Search this site
Matching entries from Houston's Clear Thinkers
The increasing cost of public equity
Frank Quattrone, the former CSFB investment banker who has an interesting perspective, notes a dynamic of the now almost decade-long criminalization of business that I have been warning business owners and lawyers about for quite some time now --...
Considering the whole man
Over the years, I've written quite a bit (for example, here, here and here) on the questionable nature of the prosecutions of the executives who were involved in the AIG/General Re finite risk transaction that prompted Eliot Spitzer to...
Making sense of Madoff
Loren Steffy, the Houston Chronicle's business columnist, has been having a hard time lately. You will recall that Steffy was one of the leaders of the mainstream media lynch mob that embraced the myth of the Greed Narrative in...
The Prince of Regulation
Get a load of the letter that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the new Prince of Regulation, sent to about ten Wall Street firms the other day: We believe that the Board of Directors is most appropriately positioned...
Nice job, but what about that other case?
This Wall Street Journal editorial pats itself on the back justifiably for swimming against the mainstream media tide in opposing from the outset former New York Attorney General Eliot's Spitzer's popular but dubious litigation and propaganda campaign against former New...
The cost of Spitzerism
On Friday, February 11, 2005, shares of American International Group closed at $73.12 per share. Last Friday, after Eliot Spitzer and the meltdown in the subprime mortgage markets, AIG's shares closed at $39.34 per share. James Freeman of the Wall...
The Spitzer Lesson
The mainstream media and the blogosphere have been buzzing over the past 24 hours regarding the fall from grace of New York's governor and former Lord of Regulation, Eliot Spitzer. As noted in this previous post, there is an...
The power of myths
A common topic on this blog has been the power of anti-business myths within American society. Take Enron, for example. We all know how the myth played out. Enron, which was one of the largest publicly-owned companies in the U.S.,...
Why didn't the mainstream media expose Spitzer's abuses?
Regular readers of this blog know that former New York attorney general and current NY governor Eliot Spitzer's abuses of power have been a frequent topic for a long time, particularly Spitzer's dubious prosecution of former New York Stock Exchange...
Spitzer channels Dr. Phil
Has the mainstream media sentenced the Lord of Regulation to sensitivity training?...
A bully exposed
As noted in this post from a couple of weeks ago, more than a few folks are not losing any sleep over the fact that former crusading state attorney general and current New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is having trouble...
Spitzer is suffering?
So New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his family just don't know whether the rough and tumble nature of politics at the state level of New York is worth the severe emotional toll. I wonder what Theodore Sihpol, Hank Greenberg,...
The Bill Fuhs of the Conrad Black trial
In this post from last week, I noted the similarities between the federal government's vacuous case against Conrad Black and the notorious prosecution of the four former Merrill Lynch executives in the Enron-related case known as the Nigerian Barge case....
Judge Robinson hands Westar's Wittig another excessive sentence
On the heels of the 10th Circuit's scathing decision last month setting aside the convictions of former Westar Energy executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake, this Greg Burns/Chicago Tribune article reports that the legal tug-of-war between U.S. District Judge Julie...
More on the new Prohibition
On the heels of this post from last week, the Justice Department is now turning on Wall Street in connection with the federal government's jihad on internet gambling. We can now rest easier that the scoundrels who have been helped...
Eliot Spitzer, the bully
Given this record of criminalizing business interests for political gain, it's not surprising that New York's next governor was stacking the deck to obtain convictions in a number of his prosecutions. This David Hechler/Law.com article reports the ugly news: Like...
Spitzer: Populist Warrior or Reckless Business Foe?
In this New York Sunday Times article, Mike McIntire explores the above question regarding the true nature of future New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer. I could have saved McIntire a lot of time. Seriously. A lot of time. Spitzer and...
Institutionalized scapegoating
Two news items at the end of this week reflect the festering cauldron of resentment toward business in American society that government is manipulating to advance its troubling regulation-through-criminalization policy. First, there was the news that New York's Attorney General...
A few good reads
The following are several reading recommendations for a busy Wednesday: In this TCS Daily article, Hoover Institute fellow David R. Henderson examines the media coverage of the criminal trials of Frank Quattrone and concludes that it left much to be...
The real issue in the Grasso case
Eliot Spitzer's long-running propaganda campaign and lawsuit against former New York Stock Exchange chairman and CEO Richard Grasso has been a frequent topic on this blog, so I couldn't help but notice this NY Post article (hat tip to Peter...
An Enronesque public scam
This NY Times article reveals a scam that New York AG ("attorney general" or "aspiring governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer won't touch with a ten-foot pole: Every year since 1999, New York City has reported that it has all...
New York's regulation premium
This Landon Thomas/NY Sunday Times article is the definitive report to date on the status of New York aspiring governor Eliot Spitzer's lawsuit against former New York Stock Exchange chairman and CEO Richard Grasso (prior posts here) over Grasso's $140...
The Lord of Regulation flunks geography
According to this NY Times article, Eliot Spitzer needs to bone up a bit on his western New York geography....
New York's dockside bully
In the movie A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More had the following exchange with King Henry VIII's henchman, Thomas Cromwell, when Cromwell threatened Sir Thomas for relying on his common law right to remain silent regarding the reasons...
The Great Waste
As noted earlier here, I was able to attend the Lay-Skilling trial for several hours on a couple of afternoons this past week. As I watched Jeff Skilling defend himself against criminal charges amidst the overwhelming societal bias that exists...
No harm?
One of New York AG Eliot Spitzer's misguided regulation-through-litigation forays has been his lawsuit barrage against various radio station owners over payola -- i.e., the practice of radio stations owners accepting money from promoters to pay certain types music over...
Spitzer's $18 million footnote theory
In this Aaron Lucchetti piece($), the Wall Street Journal continues its fine coverage (see Peter Lattman posts here, here and here) of the Lord of Regulation's ongoing lawsuit against Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone and former New York Stock Exchange...
Eliot Spitzer's next investigation?
While the Lord of Regulation engages in one of his more dubious forms of business regulation, this NY Times article reports on a study that could really get people's attention as the NCAA Basketball Tournament cranks up next week: College...
Criminalizing the business reporters
The increasing criminalization of business took an interesting turn earlier this week when the Securities and Exchange Commission's San Francisco office subpoenaed email and other documents from several journalists, including one who works at Dow Jones Newswires, another at MarketWatch.com,...
"You're fired, but you better keep selling our products"
Let's get this straight. Last year, American International Group's board effectively canned its chairman and CEO, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg -- the man responsible for building the company into an insurance industry behemoth over the past generation -- in order to...
What? You mean there is discovery in a civil lawsuit?
This Wall Street Journal ($) article reports that New York AG ("attorney general" or "aspiring governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer is shocked, yes, shocked that he and his office may be subjected to discovery in the civil lawsuits that...
Boston Scientific won't take no for an answer
Gosh, just a little over two months ago, Johnson & Johnson was threatening to walk on its proposed $25.4 billion ($76 per share) merger with Guidant. J&J eventually agreed to stay in the deal after Guidant agreed that J&J could...
Winding up an Enronesque experience
This Wall Street Journal ($) article on Friday (USA Today article here) reports that government authorities led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer are finalizing a settlement with American International Group under which the company would settle civil business...
The Lord of Regulation is unmasked as a dockside bully
Regular readers of this blog are well-acquainted with my position that New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer's tactics toward unpopular businesspeople are a grave abuse of justice and the rule of law, and this Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed is...
Where is the Lord of Regulation when you really need him?
Ted Frank asks that salient question in regard to the New York City transit workers strike. Or does such an action not meet Spitzer's lofty standards? Inquiring minds want to know. Update: On second thought, maybe Spitzer isn't needed, after...
Spitzer: "But I got him with the strawberries . . ."
Does anyone else get the sense that NY attorney general Eliot Spitzer is becoming Captain Queeg-like in his pursuit of former American International Group CEO, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg? The latest revelation in the Lord of Regulation's relentless campaign against the...
What's the big deal with the Lord of Regulation?
Matthew T. Bodie is a Hofstra law professor who is guest blogging over at the Conglomerate blog and, in this post, wonders why fellow law professors such as Stephen Bainbridge and Larry Ribstein are critical of New York attorney general...
Bainbridge disassembles Nocera on SOX
The New York Times' Joseph Nocera has written a couple of real doozy op-eds recently, one extolling the "lofty standards" of New York AG Eliot Spitzer and another one defending the virtues of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the latter of which...
The myth of the government cure-all
Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the muddled thinking that is passed off as keen economic insight in much of the mainstream media. My thoughts along these lines started last week with this David Ignatius/Washington Post op-ed in...
Cashing in on criminalizing business
Eliot Spitzer makes no bones about using his position as New York attorney general to promote his campaign for governor, but he certainly isn't the only lawyer cashing in on the trend of criminalizing business to further one's career. This...
Unintended consequences of indulging the Lord of Regulation
I wonder how many American International Group, Inc. shareholders are glad that the Lord of Regulation ridded the company of its supposedly fraud-indulging former CEO, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg? This Wall Street Journal ($) article reports on some interesting new competition...
Joseph Nocera on the Grasso lawsuit
You have to hand it to New York Times business columnist Joseph Nocera -- he has certainly come up with a reason that most folks would not have thought of for why New York Aspiring Governor Eliot Spitzer should drop...
Spitzer backs off criminal charges against Hank Greenberg
On my way out the door to College Station, I note that the Lord of Regulation simply cannot stay out of the news. After publicly flogging former American International Group, Inc. CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg for months (note earlier posts...
Spitzer spins his payola investigation
Apparently disturbed with the adverse publicity earlier this week emanating from the decision not to pursue this case, New York's Aspiring Governor fought back yesterday by announcing that he is continuing to protect all of us from that sordid business...
Spitzer drops another misguided prosecution
Following the decision to drop his dubious prosecution (or was that persecution) of Theodore Siphol in regard to alleged improper trading of mutual funds (here, here, here and here), New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer dropped similar fraud and larceny...
Is the Lord of Regulation also the Lord of Compensation?
Following on the theme from this earlier post, this Kimberly Strassel/Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed examines the deposition testimony that is emanating from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's lawsuit to recover alleged overcompensation paid by the New York Stock...
J&J and Guidant settle
Johnson & Johnson and Guidant Corp. announced a revised acquisition deal this morning that values Guidant at $21.5 billion, about $4 billion lower than the original price, and settles the companies' lawsuit over J&J's decision to walk away from the...
Life after Hank
Couldn't help but notice that American International Group Inc. announced yesterday that its third-quarter net income fell 36% to $1.72 billion (65 cents a share) as a result of recent large catastrophe losses. This comes on the heels of the...
Guidant: "Spitzer is no stinking MAE"
Undeterred by the Lord of Regulation's entry into the dispute, troubled medical-device maker Guidant Corp. filed a lawsuit yesterday in New York City against disenchanted merger partner, Johnson & Johnson. Guidant is attempting to persuade the court to overrule J&J's...
Is the Lord of Regulation angling for J&J's support?
Let's see now. Johnson & Johnson has contracted to buy medical-device maker Guidant Corporation in a deal worth nearly $24 billion. However, J&J included in the deal some fairly sophisticated provisions that allow it to walk away in the event...
Criminalizing everything
George Melloan, the deputy editor, international, of The Wall Street Journal, has recently written two columns (here and here) in which he has addressed a common topic on this blog -- i.e., the increasing criminalization in American society of ordinary...
The Lord of Regulation stumbles
Well, Eliot Spitzer has had better days at the office than yesterday. First, Mr. Spitzer finally chose not to retry (persecute ?) former Bank of America Corp. broker Theodore Sihpol III, who was acquitted on 29 of 34 criminal charges...
More on criminalizing risk-taking
Robert Weisberg is Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law and director of the Criminal Justice Center at Stanford University, where he teaches a course on white collar crime with David Mills, who is a senior lecturer there. In this...
Langone unmasks the Lord of Regulation
You remember Kenneth Langone, don't you? Mr. Langone is the co-founder of Home Depot who chaired the New York Stock Exchange compensation committee that approved Richard Grasso's $140 million pay package. As a result, he is a defendant along with...
Spitzer goes after former Marsh execs
Even news relating to natural disasters cannot push the Lord of Regulation out of the public eye for long. In a widely-anticipated move, Mr. Spitzer's office indicted eight former Marsh Inc. insurance brokers and executives yesterday on criminal-fraud charges in...
Taking on a bully
Showing admirable disdain for the currently popular approach of bowing to governmental demagouges, money manager J. & W. Seligman & Co. fired off a civil lawsuit against New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer seeking to enjoin his office from pursuing...
The David Boies Copy Club
Let's see if we can keep this all straight. David Boies -- who champions himself as an advocate of honest corporate governance -- was Tyco's outside counsel in connection with investigating corporate fraud by Tyco management, and one of the...
George Melloan gets it
A couple of months ago, this post noted Wall Street Journal columnist George Melloan's op-ed on the Supreme Court's Andersen decision in which he harshly criticized the government's abuse of the rule of law to pursue currently unpopular businesspeople. Today,...
The Greenberg White Paper
This post from awhile back noted that former AIG chairman and Spitzer target Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and his legal team are preparing a "white paper" defending Mr. Spitzer's charges of bad accounting at AIG. Here are the previous posts on...
More Spitzer mischief
When one door for a misguided investigation closes for Aspiring Governor Eliot Spitzer, he just opens another one. Although misdirected, no one can say that Mr. Spitzer is not persistent. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein of the Southern...
Spitzer fights payola with a little payola
My two teenage daughters and their friends just laugh at me whenever I observe to them that most of the noise that they listen to on the radio is so bad that the only way the "music" could ever make...
More on the NYSE's failed corporate governance
In what cannot be construed as an endorsment of the oversight abilities of some of the most prominent business executives in the country, this Wall Street Journal ($) article reports that nine of the 12 New York Stock Exchange directors...
The Lord of Regulation's turf wars
As noted in earlier posts here and here, New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer does not take kindly to other governmental agencies infringing on his various crusades to demonize wealthy business interests in his seemingly unending quest to promote his...
Hank fights back
With the criminal investigation of American Insurance Group, Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway unit General Re heating up earlier this week, former AIG chairman and CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg made his first detailed public comments regarding the propaganda campaign that New...
Spitzer Watch
The blogosphere has finally responded to New York AG ("attorney general" or "aspiring governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer's campaign of criminalizing business, which recently crossed the line from merely misguided to petty and vindictive. Check out Spitzer Watch, which...
Is the Lord of Regulation unhinged?
Showing an appalling lack of prosecutorial discretion that has become commonplace in this post-Enron era of criminalizing business, prosecutors from the office of New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer announced Thursday that they will re-prosecute beginning August 22nd the four...
DOJ turns up the pressure on Milberg Weiss
Following on this post from over the weekend regarding the developments in the ongoing criminal investigation of lawyers in two firms who used to practice together in the well-known plaintiffs class action law firm formerly known as Milberg Weiss Bershad...
Does Hank Greenberg read Clear Thinkers?
This post from last week made the following comment about the "finite risk" insurance transaction that is at the center of Eliot Spitzer's investigation of AIG and Berkshire Hathaway unit General Re, and AIG's former chairman and CEO, Maurice "Hank"...
While Theodore Sihpol goes home, William Fuhs goes to jail
Continuing relentlessly to avoid addressing the real issue, this NY Times article speculates that the problem with Eliot Spitzer's recent unsuccessful prosecution of Theodore C. Sihpol, III was not that he charged Mr. Sihpol in the first place, but that...
Criminalizing risk taking
Two columns in today's Wall Street Journal address one of the too little-discussed effects of this post-Enron era's criminalization of business -- that is, the chilling of beneficial risk-taking. In his weekly WSJ ($) column, Alan Murray examines the motives...
The increasing criminalization of business
This Wall Street Journal ($) article examines the increasing criminalization of business in the post-Enron era, which has been a frequent topic on this blog. Although the article does a reasonably good job of summarizing the troubling trend, it comes...
The Lord does not enjoy competition in the regulation market
Following on the heels of this earlier post, this NY Times article reports on the lawsuits that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Clearing House Association filed on Thursday in Manhatten U.S. District Court to enjoin...
More on the Sihpol acquittal
The Sihpol acquittal from last week has generated much needed criticism of the demagogic ways of New York AG Eliot Spitzer, including this Wall Street Journal ($) editorial the day after the acquittal. While the WSJ editorial rightly criticizes Mr....
Is the NY Times really reading this blog?
I speculated facetiously awhile back that some NY Times editors are reading this blog. Now, I'm really starting to wonder. First, over the weekend, the NY Times ran this less than flattering article on the Lord of Regulation's recent defeat...
Is the bloom off the Spitzer rose?
Predicting the lifespan of popularity for a demagogue is a risky business, but recent mainstream media pieces certainly indicate that New York AG ("Attorney General" or "Aspiring Governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer's fifteen minutes of fame as the nation's...
The Lord of Regulation takes one on the chin
A New York state court jury acquitted former Bank of America Corp. broker Theodore C. Sihpol today on 29 criminal counts relating to alleged improper trading of mutual-fund shares. The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal on four additional...
The Lord of Regulation comments on the Anderson decision
In an interview yesterday with Wall Street Journal columnist Alan Murray, New York AG ("Attorney General" or "Aspiring Governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer observed that he agreed with the recent Supreme Court decision in Arthur Andersen LLP v. United...
George Melloan on the Andersen decision
George Melloan is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal, where he is responsible for the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Asian Wall Street Journal and writing a weekly column called Global View. Mr. Melloan...
The Lord sues AIG and Greenberg
New York AG ("Attorney General" or "Aspiring Governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Insurance Department filed a civil lawsuit today against American International Group, Inc and its two former top executives -- former CEO Maurice...
Competition in regulation markets
As noted in this earlier post, the Lord of Regulation latest political grandstanding strategy has been to launch an investigation into the sub-prime lending industry, which provides the valuable service of lending money for home loans at higher interest rates...
The Chronicle makes a point about DeLay that it failed to make about Enron
A good, old-fashioned snit between Texas political opponents gave the Houston Chronicle an opportunity this week to make a good point about the rule of law and the integrity of governmental investigations. But in so doing, the Chronicle highlighted its...
The Day of the Hedgies
After last week's entertaining analyst conference call for Blockbuster, Inc., you have probably heard by now that Carl Icahn won shareholder approval this week for planting himself and two friendly directors on the Blockbuster board. Mr. Icahn's moves prompted an...
The Lord of Regulation's latest abuse of power
Jay Bryant writes this Tech Station Central piece in which he criticizes New York Aspiring Governor Eliot Spitzer's latest abuse of power -- i.e., his investigation of some of the nation's biggest banks to determine whether they had discriminated against...
It continues to get worse for AIG
Following on this progression of damaging public disclosures over the past several months, American International Group Inc. announced yesterday, as this NY Times article reports, that the company has decided to delay for a third time the publication of its...
AIG is sounding more like Enron all the time
As noted earlier here and here, there are several characteristics of the structure of American International Group Inc. that are similar to the structure of Enron Corp. In particular, both companies' business is largely dependent on its customers' trust and,...
Are you ready to rumble, Mr. Spitzer?
This Washington Post article reports on the trial that is cranking up this week in New York City as New York AG ("Attorney General" or "Aspiring Governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer's prepares to prosecute former Bank of America securities...
The Lord of Regulation's abuse of power
In this Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed, Chief Executive magazine editor William J. Holstein addresses a common theme of this blog -- namely, the dubious motives and methods behind New York AG ("Attorney General" or "Aspiring Governor," take your pick)...
For goodness sakes, get on with it
Don't miss this Wall Street Journal ($) editorial today, which addresses the same issue that many of these earlier posts address in regard to the Lord of Regulation's ongoing public flogging of American International Group, Inc. and its former chairman...
The Lord of Regulation chats with the Oracle of Omaha
Let's review the landscape of regulating business for a moment. Various former executives of disgraced and insolvent Enron Corp. are under indictment for using structured finance transactions that independent lawyers and accountants approved to mislead investors regarding Enron's true financial...
You don't say?
Eliot Spitzer, the New York AG (i.e., "Aspiring Governor") made the Sunday talk show circuit yesterday in regard to his campaign against corporate wrongdoing generally and his ongoing investigation of transactions between AIG and a unit of Berkshire Hathaway (earlier...
Did Buffett rat out AIG?
In an extraordinary development in the unfolding criminal investigation of transactions between American International General, Inc. and Berkshire-Hathaway, Inc., this NY Times article reports that Berkshire chairman Warren Buffett -- in an effort to win leniency for Berkshire in an...
Enron-AIG-Berkshire: Regulating earnings management
Don't miss Wall Street Journal ($) columnist Holman Jenkins' Business World piece today. In analyzing the Lord of Regulation's assault on American International Group, Inc. and its long history of being rewarded by the market for its adroit management of...
The Lord of Regulation moves the market
In an effort to calm the harried investors in his latest target, American International Group Inc., New York AG ("Aspiring Governor") the reigning Lord of Regulation Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday that his office expects to reach a civil settlement with...
Is PriceWaterhouseCoopers next?
American International Group Inc.'s public admission this week that it engaged in improper accounting practices has placed AIG's auditor -- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP -- squarely in the sights of government regulators and plaintiffs' lawyers. Here are the earlier posts on the...
The Lord of Regulation goes after the Oracle of Omaha
Almost on cue, this Wall Street Journal article($) is reporting that Warren Buffett, the famed investor who is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will be questioned by regulators next month over his involvement in the transaction between Berkshire's...
The headhunter business of the Lord of Regulation
This Corporate Counsel article reports on the cottage industry in placement services that New York AG ("Aspiring Governor") Eliot Spitzer has developed in regard to his multiple investigations of big insurance companies. Seems as though a number of those companies...
The Lord of Regulation demands even more from AIG
In what is becoming a typical development in such sagas, this NY Times article reports that the board of financial services giant American International Group Inc. is considering a move to restate its financial statments as a result of suspected...
Meanwhile, over at AIG and Berkshire . . .
And while the business and legal worlds focus on the implications of the Ebbers conviction, this NY Times article reports on the uneasiness at Berkshire Hathaway as New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer carves another notch in his anti-business...
CEO news
After a couple of years of shareholder unrest over the direction of the Walt Disney Co., the company's board yesterday named veteran Disney insider Robert Iger to replace Michael Eisner as the company's CEO. Mr. Iger was Mr. Eisner's choice...
Feds bear down on Berkshire
On the heels of Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that was silent on such matters, federal and state investigators are focusing on whether a four year old transaction between Berkshire Hathaway's General Reinsurance Corp. and American International...
Spitzer takes dead aim at AIG
New York AG (meaning either "attorney general" or "aspiring governor") Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission issued subpoenas yesterday to American International Group Inc. in connection with investigations into AIG's earnings management techniques relating to certain types of...
The NYSE model of failed corporate governance
The MSM is atwitter today with news about the release of a previously confidential report that details former New York Stock Exchange CEO Richard Grasso's compensation and perks as head of the NYSE and paints the Big Board's directors as...
Have we got a deal for you
The Wall Street Journal's ($) Holman Jenkins, Jr. notes in his Business World column today on the big mergers announced over the past week (P&G-Gillette, SBC-AT&T, and MetLife-Travelers) that management is coming up with ever more creative pitches to use...
Only in New York
In a rare moment of candid introspection, the NY Times concedes that only New York could come up with a political race where Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the late senator, would run for state attorney general (to...
Warren Buffett, meet Eliot Spitzer
General Re Corp., the wholly-owned insurance subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has been receiving some interesting mail lately. Berkshire issued a press release on last week (see Form 8-K announcement here) disclosing that the insurer had received subpoenas...
Sports notes on UH bball, Jackie Sherrill, golf, Mack Brown, Gene Conley and Friday Night Lights, Houston style
The Houston Cougars men's basketball team had a nice win over LSU last night, as new coach Tom Penders continues to make my post on his hiring look bad. Meanwhile, former Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, and Mississippi State head football coach...
Fifth Circuit upholds vague Commodity Exchange Act reporting law
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued this decision on Friday in the case of former Dynegy trader Michelle Valencia that upholds a controversial law that the Justice Department has used to charge a group of Houston...
Is the worm turning on Bush Administration policies toward business?
In his Wall Street Journal ($) Political Capital column today, Alan Murray reports that certain business interests that supported President Bush's re-election are conducting a quiet campaign to persuade the White House to dump Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, William...
Global Crossing case drawing to a close
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to fine at least three former executives of Global Crossing Ltd., the fiber-optic company that went bust in the business downtown earlier this decade. The fine on the executives -- including the company's...
"AG" means "Aspiring Governor"
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer - for whom New York Governor George Pataki's press secretary once noted that "AG" stood for "Aspiring Governor" - confirmed today what everyone who has not lived the past few years on a deserted...
A new form of business regulation
Don't miss George Mason University law and economics whiz Henry G. Manne's brilliant Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed from yesterday in which he criticizes Eliot Spitzer's latest assault on business. Dean Manne cuts through the fog of Spitzer's public relations...
Spitzer is at it again
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer cranked up his questionable litigation propaganda machine again yesterday and sued the world's largest insurance broker -- Marsh & McLennan Cos. -- on the grounds that it cheated its corporate customers by rigging bids...
AIM and Invesco settle favored investor trading charges
Affiliated mutual-fund companies Invesco Funds Group Inc. and Houston-based AIM Investments reached a tentative $450 million settlement with federal and state regulators of allegations that they allowed favored investors to trade rapidly in their funds at the expense of long-term...
Mr. Spitzer: Get ready to rumble!
In this refreshing Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed, Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, who chaired the New York Stock Exchange compensation committee that approved Richard Grasso's $140 million pay package, throws down the gauntlet regarding New York Attorney General Eliot...
Spitzer v. Grasso
This Holman Jenkins, Jr. WSJ ($) Business World column examines New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer's latest propoganda campaign . er, I mean, lawsuit in which he seeks to recover a substantial portion of the rather large $200 million in...
Professor Ribstein on questionable white collar prosecutions
Professor Ribstein at Ideablog is providing consistently insightful observations regarding the troubling trend of prosecutors to take on currently popular but ethically questionable criminal cases against corporate executives. Today, Professor Ribstein explores the agency costs of such prosecutions from the...
Warren Buffet's annual letter to Berkshire investors
Tomorrow at around 10 a.m., Warren Buffett will publish his anxiously awaited annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway investors. This Wall Street Journal ($) article provides interesting background into the development of this annual event that literally can move markets, comments...
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching 'Spitzer'. [What is this?]
