DailyFinance today: CEOs take home millions despite market decline, slowdown hits world's oldest profession, bootstrap capitalism or complex reform, and Monsanto not totally evil after all originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yesterday, it was reported that his spectacular failure in judgment to engage the services of a 'prominent' prostitution enterprise was not just a one time affair! Spitzer spent $80,000 on prostitutes and met with them in Santa Monica and Las Vegas, not just the originally reported Washington, D.C., according to new media reports.

After betraying his wife and kids, the public trust, not to mention the law, this former Attorney General, who won office by a landslide as a zealous prosecutor now finds that he is among the 'evil wrong doers'. He has gone over to the dark side!

Continue reading Spitzer falling fast, resignation expected

Spitzer falling fast, resignation expected originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pushing aside many other newsworthy stories today is one more very sad tale about a do-gooder gone bad. Today it was learned that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (and former Attorney General) has displayed the ultimate in hypocrisy that will leave a stench so thick it will tarnish not just his reputation, but that of every public official. An already cynical public can only become even more cynical now.

It is being reported that Governor Spitzer engaged the services of a New York prostitution ring in advance of a trip to Washington DC. I will not get on my own moralist high horse about the subject of prostitution, although, I could probably understand the arguments in favor of it being legalized. However, this is much greater than that. This is a question of hypocrisy, illegal activity, betraying a public trust, lying, cheating and stealing.

If the facts play out as initially reported, then he has betrayed his family, friends, business associates and the public. This made all the worse by his self-aggrandizing and many would argue overzealous approach to chasing Wall Street executives up a tree and then leveraging the chase to build a platform for his now shamed office of Governor.

If Mr. Spitzer were single and a private citizen, we could debate a whole range of other issues. But given his history, and moralizing and de-moralizing others -- to state the obvious -- this stinks to the high heavens.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

Spitzer prostitution hypocrisy: 'Hello Pot, this is Kettle' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The New York Times has reported that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer -- my governor, a man I voted for, covered when he was Attorney General, and have defended in many a heated conversation with friends and colleagues -- has admitted to being 'involved' in a prostitution ring.

How is he involved? Let's just say, I don't think he has been running the thing. In fact, as of this writing, I'm still holding out a smidgen of hope that the report is somehow wrong. Maybe he was just investigating it! (Okay, wishful thinking).

When the news conference starts -- presumably any minute (It's now 2:45 PM) -- I'll liveblog it to the best of my ability here (refresh this post to see updates). Then you too, can be among the first to know what Spitzer, possibly this century's greatest law-and-order hypocrite, has to say for himself.

3 PM: We're still waiting for the press conference to start. But CNBC has reports that government investigators have text messages of some sort. The discussion on TV now is that Spitzer will have to step down if there is any truth to this story. Commentators are also reprising just how zealous Spitzer was in his prosecutions of Wall Street executives. Silly me, I thought that meant he really knew the difference between right and wrong.

3:13: Oops! missed it! That was quick. Spitzer read a brief statement. All I heard was him apologizing to his family.

3:15: Rewind: He said, "I have I've acted in a way that violates my obilgations to my family and that violates my or any standards of right or wroing. I apologize first and foremost to my family."

Continue reading Liveblogging Spitzer's news conference: Just how is he 'involved' in a prostitution ring?

Liveblogging Spitzer's news conference: Just how is he 'involved' in a prostitution ring? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, recently accused of running a prostitution ring serving Washington's elite, is upset about her stocks. After the government froze her assets, Reuters reports that she pleaded with a federal judge to let her sell her 5,000 shares of Dolby Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: DLB), citing valuation concerns: "I believe it's reached its peak. I don't want it to waste away."

This is another reason to avoid high-turnover investing and stick with index funds for the long-term: If you are indicted on charges of running a ring of call-girls, the government could freeze your assets and not allow you to continue trading actively.

Another thing sex has in common with investing: Most people think they can be above average but the vast majority will have to settle for average or below-average performance -- no matter how much they spend on products that will supposedly enhance their performance.

Accused madam frets over stock pick -- Lessons for investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 May 2007 11:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As long as I've been following business news, it seems that sex is always only a whisper away from any press release ... sexual harassment, sexual dalliances between colleagues, famously, when an Infoseek EVP tried to have sex with an FBI agent who said she was 13. Sex is never so sexy as when it touches money.

So when Time Warner CFO Wayne Pace was accused of having been the "sugar daddy" (oh how we love that phrase) of high-priced hooker and accused prostitution ringleader, Andrea Schwartz, let's be honest, we licked our lips.

Pace, naturally, denies it through his attorney. And if it's true, it would be racy indeed: the position of CFO is generally seen as a boring, straight-laced, buttoned-up job. One that requires the utmost ethics and should never smack of partisanship. It's only when we think about who else Schwartz may have entertained that we start imagining the possibilities for compromise. It's a mind-blowing list of potential Law & Order plots.

Either way, we hope we read all about it in People.

Time Warner CFO linked with high-priced hooker originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Jun 2006 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.