The Great Wall Street of China
January 20, 2008
2007 saw a record $414 billion of foreign investment in American companies and assets. Sovereign wealth funds, which are investment funds or companies owned by governments, accounted for over $21.5 billion of that investment in American companies last year. The concern is that supposedly free markets could be manipulated by state sponsored companies for geo-political goals.
“This is a phenomenon that could be called the growth of state capitalism as opposed to market capitalism. The United States has not ever been on the receiving end of this before.” said Jeffrey Garten of the Yale School of Management. Read more
No Soup For You!
January 2, 2008
Move over, Al Yeganeh. New York’s newest soup nazi is none other than Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis.
In this CNBC video, Charlie Gasparino tells of a memo forwarded to him from a BofA employee informing the common folk there that recent cost cutting measures would mean that free soup and crackers would no longer be offered in the cafeteria. Hand soap was also deemed an unnecessary employee perk. Read more
