Articles

  • Was the AIG Bailout Botched?


    Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - 5:55am

    The New York Fed succumbed during “high-pressure negotiations” during last year’s bailout of the American International Group (AIG), according to a government report detailed in today’s New York Times. The paper says that the New York Fed seemed to have “little leverage” during the discussions, largely because it had already spent $85 billion to keep the insurer alive.

    • Caitlin McDevitt is an editorial assistant at The Big Money.

  • Live-blogging GM


    Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 6:27pm

    Now that we have Twitter, I don’t much see the point in live-blogging events if your goal is simply to tell people what’s happening, rather than why or what it means. The New York Times’ Micheline Maynard live-blogged GM’s third-quarter financial report today, but besides telling us what CEO Fritz Henderson said, or how he responded to this or that reporter’s question, there isn’t much that tells us the significance of the information dispensed.

    • Matthew DeBord has written about the auto industry for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, and Car Design News.

  • Wonk Watch 11.16.09

    Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 5:38pm

    Paul Krugman continues his lobby for low interest rates.

    • Matthew McKnight is an intern at The Big Money.

  • Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 4:40pm

    Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), sits down with Charlie Rose to discuss the future of American railroads and why they're worth investing in.

    TAP Tagline: 

    Warren Buffett and Charlie Rose Talk About Trains When They Hang Out

  • Nitpicking GM’s Third-Quarter Results


    Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 4:32pm

    The Wall Street Journal has a good rundown of General Motors’ third-quarter results, reported today, which have the new company losing $1.15 billion but making money in China as well as achieving profits on some of its new vehicles.

    • Matthew DeBord has written about the auto industry for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, and Car Design News.

  • NYTimes Earns Profit on Lesson Plans; Questions Teachers Who Do Same


    Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 3:17pm

    Sunday morning’s New York Times brought with it a front-page story on teachers selling their lesson plans for profit. The gist: Teachers work hard, but aren’t paid enough for their work. This is what economists call a market inefficiency. And so there are a bunch of teachers turning to the private market, shopping their lesson plans around like they’re at an educational bazaar. Other teachers, apparently in surplus of both funds and laziness, are willing to buy.

  • Big Food Woos Mommy Bloggers


    Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 3:05pm

    Food companies like Nestle (NESN) and Pepsico's (PEP) Frito-Lay are wooing "mommy bloggers" (and some daddy bloggers) with lavish trips, meetings with third-tier celebrities, and assorted swag. Some parent bloggers (especially the ones who are offered—and take—the freebies) think it's just fine and of course they're not swayed by the practice. Others are appalled.

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    • Dan Mitchell has written for The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The MInneapolis Star-Tribune and Wired.

  • Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 1:44pm

    The front page of Friday's New York Times takes Americans to task for ignoring simple, proven ways of preventing cancer, leading with the blockbuster example of finasteride, a generic drug that, for a mere $2 a day, could prevent 50,000 prostate-cancer deaths a year. Wow, just $2 a day? And 50,000 lives saved? How could we be ignoring this? As one researcher quoted in the story, Dr. Ian M.

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  • Are Men More Competitive Than Women?


    Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 11:44am

    from SlateMen and women are different in many ways. Slate's Ray Fisman examines the gender gap when it comes to competition:

    • Ray Fisman is the Lambert Family professor of social enterprise and research director of the Social Enterprise Program at the Columbia Business

  • Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 - 9:59am

    from SlateLike some gothic serial novelist, the Bureau of Labor Statistics delivers another chapter of the same grim tale on the first Friday of every month. In October, the unemployment rate spiked to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983. Since December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 7.3 million jobs.

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