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strategy
by leon on June 30, 2009
Social networking might be booming but bosses don't twitter or blog. For good reason too.A new survey, published here, reveals that only two out of the top 100 chief executive officers in the Uni...
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corporate crime
by leon on June 30, 2009
So as expected, Bernard Madoff got the max: 150 years in the slammer for perpetrating his vile Ponzi Scheme. For his part, Madoff delivered a big apology to the victims. But interesting questions rem...
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risk
by leon on June 29, 2009
Worrying signs are emerging from China with reports that we are seeing the creation of an asset price bubble in that market. There was 4.57 trillion yuan (or about $US670 billion) of new lending pour...
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litigation
by leon on June 29, 2009
Michael Jackson had a weird life so it's not surprising that the story about the battle over his estate is getting stranger by the day.Now we are told that no will for Jackson has emerged and tha...
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corporate crime
by leon on June 29, 2009
With Bernard Madoff up for sentence tomorrow and likely to spend the rest of his life in the slammer, Reuters reports that his wife Ruth has come to a deal with prosecutors to forfeit her claim for $...
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litigation
by leon on June 28, 2009
By the narrowest of margins, Congress has passed the "cap and trade" energy bill which will bring in tough new greenhouse gas emissions standards for US companies. Given that it passed by t...
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litigation
by leon on June 27, 2009
There's bound to be massive litigation over Michael Jackson's estate.For the last years of his life, the pop icon was bogged down in controversy. But more to the point, he was trapped in a qu...
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corporate crime
by leon on June 27, 2009
Bernard Madoff, 71, gets sentenced on Monday and the tips are coming in on how he could best survive jail. Whether it's 12 years, as his lawyers have asked, or longer. Lawyers have told CNN he is...
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shareholder activism
by leon on June 25, 2009
Working as an investment adviser these days is dangerous. You risk incurring the wrath of financial crisis victims. And it doesn't matter how old they are either.Here's an extraordinary story...
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Ethics
by leon on June 25, 2009
Transparency International has condemned some of the world's biggest exporters for failing to tackle bribery corruption.In its latest report, the anti-corruption body said some of the world's...
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Ethics
by leon on June 24, 2009
Can't wait to read it!! Associated Press reports that former puppet master and vice president Dick Cheney is writing his memoirs. According to that report, Cheney will be paid a cool $2 million f...
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corporate crime
by leon on June 24, 2009
Earlier this month, I did a blog entry looking at how Bernard Madoff's victims wanted the fraudster to get the full 150 year jail sentence. Many of the victims were not high flyers. Madoff ripped...
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risk
by leon on June 23, 2009
The global stimulus packages are likely to provide massive opportunities for fraud, according to a report from risk consultancy Kroll. According to the report, corruption could swipe about $500 billi...
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strategy
by leon on June 23, 2009
The green shoots are turning into yellow weeds. The World Bank forecast for the global economy is a sobering read.According to the World Bank, the global economy will shrink by nearly 3 per cent this...
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executive pay
by leon on June 22, 2009
It's hard to believe but bankers are now raking in enormous bonuses despite the global financial crisis.The Financial Times reports that Merrill Lynch, UBS and Citigroup are actually cranking up ...
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corporate governance
by leon on June 22, 2009
About two years ago, I did a blog entry predicting that climate change would become a big corporate governance issue. Directors can get into all sorts of trouble for failing in their duty of care to ...
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strategy
by leon on June 21, 2009
Earlier this month, I did a blog entry looking at how the airline business was going to the dogs. The combination of the global financial crunch and swine flu will cost them at least $9 billion this...
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strategy
by leon on June 21, 2009
The Wall Street Journal tells us this morning that Apple chief Steve Jobs had a liver transplant and is expected back at work this month as scheduled.What's fascinating though is the way Apple sh...
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markets
by leon on June 21, 2009
So bankers forecast that the recession will end in the third quarter of 2009. Big deal!! Don't crack open the champagne yet. The next few years will be hard. If you expect it will be anything lik...
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regulators
by leon on June 19, 2009
If you've been retrenched as a banker or hedge fund manager, don't worry. There's plenty of work out there, if you want to become a spook. The CIA is now running a recruitment ad for bank...
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corporate crime
by leon on June 19, 2009
Fascinating story in the Financial Times about how the Mafia has been cashing in on the financial crisis with two apparently "Japanese" men bringing $134 billion worth of fake Treasury bill...
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risk
by leon on June 18, 2009
With the Waxman-Markey discussion draft, "The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" now going before Congress, the Obama Administration has released a timely report on climate cha...
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regulators
by leon on June 18, 2009
President Obama has announced the most sweeping reforms of the financial services in 70 years. The reforms are to be applauded and are long overdue. But are they enough? Can they be undone or jettiso...
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strategy
by leon on June 17, 2009
Last month, Harvard Business School set off the debate about a name change for GM. It suggested going for an American theme, although somehow I don't think Stars and Stripes Automobile Manufactur...
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markets
by leon on June 17, 2009
When Rupert Murdoch acquired MySpace four years ago for $580 million, there were questions whether the septuagenarian media baron would kill the Internet site's phenomenal popularity.Now, the lat...
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markets
by leon on June 17, 2009
So the International Monetary Fund has given the US economy, and by implication the Obama administration, a big tick of sorts in its latest report. The IMF projects that the economy will contract 2.5...
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markets
by leon on June 16, 2009
Now I've heard everything. We have reports of a new kosher search engine called "koogle" developed in Israel that allows religious Jews to search the Net without compromising their reli...
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corporate crime
by leon on June 16, 2009
Bernard Madoff, who has pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud, money laudnering, perjury and theft, faces up to 150 years in jail. And his victims want exactly that!The New York Times reports that Ma...
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markets
by leon on June 15, 2009
So Barack Obama has declared that his stimulus package will create 600,000 jobs this summer. Don't hold your breath.According to this report from McClatchy Newspapers , most of the country won...
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Ethics
by leon on June 15, 2009
The Walt Disney Company earlier this year unveiled, amidst much fanfare, its new environmental initiatives which included zero greenhouse gas emissions and zero waste. But is this Fantasyland stuff?W...
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markets
by leon on June 14, 2009
So unemployment in the US has jumped to 9.4% but are the numbers telling us the truth? Is unemployment actually worse than what the statisticians are telling us?As reported here, consultant John Will...
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Ethics
by leon on June 13, 2009
With drug companies around the world set to make millions selling vaccines to stop swine flu, it's worth looking at how they are pushing drugs.Bloomberg reports that drug giant Eli Lilly pushed d...
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markets
by leon on June 13, 2009
Twitter and other social networks throw up all sorts of fascinating data. At the stage, what it all means is anyone's guess but a picture is starting to emerge. No doubt marketing experts will be...
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markets
by leon on June 13, 2009
It seems the recession is saving marriages. Or it might be prolonging the agony.In Britain, The Independent reports that accountants grant thornton have found that fewer couples are divorcing. Plumme...
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strategy
by leon on June 11, 2009
Last month, I did a blog entry on Warren Buffett warning that newspapers had no future and that they would go the way of the horse and buggy.In that context, it's fascinating to read the reports ...
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executive pay
by leon on June 11, 2009
Despite unemployment in the US reaching 9.4% and foreclosure rates topping 300,000, as reported by Bloomberg, it's heartening to see some things don't change. Pay perks for chief executive of...
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risk
by leon on June 11, 2009
Hard to comprehend Africa. Robert Mugabe, who destroyed the Zimbabwe economy and has, according to the CIA World Factbook taken inflation to a gob-smacking 11.2 million per cent and unemployment to a...
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corporate crime
, Information About
by leon on June 10, 2009
With the World Health Organisation on the brink of declaring swine flu an official pandemic, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's interim director general for health, safety and the environment has told Time...
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strategy
by leon on June 10, 2009
With Toyota unveiling its third generation Prius, it's time to ask whether GM's Volt will be able to match the competition. Or for that matter, save GM. We read in the report here that the ca...
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regulators
by leon on June 9, 2009
Last month, I did a blog entry questioning the bank stress tests, pointing out that the bar had been set too low. At the time, I raised the question of whether the tests had been put in place to stop...
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SOX
by leon on June 9, 2009
The big news around now is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announcement that its chairman Mark Olson is resigning "to establish new priorities". Whatever that may mean.The int...
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risk
by leon on June 8, 2009
Much has been said about using public transport to solve climate change. Basically, the argument goes that taking a train or bus produces fewer greenhouse gases than driving.But now a new study, repo...
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markets
by leon on June 8, 2009
Airlines are set to lose $9 billion this year with demand for air travel falling away as a result of the global recession and swine flu. A statement released by the International Air Transport Associ...
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litigation
by leon on June 8, 2009
One of the things that has disturbed me the most about the subprime crisis is the impact it's had on the African American and Hispanic communities, and the way banks had targeted these people for...
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Accounting
by leon on June 6, 2009
US accounting standard setters might be tightening the rules for banks, forcing them to take off balance sheet toxic vehicles on to their books but don't expect the banks to take that lying down....
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markets
by leon on June 6, 2009
Will the clean energy sector emerge from the recession faster than other industries?That seems to be the suggestion in the latest REN21 Renewables Global Status Report. Despite the worst economic cri...
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litigation
by leon on June 5, 2009
Mon Dieu, it could only happen in France.French contestants in a French reality TV show, L'Ile de la Tentation (Temptation Island), have won a court case to get the same entitlements as employees...
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strategy
by leon on June 4, 2009
The big question now is how General Motors will emerge out of this bankruptcy? And what lies ahead for what was once the world's biggest car manufacturer?As Dennis Berman at The Wall Street Journ...
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markets
by leon on June 4, 2009
More evidence that the most powerful nation on the planet has a completely dysfunctional health system. And another illustration of how second rate health care is hurting the US economy. It makes a m...
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strategy
by leon on June 4, 2009
How will an emissions trading scheme affect business? Company earnings could fall from less than 1% to 117% under a cap and trade, according to some new research released by not-for-profit Investor R...
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strategy
by leon on June 4, 2009
Much has been written about the decline of manufacturing and the demise of General Motors highlights the problem. Which makes the observations in Robert Reich's blog on the future of manufacturin...
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regulators
by leon on June 2, 2009
All is not well at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read through the report of the SEC Inspector General and weep. Shake your head in disgust because the report makes it clear that the there a...
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Information About
, markets
by leon on June 2, 2009
It's hard to go past the chutzpah of General Motors' latest ad, posted on YouTube and Facebook, shortly after it filed for bankruptcy. You can watch it courtesy of AdvertisingAge.With images...
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markets
by leon on June 2, 2009
With General Motors filing for bankruptcy , the biggest manufacturer do so with its debts more than double its assets, the question needs to be asked about what this means for the auto industry, both...
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markets
by leon on June 1, 2009
Some fascinating comments from Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman blaming America's economic woes on Ronald Reagan. Basically, Krugman says deregulation, the piling up of debt and the sc...
