Hello again.  This commentator’s voice was temporarily “semi-silenced” in early October by a minor stroke.  I was in New York City at a luncheon meeting when a tiny blood clot laid me low.  Happy to report I expect full recovery…b... [more]

Two months ago when the massive federal government’s bailout of large banks and financial service firms began, the largest flow of cash to a private company went to AIG (American International Group), the nation’s largest insuranc... [more]

September 6, 2008 – It’s a Saturday, slow news day for the most part, and the cable guys and gals are a-chattering!  Seems that when the Democrats left their huge love-in for their presidential candidates at Invesco Field in Denve... [more]

The Washington Post reports that “secret negotiations” that were going on between the US Forest Service and a publicly-traded company – Plum Creek Timber Company (NYSE: PCL) – would allow the company to use taxpayer-owned land to... [more]

Each day’s news flow across this commentator’s desk brings a series of news reports that point to the complicated world in which executives and boards make decisions – and which stakeholders and stockholders in some way react to! ... [more]

My last column in this space (July 16) began with sports writer and social commentator Jimmy Cannon’s famous [column] phrase, “Nobody Asked Me, But…”  So who was this guy, Jimmy Cannon, my younger colleagues asked?  And what were... [more]

NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT!  Does anyone recall the great sports writer and social commentator, Jimmy Cannon?  What a writer – when I was a teenager I devoured his newspaper columns here in New York, and they were in part an inspiration... [more]

Summer 1929 – the warning signs were there and the smart money (think of investor Joseph Kennedy, father of the brothers John, Bobby and Teddy and the legendary Bernard Baruch, advisor to presidents) were moving to cash and off to... [more]

The stuff of Legends:  The High Drama in the Canyons of Lower Manhattan seems to be coming to an end – the New York State Appellate Court ruled 3-to-1 this week that Richard Grasso, former high-wattage Chairman and CEO of the New... [more]

Banking is a very complex business, highly regulated, very interconnected – and absolutely vital to the well-being of our nation, and every one of us.  So when banking gets in trouble – look out!  And much of the commercial bankin... [more]