Insider Trading and Asymmetric Information

Some of us know more about some things than others, and we often exploit that advantage. I know more about my driving habits than my auto insurance company. Borrowers know more about their repayment prospects than lenders. The seller of a car knows more about the...

Who’s Rich?

Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, recently declared to fellow party members at a Washington night spot, “I don’t need Bush’s tax cut” and added that he had never worked a day in his life. A number of other rich people have...

Stocks Can Mean Cash

The stock market has been rising impressively, but practically all I hear these days are complaints about low interest rates. Readers lament that they can make only three-quarters of a point in a money-market fund such as Merrill Lynch Ready Assets, or just 1.3...

Principles for Peace in the Middle East

In our quest for peace with the Palestinians, three imperatives unite Israelis: Terror must end, our borders must be secure, and the Palestinians must abandon the goal of destroying Israel. That is why we insist that the terror organizations be dismantled, that we not...

Numbers Can Be Deceiving

Let’s dig deeper into the bull-versus-bear debate that has dominated my last few columns. I’ve taken the bullish position — but I’m not rabid about it, and I’ve discussed the things that worry me, too. I’ve gotten tons of email from...

WSJ Out of the Money on Microsoft’s Stock Options

The financial press is grave-dancing on Microsoft’s decision to no longer award stock options to employees — and instead to award shares of stock itself. A Wall Street Journal column by Jessie Eisenger crows “Microsoft, once the bullying monopolist,...

The McWilliams Special, Part 3 of 3

Just how McWilliams felt we had no means of knowing; but we knew our hearts would not beat freely until his infernal Special should slide safely over the last of the 266 miles which still lay between the distressed man and his unfortunate child. From McCloud to...