Category Archives: News and Events

As early as 2009, Rating & Investment Information, Inc. (R & I) warned in its newsletter that ALJ Investment Advisors Co. , an asset management firm, had “unnaturally stable returns.” That is, despite what was happening in the market, ALJ … Continue reading →

Albert “Jack” Stanley in explaining to his sentencing judge what made him bribe Nigerian officials in order to win contracts for Halliburton’s subsidiary, KBR. Prosecutors had recommended 7 years; he was sentenced to 30 months.

The 800-page-report on the Atlanta Public School System that emerged in July 2011 explained what happened in that city with testing. Scores were good; kids couldn’t read. A culture of numbers (test scores mattered – learning did not), a culture … Continue reading →

New York Knicks coach, Mike D’Antoni on point guard, Jeremy Lin. Sure you can, coach — a strong work ethic, humility, the drive to keep going even when you get a rejection here and there, and a focus on something … Continue reading →

Those Goldman boys have the golden touch, as long as they can operate on all sides. Goldman helped take Kinder Morgan private in 2006. Goldman owns 19.1% of Kinder Morgan. Goldman handled Kinder Morgan’s IPO in 2011. Goldman represented Kinder … Continue reading →

Since 2005, Claremont McKenna, ranked #9 on U.S. News & World Report’s best liberal arts colleges in the country, has been lopping on a few points here and there to its entering students’ average SAT score before reporting those numbers … Continue reading →

Careful viewers might have noticed. During the last week of 2011, they were not watching “Good Morning America.” Nay, nay. They were watching “Good Morning Amer.” “Good Morning Amer” is a special program and would not be counted in the … Continue reading →

Roger Boisjoly was the engineer employed by Morton Thiokol, the company responsible for making the rocket boosters for the NASA Challenger launches. In January 1986, when NASA was faced with the decision of whether to postpone the launch of the … Continue reading →

Under internal foundation rules, the Susan G. Komen Foundation can no longer fund organizations that are under investigation. Such a rule is not unusual for charitable foundations. It just doesn’t advance causes or reputations much when you are throwing money … Continue reading →

The pattern is always the same. Bright young star, brilliant career, and then the edges begin to fray a bit. David Einhorn, the head of hedge fund, Greenlight Capital, got his first whiff of fraying last week. Mixed metaphors aside, … Continue reading →

Ethics tantrums are on the rise, and they are troublesome. Ethics tantrums are the fits folks throw when they have an ideological bone to pick with an individual, a business, an industry, a state. . . Examples? James Lileks describes … Continue reading →

Most ethics organizations and ethical lists try to name “the most ethical” (person) (company) etc. The Barometer is risk averse. Point to someone or some organization as the most ethical for a year and by the end of the next … Continue reading →

Is it any wonder we have federal budget difficulties? Take a gander at the money management skills at former Senator Jon Corzine’s MF Global firm and you witness activities that give a whole new meaning to the term “shell game.” … Continue reading →

The human mind has unlimited capacity for finding ways to get around difficult task. The human mind coupled with YouTube may be unstoppable as it works to avoid work. Students are so quick with devices, mechanisms, and modes for cheating … Continue reading →