Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

And Here I Thought Corporations were Rational

Ken Houghton lowers the level of discourse at AB by discussing the career of a porn star other than Adam West. One of the primary tenets of economic theory is that corporations believe in nothing other than profits. Well, it’s not quite that stark—we use phrases such as “utility maximization,” “cost minimization,” and the like—but […]

I Was Wondering When This Would Come Down

Tom Bozzo A fund of fund(s) that funneled money into the Madoff scam is in Big Trouble: Massachusetts regulators have sued the Fairfield Greenwich Group, one of the earliest of these so-called feeder fund managers, for fraud, saying it had repeatedly misled investors about how diligently it checked out Mr. Madoff’s operations over the years. […]

Fuel Price Hedging for Cars

Chrysler LLC has stood out among the Detroit Three in being able to sell neither its trucks nor its cars in the slumping auto market. Cue the latest in marketing innovations! Via AutoWeek, Chrysler’s latest sales promo offers buyers three years of (currently) subvented gas (at $2.99 for regular, $3.29 for premium). The deal’s revenue-leakage-limiting […]