The title for this week's column was inspired by John Edwards.

Let's forget whether the "love child" really is his. Let's ignore the denials of any knowledge about payments made to his mistress by his finance chairman. Let's also acknowledge that private conduct should remain private.

After the affair,...

If Beijing were to choose a representative for its "Green Olympics," China Sinopec would win gold. The multinational energy and oil giant made the essence of the term literal by turning its exhibition hall on the Olympic Green into a monstrous Chia pet. The image is best summarized in one...

It's 11:40am. A perfect summer's day. Not too much humidity. The streets are alive with people. I'm in a taxi, trying to get through New York City traffic to Penn Station to catch my train to Washington DC, which leaves at noon. My train leaves in 20 minutes and I'm...

Having grown up in Texas Bush oil country, and later living and working in and around entertainment and technology economies such as Seattle, Los Angeles and abroad, where a more liberal mind-set supports a future with Obama as the leader of choice, I keep trying to figure out how this...

It's 11:45am on a sunny summer day in New York. In just a few minutes, promises will be broken, years of trust will be betrayed and a high-value customer and millions of dollars will be lost.

This is the story of a very expensive customer loyalty program that worked flawlessly...

Two recent big-time media articles again suggest how we have been misled by the consensus of economic opinion. I referred to one last week.

Many economists, including Ben Bernanke and the powers at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, argued that speculation did not drive up the oil price. This...

From IBD:

It's the 5th bank [Wachovia] to agree to repurchase auction-rate securities under pressure from federal and state regulators who said the banks misled investors. It'll buy $8.5 bil worth that investors couldn't sell. Citi, (C) UBS, (UBS) JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS) also have agreed...

Psst. Hey, you. That's right, the one who's staring at your computer screen. Come over here. No, no, over here. I need a place where we can talk privately, because what I am about to tell you is so explosive, so potentially incendiary to the entire world order that I...

Why are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both government-sponsored and backed by taxpayer dollars, still publicly traded? The national discussion of the mortgage mess must consider the inherent conflict that exists when Fannie and Freddie serve two masters -- its shareholders and the American people.

Owning stock in Fannie...

With the news today that Donald Trump has ridden to the rescue of Ed McMahon, buying his foreclosure-headed home and leasing it back to him, I can't help wondering if this is a good thing. I previously took Mr. McMahon to task, as well as those who offered him refuge...

Results from our recent Huffington Post survey indicate a serious problem with customer service: low levels of satisfaction and feeling that customers are treated poorly because companies think of them as “Hostages, unable to go elsewhere.”

I will present survey results in two blog postings.  In this post, I will...

Why aren't the presidential candidates addressing the needs of Main Street? How can the Wall Street fat cats get away such shameful negligence and mismanagement? How can they have their butts saved by a $400 million bailout by Washington as small businesses get a big fat zero, while Senators...

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that "Ecuador is willing to mediate a settlement between Chevron Corp and 30,000 Amazon jungle dwellers suing the oil company for up to $16 billion in environmental damages," according to the country's top attorney.

On the face of it, an innocuous and wholesome development. Who...

Did you hear George Bush's speech about the Russian invasion of Georgia this morning? It sounded an awful lot like his father's "this will not stand" speech about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. That one ultimately led to the first Gulf war.

Bush II stopped short of threatening violence, but he...