Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Investment Grades and the Easy AAA

  Published: October 23, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Investment, Grades, The, Easy, Aaa, General Electric Company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Fortune Magazine, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, The Charlotte Observer, Allan Sloan, Charlotte, Doris Burke, Wall Street, United States

  It's amazing how easy it is to get lazy and comfortable and accept things as they seem to be instead of trying to see them as they are. That's true, I'm sorry to say, even for someone like me who urges eternal vigilance and makes a living writing about financial fiascos.

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• No Payback for Chiefs When Profit Evaporates

  Published: November 13, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Payback, For, Chiefs, When, Profit, Evaporates, Stan O Neal, Charles Prince, Citigroup Inc, Fortune Magazine, Merrill Lynch Amp Co Inc, Allan Sloan, Wall Street

  Even if you flame out on Wall Street, you still get to keep the money. That's one of the lessons we learn from the fall of Chuck Prince and Stan O'Neal, who have bitten the dust because Citigroup and Merrill Lynch had to take billions of dollars in losses on securities that were overvalued on their...

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• A Newly Opened Investment Tax Gift

  Published: November 27, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Newly, Opened, Investment, Tax, Gift, Barclays Plc, Merrill Lynch Amp Co Inc, David Hariton, Bear Stearns Amp Co Inc, Fortune Magazine, Lehman Brothers Inc, Allan Sloan, Andrew Desouza, Robert Willens, U S Department Of The Treasury, U S House Committee On Ways And Me

  Thanksgiving has just passed; the year-end holidays are around the corner. So in the spirit of the season, I've got a gift for you. Sort of. It's not spiritual or religious, and doesn't even involve food. It's about money. To be specific, it's a way that average investors may one day be able to...

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• Recession Predictions and Investment Decisions

  Published: December 11, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Recession, Predictions, And, Investment, Decisions, National Bureau Of Economic Research, Bob Hall, Fortune Magazine, Alan Greenspan, Allan Sloan, Ben Bernanke, Stanford University, United States

  Everyone and his brother seems to be talking about recession these days. It dominates every public investment discussion and is the topic 24/7 on cable TV. But let me tell you a little secret: When it comes to investing, the question of whether we're in a recession (or are heading for one) just...

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• Actual business news

  Published: January 13, 2008, 2:07 pm

  Tags: Fortune, Tax, Credit, Mortgage, Countrywide, Time, Cnn, Allan Sloan

  Here is at least one piece of the supposed synergy between Bank of America and Countrywide. I still wonder whether BoA is also keen to hide its own, separate exposure.

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• Self-Portrait of a Turnaround Artist

  Published: February 19, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: Self Portrait, Turnaround, Artist, Delphi Corporation, Steve Miller, United Auto Workers, Chrysler Holding Llc, Detroit, Lee Iacocca, Microsoft Powerpoint, Oregon, Federal Mogul Corporation, Fortune Magazine, General Motors Corporation, Reliance Group, Allan Sloan

  You expect corporate crisis mavens like Steve Miller, veteran of a dozen turnarounds, to focus on only one thing at a time. But now, as his career winds down, Miller, 66, is doing two things simultaneously: talking about what he's learned in 30 years of troubleshooting while also trying to show he's...

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• When the Bulls Stopped Running

  Published: March 4, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: When, The, Bulls, Stopped, Running, Roger Ibbotson, United States, Fortune Magazine, Ibbotson Associates Inc, Allan Sloan, Philadelphia, Ted Aronson, National Collegiate Athletic Association

  Although you won't find it listed on your calendar, we're approaching the anniversary of an epochal event. No, it has nothing to do with the NCAA basketball tournament. It's a different kind of March Madness: the end of the bull market that lasted for a generation and changed the way that Americans...

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• Tax-Exempt Funds Yield a Surprise

  Published: March 11, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: Tax Exempt, Funds, Yield, Surprise, Fortune Magazine, Allan Sloan, Christopher W Alwine, U S Federal Reserve

  It's amazing what you can find when you pay attention to detail. For instance, you might discover, as I did, that you can get a higher yield on a tax-exempt money market mutual fund than on a taxable Treasury fund.

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• Dreams End With Collapse of Tinker Bell Market

  Published: April 1, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: Dreams, End, With, Collapse, Tinker, Bell, Market, U S Federal Reserve, Wall Street, Ben Bernanke, Bear Stearns Amp Co Inc, Jp Morgan Chase Amp Co, United States, Fannie Mae, Fortune Magazine, Freddie Mac Holdings, The Federal Home Loan Banks, Allan Sloan, Henry M Pauls

  What in the world is going on here? Why is Washington spending billions to bail out Wall Street titans while leaving struggling homeowners to fend for themselves? Why are the Federal Reserve and the Treasury acting as if they're afraid the world may come to an end, while the stock market seems much...

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• The Ethanol Cure's Side Effects

  Published: April 29, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: The, Ethanol, Cure S, Side, Effects, George W Bush, United States, Allan Sloan, Will Smith, Egypt, Fortune Magazine, Haiti, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia

  Now that milk and gasoline can each cost $3.50 a gallon, filling up your grocery cart or sport-utility vehicle has become an exercise in pain. Most people just wince, pay and get along as best they can. But someone like me can't help but see these price spikes as a nasty side effect of America's...

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• The Buyout Boys Reload

  Published: May 18, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: The, Buyout, Boys, Reload, Michael Klein, David Rubenstein, Marty Fridson, Harrah S Entertainment Inc, The Blackstone Group Lp, Key Biscayne, Allan Sloan, Charles Dickens, Citigroup Inc, Jim Coulter, Katie Benner, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, The Ritz Carlton Hotel Co Llc

  On a spring day at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Key Biscayne, Fla., Michael Klein, Citigroup's chairman for institutional clients, took the stage at the bank's ninth annual private equity conference. In front of pension fund investors, hedge fund managers and private equity dealmakers, Klein flashed...

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• Smucker Adds Coffee to Its Breakfast Lineup -- And Does It Tax Free

  Published: June 10, 2008, 12:00 am

  Tags: Smucker, Adds, Coffee, Its, Breakfast, Lineup, And, Does, Tax, Free, Folgers Coffee, Orrville, Allan Sloan, Cincinnati, Robert Willens, Fortune Magazine, Ohio, Pillsbury Crisco

  It looks like a simple corporate transaction negotiated around a kitchen table. J.M. Smucker, the jelly and jam outfit, is buying the Folgers coffee business from Procter & Gamble, creating a breakfast food combo. What could be more down-home? But when you look at the $3.3 billion transaction...

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