The Audit RSS
Tue, 26 Aug 2008
Bhopal Revisited
The liability issue is complicated, but the Times still should have done more.
By Posted at 08:30 AM Comments (11)
Last month, we criticized The New York Times for leaving a big hole in a page-one story on the aftermath of Bhopal—the worst industrial disaster in history—by skimming over the issue of whether Dow Chemical ought to be responsible for the cleanup. The unremediated site of the disaster, which killed 3,000 people in their sleep, has dangerously polluted... Read More
Mon, 11 Aug 2008
"I Got Screwed Up"
BusinessWeek's Gene Marcial says his sources have no conflicts—but they often do
By Posted at 10:59 AM Comments (2)
Gene Marcial, the longtime writer of BusinessWeek’s “Inside Wall Street” column, is a business-press institution.
For more than two decades, week after week, Marcial has provided readers with a weekly diet of stock tips, invariably “buy” recommendations, delivered in a chatty, pun-filled style (Tootsie Roll Industries, he wrote last month, was a “takeover temptation”).
...
Read More
Fri, 1 Aug 2008
Opening Bell: Are So/Are Not
...in a recession; yes, and there's worse to come; in the vomitorium; on the bright side etc.
By Posted at 08:14 AM
A lot of people express frustration with “are-we or aren’t-we” economic stories, like the one this morning by The New York Times’s Peter Goodman, who tries to figure out whether or not we’re in an official recession.
What’s in a name, anyway?
The American economy expanded more slowly than expected from April to June, the government reported Thursday,...Read More
Thu, 31 Jul 2008
Opening Bell: One Miillioon Doollllars
Do auction-rate probes rate? Disney's surprise; blaming mom, etc.
By Posted at 08:31 AM
I wonder sometimes about our priorities over here in the business space.
Authorities and their chroniclers in the business press are going after Wall Street like Eliot Ness for deceptive practices in the sale of auction-rate securities, sold as cash-like instruments but backed, we find, by subprime loans—like everything else.
New York and the federal government have probes going. Now... Read More
Wed, 30 Jul 2008
Opening Bell: Gloom, Doom
Euro consumers pessimistic; profits to fall further; trade talks collapse. Hmm.
By Posted at 08:25 AM
Business is cyclical and so is business news, but even so it’s amazing how universally bad the news is across industries and around the world.
Bloomberg has a couple of its useful (but little-noticed outside the Bloomberg box) stories that peak around the economic corner. Profits at U.S. companies may drop the most since 1998, Bloomberg says, led by... Read More
Tue, 29 Jul 2008
Opening Bell: Marked to Market
The WSJ shines on Merrill's stunner; British-Spanish air merger; disconnected from Alcatel, etc.
By Posted at 08:05 AM
Twenty-two cents. We now know the price of those collateralized debt obligations backed by loans foisted by Ameriquest and other boiler rooms on unsophisticated, financially shaky American homebuyers, packaged by Wall Street, rated AAA by Moody’s and its ilk, and sold to yield-hungry pension funds far and wide.
Wow. Twenty-cents on the dollar.
Merrill Lynch yesterday announced it agreed to... Read More
Mon, 28 Jul 2008
The Editor and the Architect
Time featured an editor's husband, but didn't tell readers
By Posted at 02:31 PM
A splashy new show at the Museum of Modern Art puts a spotlight on a three-year-old story in Time and the issue of covering one's relatives.
Last week, MOMA opened with much fanfare an exhibit of new designs in prefabricated homes that featuring five full-sized homes erected on a vacant lot adjoining the museum, including one by Jeremy Edmiston,... Read More
Opening Bell: Summer Break
A disaster-free Monday; KKR goes public; hope for newspapers
By Posted at 08:03 AM Comments (2)
A nice slow start to the week, financial disaster-wise, as no big investment bank announced a major writedown, no bad housing numbers were released and no emergency action was needed by Treasury and the Federal Reserve over the weekend.
An ‘80s star, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. returns to the spotlight as it strategically leaks that it will sell... Read More
Thu, 24 Jul 2008
Opening Bell: States 'Slammed'
As tax revenue shrivels; consumer spending drops; reading the recent oil-price slide; etc.
By Posted at 08:00 AM
The Wall Street Journal leads its front page with a report saying that states are getting “slammed” with budget problems as tax receipts dry up.
The poor economy, with the housing bust leading the way, is causing state budgets to come up $40 billion short and forcing them to cut spending. The paper says revenue from income, corporate,... Read More
Wed, 23 Jul 2008
Shorting Journalism Too
By Posted at 12:58 PM Comments (2)
A working member of the business press writes in response to last week’s post on the SEC’s war on short-selling:
I would make one additional point that I'm sure you're already aware of—namely that any move to curb short-selling will inevitably curb critical reporting on companies and markets as well.Read MoreAny financial journalist committed to delving beyond the corporate...
