“Heart of Community?” Not Exactly When it comes to development vs. preservation . . . I’m strictly an agnostic (or maybe the term should be “ad hoc-ist,” given that I favor a case-by-case analysis). So, when developers want to replace a decrepit, generic-looking hardware store at 26th & Lyndale with something newer and more functional,...Read More
WSJ: ‘Financial Reform Hurts Farmers’ “Finance Overhaul Casts Long Shadow on the Plains” —Headline, The Wall Street Journal (7/14/2010) So, according to The Wall Street Journal, regulating derivatives — as the financial reform bill before Congress weakly proposes to do — will in fact hurt Midwestern farmers. That’s because it will cost them more to...Read More
“Told ‘Ya So” Department You read it here first — by four days, to be exact: No, it’s not good when already volatile markets lurch downward like they’ve done the last couple days. However, astute financial observers know that such turbulence is also accompanied by a “flight to safety” — in this case, U.S. debt....Read More
Career Advice From Ex-CEO of P&G “I want to do things I really enjoy with people I really like.” –Arthur G. Lafley, former P&G CEO; The Wall Street Journal (4/8/2010) Lafley, who just retired from P&G to join a private equity firm, gave the above explanation for his career move. Skip all the career counseling...Read More
Ending the “Newspaper Blackout” (for a day) Noted a curious, full-page ad in the bowels of the first section of today’s (print) Wall Street Journal: the online edition of the paper is available, free, courtesy of Acura. Typically, non-subscribers can only see headlines followed by brief annotations. (Note: per my earlier post, “Are Newspapers Stealing...Read More
Obscene Exec Pay: Exhibit A In a year when pay for chief executives overall fell, Ray R. Irani came out on top. The longtime head of Occidental Petroleum was awarded total compensation of $52.2 million, up from $49.9 million in 2008. The oil company’s directors believe in “excellent pay for excellent performance,” and Mr. Irani’s...Read More
