Category Archives: News and Events

Describes new books, articles, and upcoming speeches.

Even the Dollar Stores Suffer From Theft

We have known the answer to, “Would you sell your soul for a Louis Vuitton bag?” for some time.  Ongoing raids of luxury stores by looters seizing the luxury brands is not just the sale of a soul.  It’s a … Continue reading

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Target’s Profits Are Down $500 Million So Far This Year

The reason? “Violent incidents” resulting in stolen property. It’s gang looting, gang! Then the thieves post themselves on TikTok in the middle of the looting.  “A culture of impunity drives the market for retail theft.”  Indulging criminals is no way … Continue reading

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JPMorgan Staff Members Knew About Epstein

In 2006, a member of JPMorgan Chases’ bank’s risk department flagged the late Jeffrey Epstein’s cash withdrawals (up to $750,000 per year) two years before Mr. Epstein entered a guilty plea to solicitation of prostitution with a minor. Still, the … Continue reading

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Ticket Brokers, Ticket Buyers, and Misguided Regulation

Marianne M. Jennings and Stephen K. Happel, emeritus professors ,W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University Another Taylor Swift concert. Then comes weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth with accompanying demands that someone in any branch of government address … Continue reading

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The Compton California Ransacking

A mob took over a gas station food mart in Compton, California at 2:30 AM on Sunday, April 16. They took thousands in beer, condoms, and cigarettes.  Not exactly the same as Valjean stealing bread. Meanwhile, across the country in … Continue reading

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Meta vs. Reality: Poor Babies Have No Breakfast Cereal or Sufficient Snacks

Meta (nee Facebook) employees (who are left) are griping.  No more free laundry service.  Free dinner has been pushed way back on the clock to prevent employees from taking food home. Those “micro kitchens” at their headquarters do not have … Continue reading

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Some Investment Advice: If a Sports Arena Is Named After a Company — Do What the Monty Python Boys Say, “Run Away! Run Away!”

The Barometer noted that the Miami Heat had a fairly large branding error with their home base, i.e., the FTX Arena.  Then the mental recollection wheels began to turn.  Adelphia graced the home of the Tennessee Titans before the founder … Continue reading

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Bad News: When Your Ethics and Compliance Officer Is Charged with Helping Your Customers Evade the Law

For all the crypto currency fans out there who have been saying, “What could possibly go wrong?” in a financial industry no one can explain, and, as if FTX was not enough, we have this: Samuel Lin, the compliance chief … Continue reading

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Banks Are, Generally, Well, Trouble

We are still cleaning up bank messes from 7 years ago as we find ourselves in yet another.  It was 2016 when the news hit that all the new accounts Wells Fargo was boasting about were not real.  By the … Continue reading

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Rating Service: Gaming the System

The Barometer has noted the presence of a nearly instantaneous quality-of-service survey in her inbox seconds after Clear has “cleared” her through TSA airport security.  Except in Atlanta.  The Atlanta airport is a mess.  The Clear lines there serpentine in … Continue reading

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Samuel Bankman-Fried vs. Dr. Jerry Robinson

When the story of the multibillion dollar collapse of FTX broke, the Barometer thought Dr. Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz), orthodontist office mate of Dr. Bob Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show had succumbed to financial temptations. You decide: Dr. Jerry Robinson … Continue reading

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Madison Square Garden Banishes Plaintiff Lawyers

MSG Entertainment, which owns and operates Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, other venues, and restaurants, took a bold step.  It sent a letter to 90 law firms that are in litigation with MSG stating, “Neither you, nor any … Continue reading

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When the Justice Department Jumped the Shark

In October 2021 there was the memo that Attorney General Merrick Garland sent out to all offices about the need to crack down on those violent parents at school-board meetings. He could offer no examples or prior investigations before Congress … Continue reading

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Wells Fargo VP Terminated for Urinating on a 72-year-old Woman (Allegedly)

Shankar Mishra, 34, until recently a VP at Wells Fargo, was on a flight from New York to Delhi, India. Mr. Mishra had been drinking on the flight and for some reason began urinating on a fellow passenger.  According to … Continue reading

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