Daniel Gross

The Fiber-Optic Network Bubble: Back to the Future

Articles — Sun, 31 Mar 2002 00:00:00 -0500

Nearly two years after the great bull market of the 1990s sank, the debris continues to wash ashore in the form of layoffs, bankruptcies and shuttered Web sites. Among the largest casualties were once-high-flying companies that aimed to construct and manage the information superhighway. The Web-hosting giant Exodus Communications, the DSL-service provider NorthPoint Communications and the ambitious Internet network company PSINet, whose sponsorship of Baltimore's gleaming football stadium has lasted far longer than the company itself, have all sought shelter in Chapter 11.

Companies that built and assembled global networks of fiber-optic cables have been hit particularly hard.… more

Punting on Social Security Reform

Articles — Tue, 11 Dec 2001 00:00:00 -0500

Sounding an alarm bell about the nation's safety net -- "the system is not sustainable as currently structured" -- the report offered three potential options to set Social Security back on the road to insolvency. Each involved diverting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes out of government bonds (in which they're now invested) and into private accounts, which could hold stocks and bonds.

It concluded: "Carpe diem!"

Not Much Optimism Now

Good news for investors, right? After all, market pundits have long projected that privatized Social Security funds would someday flow into the markets like a mighty stream, thus causing stocks to… more

The War Tax: Large Estates Should Pay Their Way

Articles — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 00:00:00 -0500

After September 11th, cash flowed into the coffers of assisting charities. But it has been gushing out of the federal treasury.

In the seven weeks after the attack, Congress has approved measures to bail out the airlines ($5 billion), aid the reconstruction of New York and the Pentagon ($20 billion), and to support increased homeland security and war-related efforts ($20 billion). Still to come are new investments in public health and security infrastructure, aid for the insurance industry, and a likely stimulus package. In all, the tab could run well over $150 billion.

These demands come at a… more

Washington Has the Wrong Medicine for Economic Stimulus

Articles — Thu, 15 Nov 2001 00:00:00 -0500

Since Sept. 11, investors have looked to Washington for leadership on three fronts: monetary, military and fiscal. Thus far, the Federal Reserve and the Pentagon have acquitted themselves admirably in meeting the first two challenges. The Fed aggressively slashed interest rates, and the military unleashed the fury of American air power on the Taliban.

But so far, all parties in Washington -- congressional Republicans and Democrats as well as the White House -- have failed to reach a consensus on a fiscal response. Instead, casting nonpartisanship to the wind, both sides have proposed incompatible, easily caricatured "economic stimulus" packages. … more

A Company Scrambles to Keep Its 'Strategic Philanthropy' Going

Articles — Mon, 12 Nov 2001 00:00:00 -0500

In 1984, American Express revolutionized corporate philanthropy when it introduced a highly successful campaign to restore the Statue of Liberty. The company offered to donate 1 cent from every charge made on its cards over a three-month period to help rebuild and restore the statue. The campaign raised $1.7 million and encouraged customers to pull out their cards to make purchases. During the campaign, card use rose 28 percent compared with the same period a year before.

Aligning business campaigns with nonprofit ventures has become known as cause-related marketing. The idea is to enlist consumers in a philanthropic effort by using… more

Some CEO's Get No Respect

Articles — Fri, 09 Nov 2001 00:00:00 -0500

This is the Golden Age of the self-made CEO. Michael Bloomberg, an up-from-the-bootstraps media mogul, was just elected mayor of New York City. Jack Welch, the General Electric CEO who trumpeted his working class origins even as climbed to the heights of power and influence, is a best-selling author. The business media loves stories of men and women who worked their way up from the proverbial mailroom to the corner office. Having broken free of the strictures imposed by birth, education, gender and class, they have thrived in the most competitive environments imaginable. They are the ultimate meritocrats.

For their troubles… more

Blending Economic Theories Risky

Articles — Wed, 03 Oct 2001 00:00:00 -0400

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that "the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time." By that standard, our president, whose intelligence opponents have long underestimated, may be an economic genius.

In a recent White House meeting, aiming to define the economic policy reaction to the events of Sept. 11, President Bush reportedly said: "We are both supply-siders and Keynesians."

Now, that's a little like saying you're both a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan. Supply-siders and Keynesians stand at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum.

Bush's apparent contradiction is part… more

Discovery Channels

Articles — Sun, 30 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Back in the late 1990s, New Economy evangelists trumpeted the dawning of an era in which technologically backward governments and other authorities would yield to the unstoppable power of technology. There was always something ironic about this claim. For the Internet, along with the semiconductor industry that made personal computing possible, was incubated and nurtured by the federal government. And Internet service providers and software companies routinely lobbied government agencies in an effort to improve their competitive position. In this regard, the New Economy wasn't exactly new, according to Debora Spar, a political scientist by training who teaches at the… more

A Bailout for Everyone

Articles — Mon, 24 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Congress and President Bush have taken swift and correct action to pass a $15 billion package of loan guarantees and cash grants for the beleaguered aviation industry. Yet politicians on both sides of the aisle rightly proclaimed that a bailout should not be a means of bailing out highly-paid CEOs from the workings of the market. Labor leaders criticized the bailout for not offering extra funds to help the tens of thousands of workers who may lose jobs and benefits. And the notion of millionaire CEOs keeping their own massive compensation packages intact while slashing thousands of jobs is unseemly.

But… more

Terror on Wall Street -- A Look at a 1920 Bombing

Articles — Thu, 20 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Last week, two hijacked planes pierced the heart of New York's financial world, but inspired an outpouring of heroic and patriotic responses. To many observers, the events recalled the 1993 World Trade Center bombing or the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

To this history-minded financial journalist, the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and the reaction to it calls to mind a September 1920 tragedy that took place just across the street from TheStreet.com's headquarters. Until last week, that event stood as the deadliest terror attack in New York City's long history.

On Thursday, Sept. 16, 1920, a simple… more