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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   It’s Turkey Time. Gobble Gobble

   November 25, 2008 08:57 AM

   I like this Allan Sloan column in the Washington Post looking back at the worst "turkeys" of the year. Topping them all is the Lehman Brothers, and Sloan admirably slaps himself for a bad call: Letting Lehman Brothers... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   Sorkin Channels Wall Street

   November 25, 2008 08:29 AM

   Andrew Ross Sorkin in today’s New York Times lets Wall Street CEOs (of all people) snipe anonymously at Tim Geithner, Obama’s choice for Treasury secretary. His news colleagues and Bloomberg, meanwhile, have straightforward news stories that are much... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   The Times Is Also Right on Rubin

   November 24, 2008 03:56 PM

   Speaking of Robert Rubin, The New York Times yesterday had a great story on Citigroup and its atrocious risk-management policies. To the extent that they existed, they were fatally compromised by conflicts of interest. Here's a nice... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   Right on Rubin

   November 24, 2008 09:43 AM

   Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post points out that it's inexplicable that Robert Rubin hasn't had his reputation much more damaged by his association with Citigroup (not to mention with the deregulating that led to its downfall). Although Rubin... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   WSJ Looks at the Morgan Stanley Panic

   November 24, 2008 09:27 AM

   The Journal’s big story of the day pieces together what happened to Morgan Stanley a couple of months ago when it briefly looked like it was about to get swamped by the crisis. It turns out that some of... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   The Times on the Fall of Luxury

   November 24, 2008 09:07 AM

   The Times has a serviceable story on the problems in the luxury part of the economy, but I just want to point out the lede. Gold was raining from above for luxury brands in the good old days of... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   A Billion Here, a Trillion There

   November 24, 2008 08:26 AM

   President-Elect Obama is proposing an enormous stimulus package to save us all from Great Depression II, but just how much will it cost? The Washington Post and Bloomberg both say $700 billion, but The Wall Street... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   WSJ on the Liver Merchants

   November 21, 2008 10:17 AM

   The Wall Street Journal has yet another good story in its series on nonprofit hospitals acting like for-profit companies. This one's nasty: The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center cut corners to crank out liver transplants. A surgeon it... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Audit Interview: John Ryan

   November 21, 2008 10:10 AM

   Many in the press believe they did a great job covering predatory mortgage lenders and their Wall Street partners in the run-up to the current credit calamity. Us, we’re not so sure. One person who tends to agree with... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    Sulzbergers Face the Dividend Music

    November 21, 2008 09:26 AM

    The New York Times Company finally faced up to reality yesterday and slashed its dividend. It’s something it should have done long ago, but it’s better late than never. Just last year, the Times raised its dividend by about... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Look Out Below!

    November 21, 2008 08:58 AM

    The brief recovery in the credit markets caused by the government bailout is officially history. The Journal continues its good coverage of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, which has cratered in the last few days and is now pricing... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Somebody’s Wrong on Citi

    November 21, 2008 08:25 AM

    The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times both have scoops this morning on what Citi is planning to do about its plunging fortunes. Problem is, their scoops are diametrically opposed—one paper’s got to be wrong here. The WSJ... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    A Roundup of the Wreckage

    November 20, 2008 09:59 AM

    With yet another stock-market plunge yesterday, the papers all have their follow stories about the bleakness. Barry Ritholtz over at The Big Picture posts a roundup of some of the records being set lately. It's a snapshot of the... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    WSJ: A Novel Tack by Mortgage Firms

    November 20, 2008 09:18 AM

    The Wall Street Journal has an interesting report on mortgage firms slashing troubled borrowers’ principal, rather than foreclosing on them. I didn’t know this was going on at all, and it’s a hopeful sign that lenders may be finally... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    The Big Three’s PR Disaster

    November 20, 2008 08:52 AM

    Dana Milbank of the Washington Post twists the knife into the carmaker CEOs, who were busted in Congress yesterday for flying their corporate jets to Washington to ask for a government handout. They couldn’t even “jet-pool” as one congressman... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    Cash for Trash

    November 20, 2008 08:20 AM

    The Wall Street Journal has an excellent story about which corporate executives made the biggest killings over the last five years. Turns out fifteen of them, including several homebuilders, raked in more than $100 million in cash from stock... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Steering Away from the Pack

    November 19, 2008 12:13 PM

    With everybody thinking and writing about the car industry these days, it’s hard to stand out from the pack. But the Timeses of Los Angeles and New York do just that today with good angles, both of which, coincidentally, come... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    FT Calls Out the Administration on its “Corner”

    November 19, 2008 09:38 AM

    The Financial Times is appropriately skeptical of Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke and their assertions that "we have turned the corner" on the crisis. The paper neatly juxtaposes their optimism with news that credit-default swap prices soared... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    How Much “Change”?

    November 19, 2008 09:25 AM

    Bloomberg has a nice report on what an Obama administration’s financial and economic policy will look like, noting that Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, and Paul Volcker aren’t necessarily the poster boys for “change.” ``This is a group of people... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Bad News in Commercial Real Estate

    November 19, 2008 09:00 AM

    The Journal and Bloomberg report today that two big commercial real estate loans are about to default and yesterday the commercial mortgage-backed securities market cratered as a result. It looks like the next shoe may be dropping.... Continue reading

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