The Longest Year

December 31, 2009

The year that ends tonight has been the longest of my life. For me — and for a lot of other people — it began on Sept. 15, 2008. That was the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, Merrill Lynch and American International Group teetered, and the world looked into an economic abyss. Everything we thought we knew about our financial lives was called into question, from how to determine the value …

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Look, Mom — I’m A Gay Republican Now

December 30, 2009

If being a Democrat can run in families, it runs in mine. My parents were one generation removed from Ellis Island and the Lower East Side. Tammany Hall’s ward heelers helped my grandparents become Americans by telling them how to vote. My father enlisted in the Navy at 16, got married at 20, and joined a lodge (the Knights of Pythias) and a union, both of which were virtual Republican-free …

Liberation On The Tarmac

December 29, 2009

Airlines can continue to herd their customers like cattle, pack us like sardines and nickel-and-dime us like the suckers we must be, since we keep coming back for more. But they can no longer hold us hostage. With pro-passenger legislation bottled up on Capitol Hill, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has issued a Department of Transportation rule addressing many of the concerns of travelers’ advocates. LaHood is calling the new regulations, …

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Privacy In The Workplace

December 28, 2009

Most white-collar employees have telephones on their desks, and most employers, myself included, do not mind if an employee uses the phone occasionally for personal purposes. It would never occur to me to eavesdrop or surreptitiously record those conversations. On the other hand, I, and many other employers, warn employees that they should not expect privacy for anything they do on the company’s computers. I reserve the right to preserve …

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Jonathan Bergman in AOL’s Daily Finance

December 28, 2009

AOL’s Daily Finance, Dec. 28, 2009Jonathan Bergman warns about the risk of getting burned as a result of investing too heavily in ‘hot’ asset classes.

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No Pontoons For Santa Claus

December 24, 2009

The ice is nice and thick at the North Pole this Christmas Eve. Santa and his team will be able to use the sled without adding pontoons. Neither global warming nor El Nino will stop The Jolly One from making his appointed rounds. Al Gore startled many observers at the recent United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen when he claimed there is a 75 percent chance that the Arctic sea …

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Finance Oracles See Trouble Ahead For Greece

Finance Oracles See Trouble Ahead For Greece December 23, 2009

(Photo ©iStockphoto.com/mbbirdy) When most people think of Greece, they imagine warm ocean breezes and tranquil seaside fishing towns. But these days, when European leaders talk about Greece, the mood is anything but calm. After years of imbalanced budgets, government corruption and widespread tax evasion, Greece is now on the brink of a full-on financial crisis. The country’s debt totals 110 percent of gross domestic product. This year’s deficit is expected …

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Universal Coverage: A Bus Ticket To Omaha

December 22, 2009

Is the health care overhaul staggering through the Senate this week the most important social welfare legislation in a generation, as Democratic leaders claim? Or is it so compromised that the final product is not worth the agony, and the political risk, required to produce it? The bill that cleared its first crucial test vote in the wee hours Monday morning has become a make-or-break gamble for President Obama and …

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Seeking The Trophy CEO

December 21, 2009

Men of a certain age (mine) have an unfortunate tendency to toss aside faithful partners in favor of someone new and exciting. You’re not truly a big shot until you have that trophy wife hanging on your arm. I suppose you must be an even bigger shot if you can bag a trophy CEO. It is not my place to judge how people live their personal lives. I don’t want …

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Britain Beats Up Its Bankers, Too

December 18, 2009

No one likes bankers these days. Last week, the British government said it will levy a 50 percent tax on bonuses paid to bankers in excess of £25,000, or about $40,700. The one-time tax is being touted as a band-aid for Britain’s budget woes. Moody’s recently warned that, if the British government doesn’t deal with its deficit problem soon, its creditworthiness will suffer “inexorable deterioration.” But the bonus tax is …

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