January 2009

The Lemonade Crisis (Explaining the Bailout to Children)

The Lemonade Crisis or How to Explain the Bailout to Children Cast: Jimmy, Jamie, Kenny, Stan, Dick, Chuck and Sandy as “The Lemonade Stand Kids” Easy Al and Ben as “The Grocers” Summer came early to Bankington Heights and the neighborhood kids were all excited for their vacation.  The previous summer, Jamie, Jimmy, Stan, Dick,…

Missing the Point on Peltz's Sale of Heinz Shares

In Barron’s writer Avi Salzman‘s recent Inside Scoop piece “Peltz Cuts Back on Ketchup Giant” there is a major missed opportunity to put the story into a broader context that is way more interesting than the article’s original premise. Writing about some recent sales of Heinz (HNZ) stock by Nelson Peltz of the Trian Companies,…

Girls of Ponzi 2009 Calendar

Girls of Ponzi 2009 Calendar Ruth Madoff January 2009 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Michelle Schrenker February 2009 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday…

This Just In: Art Nadel, Where Art Thou? (updated)

My, my, my…and I thought that all of these billionaire “money managers” actually earned the money they were wiping themselves with. CNBC just posted an alert that Art Nadel of Sarasota, Florida-based Valhalla Management is missing, according to his wife, who is “cooperating” with authorities.

Hot Links

Hot Links Weekend Reading: The always erudite Equity Private wrote two great posts this week on Dealbreaker.  The first was a satirical how-to guide to escaping capture after a “Massive Financial Fraud“.  The advice includes “Don’t Watch CSI” and “Have a Plausible Explanation for Why Your Body isn’t Found”. He also wrote a timely and…

Keep Your Filthy Hands Off My Clients' Money, D.C.

Oh Boy.  Talk about adding insult to injury.  The same Washington D.C. that brought us the TARP fund and all the lackadaisical oversight that came with it now has a new way of raising the money to pay for it. It seems there is an academic named Dean Baker, who would like to add a…

CNBC's Most Annoying Commercials

I don’t know if it’s the advertisers who produce the commercial or CNBC who runs them ad nauseumthat I blame, but below is my list of the most obnoxious, annoying and pointless commercials on CNBC. Please put them out of our misery, Network Brass.

Forget Chuck Norris: Here are the Harry Markopolos Facts

The spotlight on Harry Markopolos, the whistleblower who was ignored regarding the Madoff fraud, is about to shine as brightly as a supernova. As the gushing press and blogosphere begin their lionization of the brilliant and intrepid math whiz who saw through the deception, I thought it might be a good time to assemble a list of the following little-known “facts” from around the Internet about the man who could have been a hero.

Consolidate Your Brokerage Accounts in 2009: Your Friend, the ACAT

Consolidating your brokerage accounts isn’t the same thing as “putting all your eggs in one basket”.  Rather, it’s about keeping a wide variety of different investments with only a few trustworthy and helpful people so you can keep track of what you’re doing.  Putting all your eggs in one basket would be consolidating your whole…