The world of finance is rarely a happy-go-lucky place (unless you’re making money hand over fist), but the news coming out of the sector this past week has been downright gloomy.
Pundits, politicians, and professionals …
‘Real Estate’ Archive
Are quarterly earning reports hurting the US?
by Patrice Sarath, August 12, 2008, 7:00 amIn The New Yorker recently, an article discussed antibiotic-resistant bacteria, strains that are so resistant they make an MRSA infection look like a walk in the park. So what does …
Moral hazard, skin in the game, and jingle mail: the new good, the bad, and the ugly?
by Patrice Sarath, May 13, 2008, 7:00 amThe slow-motion collapse of Fremont General is the latest news from the mortgage crisis front; the company has acknowledged that it is out of cash and out of time. The wounded mortgage company is …
Will current economic downturn mirror the last real recession of the ’70s?
by Patrice Sarath, February 5, 2008, 5:07 amWhile pundits argue over whether the recession is already upon us or has yet to start, I remember the last one.
Not the early 2000s, or the 1980s, or whenever people like to say the last recession was. Those weren’t …
Sears’s double whammy
by Alexandra Biesada, January 25, 2008, 6:09 amSears Holdings, the underwhelming retail force created by the combination of Kmart and ailing Sears, Roebuck in 2005, is on the skids. Following an impressive post-merger run up, Sears’s shares have slid from a 52-week high of $195-plus-change to less than $85 last week. How’s …
Scandal 2 scandal: 2007, the year that was
by Patrice Sarath, January 8, 2008, 6:16 amJanuary is named after Janus, the Roman god of doorways and gateways, looking forward and backward at the same time. Since this is a time of reflection on the past and predictions for the future, let’s crank up …
Were O’Neal and Prince undone by the butterfly effect?
by Patrice Sarath, November 6, 2007, 7:00 amStan O’Neal’s departure from Merrill Lynch had an air of efficiency about it. When the last straw broke the camel’s back — his lone wolf conversation with Wachovia regarding a possible merger — he was gone, baby gone.
Charles Prince’s exit from Citigroup had …
Beazer says it broke law in helping buyers qualify for home loans
by Patrice Sarath, October 16, 2007, 6:05 amIn the latest news from the homebuilding front, Beazer Homes, one of the largest residential businesses in the country, said that it broke the law when it helped some buyers qualify for mortgages. It’s also restating earnings back to 1999.
The company …
Collateralized damage in subprime mortgages
by Patrice Sarath, August 14, 2007, 6:40 amLike some kind of Lovecraftian demon god, the tentacles of the subprime mortgage bust have twined into some farflung places, spelling doom for unlikely victims.
Okay, seriously, when it looks like Bear Stearns is in trouble because of the mortgage debacle, …
