McClatchy Advances the Ball on Moody’s

By Dean Starkman   Oct 19, 2009 at 09:30 AM

Many people feel the rating agencies haven't gotten enough attention, given their linchpin role in the crisis. I tend to... More

Good Goldman Question From Zero Hedge

By Dean Starkman   Oct 16, 2009 at 02:20 PM

Seems reasonable to me: "What Is The Rationale Behind The SEC's Hiring A 29 Year Old Goldmanite As Its COO?"... More

WSJ, Times at Odds on Citi Earnings

By Dean Starkman   Oct 16, 2009 at 09:00 AM

I'm sure this is much more a function of the unholy mess that is Citigroup's income statement—many a journalistic braincell... More

Financial Press Perennially Surprised by “Placement Agents”

By Dean Starkman   Oct 15, 2009 at 04:23 PM

The financial pages this morning are filled with the disclosure by Calpers that money-management firms seeking business from the big... More

Understanding Citi Losses in its Predatory Roots

Learn more in a 2003 alt media piece than in all business media put together

By Dean Starkman   Oct 15, 2009 at 10:30 AM

I see that Citigroup, amid boom times for other mega banks, got slammed again in its third-quarter earnings, primarily because... More

Intellectually Bankrupt, Firms Try to Squash Dissent

By Dean Starkman   Oct 14, 2009 at 03:47 PM

Crain's New York's Aaron Elstein has a good story about financially troubled corporations suing research firms that issue negative reports.... More

WaPo on High-Cost Banking

By Dean Starkman   Oct 13, 2009 at 10:03 AM

The Post,which has done good work previously on the high cost of poverty, weighs in with a look at efforts... More

Hackers From Minsk

By Dean Starkman   Oct 13, 2009 at 09:15 AM

Wired takes an interesting look at computer security breaches at Wal-Mart from a few years ago. It's a good probe,... More

WSJ Looks at More Crawley Things in the Market

By Dean Starkman   Oct 13, 2009 at 08:20 AM

At a time of great suspicion of all things Wall Street, stories start to emerge of sneaky tricks that insiders... More

Times Discovers S&L-asaurus Working For Citi

By Dean Starkman   Oct 12, 2009 at 03:32 PM

I don't want to let the day pass without a nod to a bit of accountability reporting by Gretchen Morgenson... More

WSJ Misses the Mark on Consumer Credit

By Dean Starkman   Oct 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM

It's hard to understand how a major financial news outlet, at this late hour, can discuss the "democratization" of consumer... More

SunHerald’s Lee, Times-Pic’s Mowbray: Still on it

By Dean Starkman   Oct 9, 2009 at 04:50 PM

One of the true pleasures of reporting on the insurance industry's response, or non-response, to Hurricane Katrina was meeting, and... More

Seriously Smart Column by the NYT’s Norris

By Dean Starkman   Oct 9, 2009 at 02:00 PM

I can't let the day pass without a nod to Floyd Norris's very thoughtful column on the unintended—make that, intended,... More

Shaky Writing Hurts Good Bloomberg D.C. Reporting

By Dean Starkman   Oct 9, 2009 at 10:32 AM

The headline on this Bloomberg story says Derivatives Lobby Links With New Democrats to Blunt Obama Plan. That's true as... More

WaPo Boosts 401(k)s for No Good Reason

By Dean Starkman   Oct 8, 2009 at 10:42 AM

A main beef I have with personal finance reporting—beyond its constant purveying of banalities ("diversify!";"buy and hold!")—is that it generally... More

Audit Interview: The FT’s Lionel Barber

“We got a piece of the puzzle [but] we don’t tend to go grassroots up. There’s an important lesson for all of us.”

By Dean Starkman   Oct 8, 2009 at 08:29 AM

Among the discomfiting changes sweeping through the financial news business in the U.S. has been the rising influence of what... More

WSJ Is Good on Medical Transparency

By Dean Starkman   Oct 6, 2009 at 09:08 AM

How's that expression go?—"Sunlight is the best disinfectant." The Journal's Thomas M. Burton this morning shows Louis Brandeis's adage is... More

A Good Food-Safety Investigation from the Times

By Dean Starkman   Oct 5, 2009 at 09:25 AM

Credit is due the Times and veteran investigative reporter Michael Moss for a painstaking and stomach-turning account yesterday of the... More

Of Buts and Bloomberg News

By Dean Starkman   Oct 2, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Bloomberg News top editor Matt Winkler raised eyebrows around the newswire/data provider the other week with his op-ed in The... More

Urban-Affairs Reporting in the WSJ

By Dean Starkman   Oct 1, 2009 at 10:14 AM

The Journal deserves a nod for a good inside-the-paper story on Detroit public schools' using free food, celebrity visits and... More