Category Archives: News and Events

In an interview with The Financial Times, Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE and the father of shareholder value, said, “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.  Shareholder value is a result, not … Continue reading →

Daniel L. Bibb, a former assistant district attorney in New York City, told a newspaper last year that he deliberately lost a rehearing on the evidence in the murder convictions of two men for killing a bouncer outside a New … Continue reading →

So said Dr. Richard Grimm, a Minnesota researcher who accepted $798,000 or so from drug companies between 1997 and 2005.  No, Dr. Grimm, no one assumes any such thing.  It’s the disclosure that matters.  Lewis Morris, the general counsel for … Continue reading →

What a day the Barometer is having!  Ethical leadership from the mouths of babes.  They look as if they are 12, those first-year Harvard medical students on the cover of the Business Section of the March 3, 2009 New York … Continue reading →

The Barometer doesn’t see it too often.  The Barometer hopes for it.  The Barometer cajoles others to just do it.  “It” is ethical leadership.  Folks pretty much understand when they have crossed an ethical line.  The courage to do the … Continue reading →

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk is the third nominee in the queue for Commerce Secretary.  New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew his name because of an ongoing investigation into contracts the state awarded to various companies that donated funds to … Continue reading →

Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group, was arrested for obstruction of the SEC inquiry into Stanford, which appears to have been yet another Ponzi scheme ( a mere $8 billion).  Ms. Holt is 35 years old and … Continue reading →

Hedge-fund managers Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh were arrested this week.  The pony-collecting, teddy-bear treasuring scalliwags stand accused of pilfering $553 million from their investment clients.  Those clients included Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Iowa Public Employees and … Continue reading →

No good deed goes unpunished.  Bail someone out of a bad decision or conduct, and the odds are that you won’t net gratitude and reform but will earn the right to negotiate another bail-out.  The Comptroller of the Currency has some proof of moral hazard … Continue reading →

Horse traders checked to see if their buys were “long in the tooth.”  That way the wheelers and dealers knew how old those trotters were before they bought.  There was no passing off an old mare for a young ‘un … Continue reading →

There were 19,000 people who became ill and 8 who died from the processed peanuts of Peanut Corporation of America, now in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Such are the lessons of warnings unheeded.  Such are the consequences of placing “$$$$” on … Continue reading →

The flags are always there, hindsight being what it is.  But, perhaps we could document these flags after the crash and use them proactively.  Harry Markopolos warned us about Madoff being a fraud in a detailed November 2005 white paper.  … Continue reading →

Wells Fargo called off an employee conference scheduled to convene in Las Vegas.  President Obama scolded executives, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas . . . on the taxpayers’ dime.”  The outrage from Oscar Goldman, Hizzoner of the rose of the … Continue reading →