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| washingtonpost.com - Deals -- Allan Sloan on Wall Street and Investing (washingtonpost.com) |
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| Even when he's wrong, Buffett gets it right |
(Tue, 08 Mar 2011)
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| Even when the market moves against you, you can make money if sell dear enough or buy cheap enough. Well, you can if you're Warren Buffett. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Stocks may be pricey, but are they overvalued? |
(Fri, 25 Feb 2011)
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| Boy, the market has sure been fun for those of us who held on to our stocks (or bought more of them) two years ago, when it looked like the financial world might be coming to an end. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Shareholder money funds Murdoch family deals |
(Thu, 24 Feb 2011)
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| The Murdoch family owns only about 12 percent of News Corp., but Rupert Murdoch sure runs the place like a wholly owned family candy store. The company, blurring the distinction between public and family business, makes deals with family members, using shareholder money to get them into the corpo... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Old GMAC shareholders are winners after bailout |
(Thu, 20 Jan 2011)
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You would think at this point that there would be nothing left to be outraged about when it comes to government bailouts. But the more bailout rocks you turn over, the more well-connected players you find who aren't being forced to pay the full price of their mistakes.
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| 'Tax cut' and 'rich' may not mean what you think |
(Wed, 05 Jan 2011)
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| Now that the Bush tax cuts have been extended two more years, let me share a dirty little secret with you: For many of the people President Obama calls "rich," including me, the George W. Bush tax cuts didn't make much difference. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Looking back at 2010, writing more about financial 'reform' would have been wise |
(Tue, 28 Dec 2010)
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| I have performed a painful annual ritual ever since I began writing a column about 20 years ago: rereading my work for the year and telling you, my audience, about the things I got wrong and the things I wish I had done differently. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| An indictment against Ernst & Young? Maybe not . . . |
(Tue, 21 Dec 2010)
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| If you are going to screw up, make sure that you are working at a company that regulators aren't going to let fail. That's the lesson not only for big financial companies but for the Final Four big national accounting firms as well. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| New tax law reveals the mirage of the Social Security trust fund |
(Mon, 20 Dec 2010)
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I used to joke about the government "solving" Social Security's long-term problems by creating Treasury IOUs out of thin air and sticking them in the program's trust fund. My point, of course, was to show that no matter how many Treasury securities there are in the trust fund - currently about $2...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| The Progressive, and right, way to handle dividends |
(Mon, 06 Dec 2010)
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| Progressive is best known for Flo, the irritating star of the ubiquitous TV and radio commercials it uses to flog car insurance. Despite having a pitchwoman almost as over the top as the Geico gecko, Progressive is low-key when it comes to promoting its most interesting policy: the way it pays di... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Let's talk turkey about privatizing Social Security |
(Thu, 25 Nov 2010)
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| Thanksgiving is upon us, making this a perfect time to go searching for turkeys - the financial variety, of course. But this year, rather than looking backward at inept deals or government programs, let's try to find future turkeys. |
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Author: by Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Playing politics could be Federal Reserve's downfall |
(Tue, 16 Nov 2010)
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deer overpopulation taking economic toll |
(Mon, 01 Nov 2010)
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If you think deer are cute woodland creatures like Bambi, think again. In the real world - to the extent that suburbs like mine are the real world - deer are pests. "Rats with hooves" is the term for them in my household, which is plagued by deer that eat our plants, defecate all over our yard an...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| The real foreclosure mess: Lack of accountability for banks |
(Wed, 27 Oct 2010)
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| The biggest danger to the U.S. capitalist system doesn't come from communists or community activists or left-wing academics. It comes from some of the nation's biggest financial institutions. These companies, which helped create the financial meltdown that touched off the Great Recession, have found... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| In this recovery, Washington has less power over the economy than you think |
(Sun, 17 Oct 2010)
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| Let us tell you an Ugly Truth about the economy, a truth that no one in power or who aspires to power wants to share with you, at least until after the midterm elections are over. It's this: There is nothing that the U.S. government or the Federal Reserve or tax cutters can do to make our economi... |
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Author: Allan Sloan, Tory Newmyer and Doris Burke |
Category: Opinions |
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| When it comes to retail fund investors, don't follow the wisdom of the crowd |
(Mon, 04 Oct 2010)
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| The way to make money in the stock market is to buy cheap and sell dear. Unfortunately, the average mutual fund investor does the opposite. He (or she) buys dear when stocks are hot and prices are high, and sells cheap when the market's cold, and prices are in the cellar. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Feeling the pain on the market peak's anniversary |
(Mon, 27 Sep 2010)
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You can learn a lot from anniversaries. Take the little-noticed one that arrives in a little more than a week, marking three years since the U.S. stock market's all-time high. You didn't realize the market peaked on Oct. 9, 2007? That's understandable, given all the stuff we've had to deal with s...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Letting the Bush tax cuts expire won't traumatize the stock market |
(Wed, 18 Aug 2010)
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| One of the great misconceptions in this country is that what happens in Washington determines what happens in the financial markets. It's so simple, convenient and satisfying to attribute market movements to the president, the Federal Reserve, Congress, the tax code or some combination of them. I... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Social Security, the trust fund and funny money |
(Tue, 10 Aug 2010)
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| There's real money, then there's funny money -- stuff that looks real but isn't. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| KKR leaders get a tax deal most of us can only dream of |
(Wed, 28 Jul 2010)
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| It's human nature to want to pay as little in taxes as possible and to have someone else pick up the tab for the taxes we do have to pay. For most of us, alas, that's just a fantasy. But to the folks who run America's biggest and most prominent buyout funds, it's reality. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Before the Yankees, Steinbrenner knew when to jump ship |
(Tue, 20 Jul 2010)
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Since George Steinbrenner died last week, the Boss has gotten a lot of press -- for returning the Yankees to their winning ways, for ushering in an era of big spending in sports and for amassing a reputation as one of baseball's most vilified owners. But there's another element of the Boss's life...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| A good energy strategy doesn't fit in a slogan |
(Tue, 13 Jul 2010)
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| It's much easier to look for a magic solution than it is to adapt to reality. Take energy, for instance. These days "clean energy," also known as "green energy," is being presented as the magic solution for global warming, our dependence on foreign oil, and the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Gains from long-term Treasurys won't go on forever |
(Tue, 06 Jul 2010)
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| Financial markets can make you look really foolish, even if you thought your analysis was right, and still do. Today's humbling example: The best investment by far for the first half of this year has been the one that people like me have been warning against: long-term U.S. Treasury bonds. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Congress fulfills narrow ambitions with financial overhaul bill |
(Tue, 29 Jun 2010)
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Panic over oil disaster will do far more harm than the spill itself |
(Tue, 22 Jun 2010)
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If you're searching for yet another reason to hate BP and distrust Washington, here it is. No, I'm not talking about the dead birds, befouled beaches or zillions of dollars in damage inflicted on millions of Americans by the incompetents at BP (enabled by clueless federal regulators). Rather, I'm...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Shareholders in bailed-out Wall Street firms essentially lost it all |
(Wed, 02 Jun 2010)
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| There's some good news for those who worry that Wall Street hasn't paid a big enough price for being bailed out by the government: The people with stakes in the most-bailed-out firms have lost a ton of money, even though the Street is back to making obscene profits. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Don't fear market turmoil -- invest safely and save |
(Tue, 25 May 2010)
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| What should you do with your investments if you hear that the Dow has suddenly dropped 1,000 points in 20 minutes? Or that euro panic has sent stocks swooning? The right answer should be "nothing." Because if you have to worry about a thousand-point Dow drop ruining your life, your problem isn't ... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Treasury bonds have their own risk factor: Changing rates |
(Tue, 18 May 2010)
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| People often ask me how they can go wrong buying U.S. Treasury bonds. After all, they say, no matter how bad our fiscal problems get, the government can always print the dollars it needs to redeem its bonds. So what's the problem? |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| 6 simple steps to fix Wall Street |
(Sun, 09 May 2010)
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The first thing you learn when you start looking at Wall Street, which I've been doing for 40 years, is to never trust the salesmen. What they promise you isn't necessarily what you get. You need to use common sense, watch out for your own interests and at least make an attempt to understand the ...
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Author: Allan Sloan with Doris Burke Fortune |
Category: Opinions |
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| DEALSAllan Sloan |
(Sun, 09 May 2010)
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| Allan Sloan is Fortune magazine's senior editor at large and his column Deals can be found in The Post's daily business coverage. He can be reached at asloan@fortunemail.com . |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Illegal or not, Goldman's maneuvers betrayed its own principles |
(Tue, 20 Apr 2010)
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| "Our assets are our people, capital and reputation. If any of these is ever diminished, the last is most difficult to restore." |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Fortune 500 stocks performed well, but don't expect a return to the glory days |
(Tue, 13 Apr 2010)
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| I get plenty of things wrong, as I tell people in my almost-annual mea culpa columns. But every once in a while, I get something right -- as I did in the column I wrote a year ago about the record loss in the value of stocks in the Fortune 500. "Someday," I wrote, "possibly for the 2010 Fortune 500,... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| A lot to learn from the lighter side of taxes |
(Wed, 07 Apr 2010)
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In honor of Tax Day, I'd like to recommend a new book to you: "As Certain as Death: Quotations About Taxes." It's a labor of love (or possibly hate) compiled over more than 30 years by Jeffery L. Yablon, a tax partner in the Washington office of the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm.
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Low interest rates make pensions look especially good |
(Tue, 30 Mar 2010)
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| What's good for America isn't necessarily good for all Americans. Case in point: low interest rates. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Wall Street's role in Greek crisis should be no surprise |
(Wed, 10 Mar 2010)
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| As I look at the uproar over Wall Street's role in the Greek crisis, one of the things I find most surprising is that anyone is surprised about Wall Street's conduct. You're upset that the Street helped Greece hide some of its debt and then began making bets that the debt wouldn't be paid? Welcome... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Remembering the lessons of the last market bubble |
(Tue, 02 Mar 2010)
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| Get out your calendars, folks. It's time to celebrate -- or perhaps mourn -- the 10th anniversary of one of the epic financial events of our time: the peak of the great stock market bubble in March 2000. That's the month when the Nasdaq composite index, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index a... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Social Security could be next to need a bailout |
(Tue, 02 Feb 2010)
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Don't look now. But even as the bank bailout is winding down, another huge bailout is starting, this time for the Social Security system.
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Let Wall Street run wild, without my money |
(Tue, 19 Jan 2010)
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| It's bonus time, Wall Street's days of wine and roses, when employees find out how rich they're going to be. But this year's bonus season has morphed into days of whines and poses. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Excise tax on 'Cadillac' health-care plans is a bad idea |
(Tue, 12 Jan 2010)
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| The idea of an excise tax on "Cadillac" health-care plans sounds like magic. It would raise almost $150 billion over 10 years to help finance health-care "reform"; it would be paid by employers, insurance companies and "the rich"; it would help "bend the cost curve" in the future; and for all I k... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| 2009 in review: TARP, mistakes and Washington's financial takeover |
(Tue, 29 Dec 2009)
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| We all have our year-end rituals. Mine is to examine what I've written during the year, follow up on yesterday's hot stories that have become today's overlooked stories, and own up to my mistakes of omission and commission. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| 'Cadillac Care' is largely a myth |
(Fri, 18 Dec 2009)
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Can you tell a Chevy Malibu from a Cadillac Escalade? I'm sure you can, but I've got doubts about the folks in Washington who want to impose a stiff excise tax on what they call "Cadillac Care" health plans to raise revenue and reduce health spending.
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Once upon a time in Mortgage Land |
(Sat, 28 Nov 2009)
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| Back two years ago when the mortgage meltdown was heating up, I wrote an article with Doris Burke called " Junk Mortgages Under the Microscope " dissecting a particularly wretched issue of mortgage-backed securities peddled by Goldman Sachs. We wanted to show how these complex securities really... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deals: The financial world's turkeys of the year |
(Tue, 17 Nov 2009)
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| Thanksgiving is upon us. That makes it a perfect time to contemplate turkeys -- as in "What a turkey that deal was!" Almost all of this year's winners have some connection to the federal government, because the feds have been such a huge factor in the financial markets. But have no fear: Rising s... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deals: Davis mutual fund firm lowers fees |
(Tue, 03 Nov 2009)
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| It's fun writing about Wall Street's greedheads and tax dodgers. But every once in a while, I get to write about something positive -- and unpublicized -- that some Wall Street types have done. Today's reversal of the Street's natural order involves Davis Advisers. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deals: Goldman Sachs, the Waltons and a hotel money pit |
(Tue, 27 Oct 2009)
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Did you make bubble-era investments that left you so far underwater that you needed a submarine? If so, you've got company. Gather round, and I'll show you how some of the smartest and richest folks in America lost more than half a billion dollars by buying into the commercial real estate bubble ...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Uncle Sam's gift to the prudent saver: Less money |
(Tue, 20 Oct 2009)
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| This is a quiz. What do the record-high Wall Street bonuses have in common with the record-low yields for savers? Answer: They show yet another way that prudent people, especially those living on fixed incomes, are being cheated by the government's bailout of the imprudent. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deals: Saturn Column Raises the Old 'Buy American' Debate |
(Tue, 13 Oct 2009)
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| An earlier version of this column ran in editions of Tuesday, Oct. 13, and can be found here. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deals: Saturn Column Raises the Old 'Buy American' Debate |
(Tue, 13 Oct 2009)
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| I've written a lot about car companies since I started covering business in the 1960s, but I've written very little about cars, because they just don't interest me much. |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Deals: GM Loses Saturn, and a Customer |
(Tue, 06 Oct 2009)
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Until last week I had been one of General Motors' most reliable customers for more than 15 years. But my relationship with GM ended the very day the company announced that it was closing its Saturn operation -- something I learned when I came home from trading in my 2003 Saturn Vue for a new, spiffy...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Allan Sloan: Why We May Help Pay for Zell's Tribune to Unload the Cubs |
(Tue, 22 Sep 2009)
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| The Chicago Cubs aren't going to win anything this year despite having one of baseball's largest payrolls. But their bankrupt owner, Sam Zell's Tribune Co., may be about to hit a home run -- at your expense. |
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Author: Deals Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Allan Sloan: Reader Questions and Comments About Social Security |
(Tue, 15 Sep 2009)
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| I was snowed under by e-mail from readers of the Social Security article I wrote last month, which appeared online just as I was starting my vacation and in print a few days later. I didn't have access to reader e-mail at the beach, and I've just now caught up with all my Social Security mail. I... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Allan Sloan: A Year After Lehman, Wall Street Acting Like Wall Street Again |
(Tue, 08 Sep 2009)
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| It's been 12 months since Lehman Brothers failed, setting off a chain reaction that came horrifyingly close to destroying the world's financial system. That anniversary makes this a convenient time to take a deep breath, look back at l'affaire Lehman and see what we can learn from the past turbulent... |
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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| Is True Health-Care Reform Doomed? |
(Thu, 27 Aug 2009)
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One of the good things about spending vacation time away from the computer and second-by-second news is that it's easier to see the big picture. And one thing that came into focus during my recent beach time -- and is even more clear today -- is that the health-care "reform" making its way through...
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Author: Allan Sloan |
Category: Opinions |
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