So 2008 is over. And good riddance too. If ever there was a year that deserved to be consigned to flames and forgotten about, this was the year.No one would have expected a year where company share...

Around this time every year, everyone rolls out their list of winners and losers for the last 12 months. There are lists everywhere but the best I've seen is from the Houston Chronicle's...

With the United States government once more getting the taxpayers to bail out a hopeless business, this time announcing it would pump $6 billion into GMAC Financial Services, including $1 billion for...

The new world order with regulation is now emerging.Gone are the days when the so-called "free market" was the only game in town. We are now seeing a reappraisal of the "free...

The legal fallout over Bernard Madoff has taken a new turn with a judge ruling that Madoff must provide a list of all investments, lines of credit, loans, business interests, brokerage accounts, and...

With more companies filing for bankruptcy, we can expect to see the stronger players making acquisitions. The downturn will unleash Pacman-style corporate activity.PricewaterhouseCoopers has forecast...

Despite the car executives, the corporate jet market is still booming, reports Associated Press with financial firms that received billions in bailout dollars still owning and operating fleets. But,...

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox has defended his regime in a way that would just leave the public gob-smacked.The culture of slack oversight allowed US financial...

Traditionally, software and PC sell like hot cakes over Christmas. But with the United States in recession and growing job losses, holiday sales are projected to plummet big time and retailers are...

It had to happen. Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme is turning into a lawyers' picnic with the lawsuits rolling in.First, we have reports that a New York woman, Phyllis Molchatsky, is...

Just finished reading Niall Ferguson's book The Ascent of Money and it's a fascinating read.Ferguson makes the point that money has been a key driving force behind progress, from ancient...

Yesterday, I did a blog entry on how the Madoff scandal had out accountants in the gun. The view now is that no-one could have pulled off a scam as big as this, and kept it going for so......

The shock waves set off by Bernard Madoff's $50 billion scam continue to reverberate with reports that the FBI is now diverting agents from its counter-terrorism divisions to focus on...

How bad is the meltdown? There are dire predictions from Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, the Governor of the Bank of Spain. He says it's the worst since the Great Depression of 1929. "The...

The Securities and Exchanges Commission has had quite a shellacking over the last week over its ineptitude and turning a blind eye to Bernard Madoff's scam.An Office of Inspector General (OIG)...

Back in October, I did a blog entry looking at how long the recession would last. Some predicted it would one years, others were saying it could take as many as five. The bottom line is no-one...

Already the signs aren't looking good, and accountants should start to worry.With the credit crisis, the number of securities class actions has nearly doubled this year, according to NERA...

US automakers will finally get a $17.4 billion announced by the White House, reports The Wall Street Journal.This rescue might well create more problems down the track. Certainly, it's no...

With Bernie Madoff avoiding jail and instead getting house arrest in his $7 million apartment, The Wall Street Journal tells us that the Securities and Exchange Commission had him cold on multiple...