Eight States Slashing Local Funding
Funding from local governments’ two biggest sources — state aid and property taxes — fell for the first time since 1980, according to a report released last week by the Pew American Cities Project. The decrease…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
P&G Outlook: Deeper Trouble for CEO Bob McDonald
Many Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) investors do not like CEO Bob McDonald. His strategy to pull the large consumer goods company out of its sales funk have not worked. Shares of the firm have traded down slightly over…
As Nook Falters, Microsoft Surface Gains Importance
courtesy Barnes & Noble Inc.Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has two main partners to help it enter the mobile world. One is Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), which sells the tabletlike e-reader Nook. The other is…
Samsung Galaxy Sell-Out
The Samsung Galaxy S III is supposed to have the most impressive launch in the US based on sales since the release of the Apple iPhone 4S. UK sales have already been remarkable. One…
No New CEO for the New York Times
When Janet Robinson, former CEO of the New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), left in December with a $23.7 million severance package, the news firm said it would find a new CEO. Bloomberg reported that the…
Media Digest (6/20/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve may act to spur the faltering economy. (Reuters) The G20 backs aggressive actions to combat Europe’s financial problems. (Reuters) Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) did not tell its PC customers, including Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:…
What Does The Microsoft Surface Cost To Build?
Speculation continues about what the success or failure the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Surface tablet will be. One of the observations about the machine is that Microsoft kept its development secret from all of the…
G20 Yields Little For Europe
nationsonline.orgThe G20 meeting ended with a pledge to support the ongoing integrity of the euro, and promises to create plans to bring down the borrowing costs of the region’s weakest nations. Nothing was spelled…
What’s Important in the Financial World (6/19/2012)
The international capital markets refuse to give Spain a break as faith in its ability to solve its own financial problems has faded to black. The country issued three billion euros of 12- and 18-month…
Eight Things To Do If You Haven’t Planned for Retirement
Once people reach their 50s they finally see retirement on the horizon. They start envisioning that time when they can stop going to work and instead spend their days on the golf course, on…
JCPenney CEO About to Be Shown the Door
The media was full of stories about the unexpected departure of JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) president Michael R. Francis. Nearly everyone who watches the retailer wonders how a man with his background — a former senior…
Microsoft’s Surface and the Problem of Branding
Huge South Korean electronics company LG Electronics will abandon its tablet PC effort, according to Bloomberg. LG is among the five largest cellphone makers in the world. It should have the ability to make…
Which Unemployment Numbers to Believe
The federal government’s monthly unemployment numbers are gospel, at least to the financial markets. But they are revised at least once, often twice, after they are issued. An early signal of what the federal…
The Making of Kurdistan: Oil, Investment and a Turkish Gamble
As tensions rise among Iraqi Kurds in the country’s north, Sunnis in the south and the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad over the distribution of natural resources, Turkey is setting its sights on an unconventional…
Media Digest (6/19/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) launches its Surface tablet. (Reuters) European leaders say they will create a more integrated banking system. (Reuters) The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority may determine whether Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was at fault in…
Microsoft Launches “Surface” Super Tablet
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) decided to blow the roof off of the tablet market with its “Surface” tablet PC. By all appearances, it has features to outgun the competition, perhaps even the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (6/18/2012) Microsoft Tablet
Updated throughout the day on the 24/7 Wall St. Wire. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will buy social network firm Yammer (Reuters) Credit Suisse is under pressure to increase its capital bases. (FT) Douglas A. McIntyre
The States with the Safest Hospitals
According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 50,000 to 100,000 patients die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of lapses in safety. Recently, the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit promoting transparency and…
Suppose Greece Works
New Democracy’s Antonis Samaras’s party won the national elections in Greece. But it did not win a majority. His pro-austerity party will try to create a coalition now. The odds appear to in his favor. But global…
Will China Support Home Prices?
A look back at the U.S. recession and the halted growth that has followed shows that two portions of the economy where at the core of the slide — jobs and housing. In 20/20 hind…