Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Paper Mate Survey on Why We Take Pens From Our Co-Workers

78% — it was an accident 22% I did it on purpose. Good to know. Batten down those Bics, Mont Blancs, and gel clickers. They are on the prowl.

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Rationalizations Gone Wild

Since the Greg Smith letter of resignation from Goldman Sachs via the op-ed page of the New York Times, Wall Street has been on defense. Well, more accurately, Wall Street has been in full rationalization/justification/”it’s just what we do” mode. … Continue reading

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MF Global Executives Are Fighting to Get Their Bonuses for 2011

Nice work if you can get it. Drive your company into bankruptcy. Lose $1.6 billion in customer funds. Then demand your bonus for the year in which both of those events occurred. The demand for the bonuses has backfired. Now … Continue reading

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“That is every song I’ve ever written, “Badlands,” “Prove It All Night” . . . Listen up, youngsters, this is how successful theft is accomplished.”

Bruce Springsteen, after singing The Animals’ We Gotta Get Out of the Place during his keynote address to 3,000 budding musicians at Austin’s South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW). Good advice, although not necessarily what copyright lawyers for music producers … Continue reading

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“Am I shocked he tried to keep the money for himself? No. It’s human nature. I play by myself because I don’t trust people.”

Customer at the Magie Mart Food Store and Deli where Americo Lopes bought a lottery ticket while he was in a pool with five friends. One of the tickets purchased at the Magie Mart resulted in a win of $38.5 … Continue reading

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Mr. Smith Goes Public on Goldman and Yawns Ensue

He was a 33-year-old executive director (equivalent of a vice president at a bank) at Goldman Sachs in London, Of course Goldman has 12,000 executive directors among its 33,000 employees, so he is a worker bee. “He” is Greg Smith … Continue reading

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Another Fun Wall Street Guy: Cabbie vs. Bond Trading Exec at Morgan Stanley

You can’t make up this stuff. William Bryan Jennings (fun parents with a little name play on William Jennings Bryan, who, ironically for this story and namesake, was known as “The Great Commoner”), a managing director at Morgan Stanley in … Continue reading

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