“Nice . . . uh, Gig?!?” In 1998, I was gleaning the want ads and found a position for a Private Chef for a family…. I am presently one of 9 employees who work at their house. The place is huge and it is just the 2 of them. I cook dinner only 6 days...Read More
I Don’t Think It’s Got Anything to Do With “Learning” What is the most dismaying thing about “Some Bankers Never Learn,” Gretchen Morgenson’s article documenting mortgage bankers’ efforts to sabotage legislation (Dodd-Frank) aimed at cleaning up lending standards? It’s not the bankers disingenuously arguing that tighter standards will unfairly limit home ownership. It’s not the...Read More
Shooting the, uh . . . Messenger “Who elected the credit rating agencies?” is certainly a popular refrain on (some) Op-Ed pages lately. The sentiment is that the credit rating agencies are unfairly holding a dagger to the U.S. financial system — threatening to downgrade U.S. debt unless it demonstrably gets its house in order....Read More
Wall Street – Washington “Do-Si-Do” If the SEC prosecuted bank robbers . . . . –98% would get away with it, scott-free; –the ones it apprehended would sign a cease-and-desist letter “neither admitting nor denying guilt,” and pay a civil fine of 2¢ for every $1 they stole. –the bank robbers so chastened would wait six months (maybe) before ....Read More
Jay Leno “Headline?” If it were me writing the headline, I might have gone with one of these instead: “What’s in the City’s Budget?” “Parsing Minneapolis’ Budget” “Property Taxes and the City of Minneapolis Budget” Somehow, against a backdrop of government stalemates, shutdowns, etc., the actual headline (below) comes across as . . . politically tone-deaf...Read More
Risk Without Return, Pay for Non-Performance An out-of-town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York financial district. When the party arrived at the Battery, one of his guides indicated some handsome ships riding at anchor. He said, “Look, those are the bankers’ and brokers’ yachts.” “Where are the customers’ yachts?” asked the...Read More
