"I want people to understand the environment in which I was making decisions. I want people to get a sense of how decisions were made and I want people to understand the options that were placed before me," he told the Associated Press.

Continue reading Will you be buying George W. Bush's book?

Will you be buying George W. Bush's book? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Flying shoe-dodger, President George W. Bush, has a track record of rewarding the guilty. After the faked intelligence that gave him the ammunition he needed to invade Iraq in 2004, Bush awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to CIA Director George "Slam Dunk" Tenet. And to reward the banks that got us into the current financial catastrophe, Bush rammed through Congress a bill that uses $700 billion of our tax dollars to pay bonuses to the executives who run those banks.

How did he do that? As usual, he did it secretively. The law that created the bailout bill includes provisions that limit executive compensation for banks that get bailout money. Specifically, the bill requires that banks report to the IRS any compensation above $500,000 paid to their top five executives. If that reporting does not occur, the IRS can impose tax penalties. Not only that, but there is no limit to what people below the top five can get paid -- so there never was any way to keep taxpayer money from paying millions to the traders and investment bankers who often get more than the CEO.

Continue reading Bush rewards the guilty with our tax dollars

Bush rewards the guilty with our tax dollars originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Harvard's business school (HBS) has been celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. And it looks to be at the peak of its power. That's unfortunate because five of its most powerful graduates have made significant contributions to absolutely wrecking the global economy. HBS admits people who are natural leaders. Unfortunately, many of the most powerful of these leaders have followed the path of destruction.

Here are five Harvard MBAs who wrecked the economy:

• George W. Bush ('75). The best thing I can say about Bush is that he said he was sorry for all the problems that occurred while he was in the White House. Unfortunately, he seems to believe he was a victim of events outside his control. One of his HBS professors said of Bush "He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago."
• Hank Paulson ('70). As Treasury Secretary Paulson has consistently ignored the severity of the financial crisis -- In June 2006 he gave a speech at HBS in which he said, "this is by far the best global economy that I have seen in my career" -- but this September he was able to sell Congress on an ineffective plan to fix what he finally realized was an imploding economy -- a plan has kept changing. The economy has continued to crash despite his bone-headed efforts to save it.

Continue reading Five Harvard MBAs who wrecked the global economy

Five Harvard MBAs who wrecked the global economy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ben Bernanke lacks a strategy to deal with the financial crisis. He just keeps dropping more and more money from his helicopter and hopes it will jump start the economic system. The futures market has already baked in a 50 basis point interest rate cut for this coming Wednesday so with the Dow having lost 312 points last Friday, it would probably collapse even further if Bernanke backed off the rate cut.

But what is the point of this cut? 30-year fixed mortgage rates are higher now (6.47%) than they were in August 2007 (6.45%) when the Fed began cutting the Fed Funds rate from 5.25% to what would end up being 1% if the Fed indeed cuts by 50 basis points on Wednesday. Paul Krugman argues that the high mortgage rates may be a result of U.S. policy not to put its "full faith and credit" behind Fannie and Freddie debt -- thereby increasing its risk. If the Fed was trying to loosen up credit, these numbers suggest its rate cuts are not doing the job.

And While there are some who anticipate it will cut only 25 basis points, I am not sure why the Fed thinks this rate cut will do anything more than use up precious ammunition that might be more useful in an even more severe financial emergency. At 1%, there is not much further to cut. And with the November election fast approaching, it is clear that a real strategy to analyze and fix the myriad financial problems Bush leaves his successor will not happen until January.

Continue reading Will the Fed waste its dwindling ammo on a 50 basis point rate cut?

Will the Fed waste its dwindling ammo on a 50 basis point rate cut? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Associated Press reports that President Bush will hold an economic summit to discuss why the world is such a mess and what can be done to fix things before the entire financial system goes down the porcelain toilet. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced the retreat at the Presidential retreat at Camp David.

No dates or locations have been set yet, but the first summit would focus on seeking "agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition of the problems and assure global prosperity in the future." Later summits will focus on specifics. What will come of all this? Absolutely nothing, if I had to guess.

The reality is that President Bush has little to no credibility at home or abroad, and this summit looks like a pretty desperate effort to remain relevant. Given that he has some of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history, and substantive discussions about reform will likely have to wait until the new guy is sworn in.

It's not yet known whether the president-elect will attend the summit but, if he does, lame duck Bush's presence will be irrelevant.

President Bush to hold financial summit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

President Bush, Congress reach deal on $700 billion buyout originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nevada State Bank of Las Vegas will take over the insured deposits of Silver State -- which had $2 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits at the end of June. AP reports that "[Silver State's] branches will reopen Monday as offices of Nevada State Bank in Nevada and National Bank of Arizona in Arizona."

John McCain's son, Andrew, who is also CFO of his mom's beer distributorship, "sat on the boards of Silver State Bank and of its parent, Silver State Bancorp, starting in February but resigned in July citing 'personal reasons.' Andrew McCain also was a member of the bank's audit committee, responsible for oversight of the company's accounting," according to AP.

Continue reading Bank Failure Count: 2008's 11th bank fails, McCain's son was director

Bank Failure Count: 2008's 11th bank fails, McCain's son was director originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Washington Post reports that the number of bank failures has been surprisingly low. But the crunch count is likely to grow as the problem bank list triples from 90 to 300 over the next three years. Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) could run out of money to pay off depositors of future failed banks unless it raises its deposit insurance rates from their current 5.4 cents per $100 deposits.

But the most interesting question is whether the White House is propping up banks that should fail so that it can push the biggest part of the cleanup into the lap of the next President. It is certainly bringing out all the biggest economic guns to delay the inevitable reckoning from the $8 trillion credit collapse. It spent $29 billion bailing out Bear Stearns, sent $160 billion worth of checks to taxpayers, cut interest rates from 5.25% to 2%, and seems belatedly to be enforcing regulations against manipulation of oil trading.

The Post quotes industry experts who think that the FDIC is propping up many banks. For instance, Bert Ely of Ely & Co., a bank consulting firm in Alexandria, VA, told the Post, "They are dragging their feet in forcing these banks to reserve realistically. Some of these banks could have been closed two or three quarters earlier." And Ken Thomas, a lecturer in finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Post that the FDIC's foot dragging would only cost taxpayers more in the long run. Thomas said, "In some of these cases, I believe regulators should act sooner than later to prevent future losses to the fund."

Continue reading Is the White House pushing bank failures onto the next administration's plate?

Is the White House pushing bank failures onto the next administration's plate? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Russian business runs on different rules. News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Rupert Murdoch, who has been doing business in China for years, is nervous about his Russian enterprises. This morning, the FBI announced it had rounded up a ring of data thieves, many from former Soviet Union countries. And then there's the little matter of BP-TNK, a joint venture between BP (NYSE: BP) and a Russian company, whose Russian shareholders are booting out its Western executives so they can take over the operation.

Here's what Silicon Alley insider reports Murdoch had to say about doing business in Russia: "We have great growing business there but just -- this is purely me, I'm sorry, I'm -- the more I read about investments in Russia, the less I like the feel of it. The more successful we'd be, the more vulnerable we'd be to have it stolen from us, so there we sell now."

In case you missed it, The Detroit Free Press reports that an international ring of data thieves used wardriving -- the practice of stealing data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks -- to take 40 million identities, use the information to print fake ATM cards, and steal millions of dollars. The corporate victims include customers of TJX (NYSE: TJX), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), and OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX). Five of the 11 defendants are from former Soviet Union countries -- "one is from Estonia, three are from Ukraine, and one is from Belarus."

Continue reading Why do we do business with Russia?

Why do we do business with Russia? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bush: Wall Street got drunk! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The White House is in overdrive promoting former press secretary Scott McClellan's What Happened. That promotion has helped drive it to the number one selling position on Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). While Amazon will benefit from the sales of the book, the stock is more than fairly valued.

The White House's promotion is based on its passionate response to the confirmation bias it demonstrated in the run up to the Iraq war. As I wrote in this Business Strategy Review article, confirmation bias is when facing a major decision, one exhibits an unwillingness to admit conflicting data - no matter how salient - to influence a closed point of view. Mclellan points out that the White House decided to go to war against Iraq a year before its start and manufactured a false "case" to sell it.

McClellan pointing this out is hardly news. But I thought his comments about George W. Bush's cocaine use, as reported by 6abc.com, were more revealing. Recalling a 1999 conversation with Bush, McClellan writes: "'The media won't let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors,' I heard Bush say. 'You know, the truth is I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don't remember.'

Continue reading Will Amazon profit from McClellan book?

Will Amazon profit from McClellan book? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 May 2008 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Guess what? The Fed's interest rate cuts are hurting more than they're helping. Since August 2007, the Fed has cut interest rates from 5.25% to 2%. It thought that these cuts would help the housing market and unfreeze the credit markets. But all it's accomplished has been to fuel inflation thanks to a dollar that's lost 72% of its value since January 2001 when it traded at 92 cents to the Euro compared to $1.58 today. Have you been to a gas station or supermarket recently?

So this morning's report from Reuters -- that home prices fell five times faster than during the last housing recession -- did not come as great news. Specifically, single-family homes plunged a record 14.1% in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking a pace five times faster than the last housing recession, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller national home price index. Economists expected prices for the 20-city index to fall 2.0% on month and 14.0% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the Fed's interest rate cuts don't seem to be helping much. That's because they don't treat the basic problem at all -- they're just fueling inflation. The basic problem is that banks have hundreds of billions of junk -- $500 billion in Level 3 assets to be technical about it -- on their balance sheet and they can't raise enough capital to write off those lousy assets. So they aren't lending to consumers, businesses or each other.

By the way, do you know who was president during the last housing recession? George Bush. Quite a legacy for that family, for America, and for the next president...

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Home prices falling five times faster than in the last housing slump originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 May 2008 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Crocs first quarter earnings preview

Crocs first quarter earnings preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 May 2008 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Despite excellent earnings from Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) yesterday, a bit of a shadow still hangs over the company. That's because in February the Air Force awarded a $100 billion contract for in-flight refueling craft -- known as tankers -- to EADS's Airbus and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC). Boeing is currently challenging this award. But an interview I did for my book on Boeing suggests that Boeing will not win this contract because George W. Bush and John McCain want to award the contract to Bush's new friends: France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel.

I got this theory from a veteran Wall Street analyst who covers the aircraft industry. He suggested that Boeing lost the Tanker bid because John McCain -- who is ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee -- had the Air Force change the specifications for the tanker bid so Airbus and Northrop would be able to field a competitive bid. My source noted that the one problem with the change was that the Air Force did not inform Boeing about it.

After the bid was awarded to Airbus, it became clear that the original specifications had changed from a small, 767-sized craft to a medium-sized 777 one. During the review process, my source contends that Boeing asked the Air Force if the 767-sized craft was what it wanted. Boeing also told the Air Force that it would be happy to bid with a different model if the Air Force wanted. But the Air Force told Boeing that it still wanted the 767-sized craft.

Continue reading Did Bush and McCain give the $100 billion tanker project to Airbus?

Did Bush and McCain give the $100 billion tanker project to Airbus? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay (EBAY)'s outgoing CEO jumps into politics

eBay (EBAY)'s outgoing CEO jumps into politics originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My colleague Trey Thoelcke posted a story on Friday regarding Presidents Bush's concern that the Federal government should not "overreact" to our current economic plight for fear of doing more damage than good.

The president's concern struck me as odd because most folks having an IQ higher than their age would probably agree that President Bush overreacted in Iraq, and underreacted at home. Thus increasing the probability that we would fall into an economic quagmire that the best and brightest would have difficulty escaping.

I think I am being very generous when I say "increasing the probability" because many on the left and on the right of the political spectrum would be much more frank and say Dubya, you own this one pal!

That being said, one might argue that Bush has his rights and his lefts mixed up, as well as his rights and his wrongs. I happen to agree with the president that the federal government could overreact (and has) and do the wrong things -- with bipartisan support no doubt. For example I think the $156 billion tax rebate is very bad policy, not helping anyone and hurting everyone -- see Serious Money: Stimulate productivity not consumption. I hope anybody reading that particular Serious Money post finds it worthy of starting an e-mail storm because not enough folks understand this point.

Continue reading Bush overeacted in Iraq and undereacted at home

Bush overeacted in Iraq and undereacted at home originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bush announces new $3.1 trillion budget plan

Bush announces new $3.1 trillion budget plan originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Oil prices continue last week's slide

Oil prices continue last week's slide originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Oil stays positive, despite bearish inventory report

Oil stays positive, despite bearish inventory report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading President Bush looks to reassure Americans

President Bush looks to reassure Americans originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.