The Ben & Jerry of Europe At least according to urban legend, the friendship of Ben and Jerry (yes, the ice cream Ben and Jerry) dates backs to an elementary school phy ed class they shared. In announcing that day’s activity — the one mile run — the gym teacher supposedly threatened, ” . . ....Read More
The 5% Solution In keeping with my Mad magazine motif this week . . . remember the Spy vs. Spy comic strip they used to run? That came to mind reading a Wall Street Journal article almost two months ago that presaged the latest upward spike in gold prices (now over $1,500 an ounce). See if you can tell who’s...Read More
Reader Russian Roulette Ever since I let my Wall Street Journal subscription lapse years ago, I have been greeted at the top of each (online) article with a bright notice saying, “To Continue Reading, Subscribe Now.” Make that almost every article. To whet readers’ appetite, The Journal occasionally tosses in an unabridged article that’s otherwise only available to...Read More
“Yeah, That’ll Work” Department Quickly perusing an unread, post-Christmas Wall Street Journal (yeah, I’m behind), I came across an article discussing a fight between Dynasty Financial Partners and Bank of America over client information that the former took from the latter. In particular, this excerpt caught my eye: A New York state judge granted a temporary restraining order...Read More
WSJ/Real Trends Top 100 Agents Today’s Wall Street Journal is running a list that purports to rank the nation’s top 100 Realtors. Actually, it has four lists — hence the (slightly confusing) title, “Top 400 Sales Professionals.” The four categories are: 1. Top 100 Agents by transaction sides (representing either a Buyer or Seller)2. Top...Read More
Combustible Mix The severity of this economic downturn is rooted in the household leverage crisis, which in turn is closely related to the housing market. If the housing market continues to deteriorate, then further de-leveraging of the household sector will likely keep a lid on any rebound in consumption. In other words, the future of...Read More
