Roger Lowenstein is a rare commodity: a financial journalist with no apparent ax to grind, who seems to understand the people and institutions he covers, and is more often right than wrong on the big issues that matter. While most of us were trying to figure out how mere mortals could participate in the latest Read More
As anyone who lives or works near Union Square Park can attest, cars and pedestrians—especially at the death-defying intersection of 17th Street and Broadway—sometimes don’t co-exist peacefully.
Recently, the city’s Department of Transportation completed a study of the traffic situation around Union Square. The study hasn’t been released to the public, but The Observer obtained Read More
As anyone who lives or works near Union Square Park can attest, cars and pedestrians—especially at the death-defying intersection of 17th Street and Broadway—sometimes don’t co-exist peacefully.
Recently, the city’s Department of Transportation completed a study of the traffic situation around Union Square. The study hasn’t been released to the public, but The Observer Read More
As of this evening, CNBC is airing new “First on CNBC” commercials, touting the network’s scoop this afternoon on the sentencing of WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers. But the spots are understating just how exclusive the breaking-news report was: CNBC’s initial live bulletin announced that Ebbers had been sentenced to 30 years in prison–five years more Read More
A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market , by John Allen Paulos. Basic Books, 216 pages, $25.
Having concluded that stock-price movements are entirely random, writer and mathematician John Allen Paulos never played the stock market-”trying to outsmart dice was a fool’s errand.” But an unexpected windfall changed his mind, and thinking of the funds Read More
Real-estate magnate and embattled WorldCom director Francesco Galesi has slashed $7 million off the asking price of his 55,000-square-foot Southampton waterfront castle, Elysium. Mr. Galesi-who now finds himself a principal defendant in a gaggle of class-action lawsuits filed against the nation’s second-largest long-distance company-recently lowered the price of his Gothic mansion from $37 million to Read More
What do you think of the market? The financial pundits have plenty of explanations, all of which have been eagerly accepted by the average investor. Much of the blame has been placed on the corporate scandals that began with Enron and Global Crossing and have since consumed executives and investors at Tyco, ImClone, WorldCom and Read More
The myth of the moment is a recycled Naderite cliché, clung to by Republicans as they are inundated by the corporate crime wave. The G.O.P. may seem compromised by its twinship with Big Business, they whisper, but the Democratic Party is no better. It’s the kind of argument that also appeals to media commentators who Read More
