Daily Archives: October 16, 2005

Whew!

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BerkmanandLidge.jpgOnce again, the Stros are within a game of the first World Series in franchise history.
I take back everything I said about Wily Taveras, who in a reserve role scored the winning run and made a clutch catch on Tal’s Hill to close out the top of the eighth.
Adam Everett is simply the smoothest shortstop ever to wear a Stros uniform, and Eric Bruntlett can flat out trigger a double-play.
And Brandon Backe — while a below-average National League starting pitcher — has a far above-average heart.
By the way, the Stros have now won three out of four games in the NLCS by scoring a total of 13 runs. After scoring five runs in the first five innings of the NLCS, the Cardinals have scored a total of five runs over the past 30 innings.

Southwest, you’re welcome here

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southwest_airlines.gifThis NY Sunday Times article provides a good overview of the challenges that Southwest Airlines faces in the rough and tumble airline business as its fuel hedging strategy (noted in earlier posts here and here) fades and it faces the prospect of dealing with the higher fuel prices that its less-liquid competition has been dealing with over the past year and a half.
The analysis of Southwest’s business prospects is interesting, but even more so is the blurb at the end of the article that Dallas, Southwest’s home base, is not being particularly supportive in Southwest’s effort to have Congress repeal the Wright Amendment (earlier posts here, here and here), which restricts Southwest’s routes in and out of its Dallas Love Field hub. The article notes that, if the Wright Amendment is not repealed, it makes sense for Southwest to look for a new corporate home where their business is growing as opposed to the restricted nature of its current Dallas operation.
Mayor White, get on this one — Southwest Airlines in Houston is a natural fit.

Help me understand this

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merrill-lynch.gifDaniel L. Gordon, Merrill Lynch’s former chief energy trader, was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison after admitting that he had stolen $43 million from the brokerage firm. Although the prosecution was only requesting a couple of years in the pokey, the judge decided that the longer sentence was called for in light of the nature and size of the theft.
I’m all right with that. But how on earth does one reconcile that sentence with the comparable sentences handed down to these two (here and here) former Merrill Lynch executives, neither of whom profited a lick from the transaction that is the basis of their alleged crime?
And when you get done trying to figure that one out, try reconciling Mr. Gordon’s three year sentence with the 24 year sentence that is being endured by Jamie Olis, who also did not receive a dime from the transaction that is the basis of his alleged crime.
Let’s see. Embezzle $43 million and, if you get caught, cop a plea and serve 3 1/2 years. Or, do your job, don’t embezzle a cent, defend your innocence against criminal charges even when your employer serves you up as a sacrificial lamb so that the employer can avoid criminal charges, and then endure either as long, or much longer, a sentence if you are convicted.
H’mm. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me. Something is seriously out of whack here.