Banking’s Biggest Losers Are Learning Some Lessons

March 5, 2009

When Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis purchased Countrywide Mortgage and then Merrill Lynch, he looked like a smart grabber of market share. Today he is under investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, stonewalling congress about billions of dollars of publically funded bonuses for Merrill executives, and may lose his job. What went wrong? Sydney Finkelstein, author of Why Smart Executives Fail, tries to figure that out in this Forbes magazine column. To quote from the article: “Bank of America has become a black hole. Read More

Stimulus Hits the Road: Transportation Gets First Jobs Jolt

March 4, 2009

 

States are weighing-in on how they will direct Federal stimulus dollars and the first impacts will be in transportation funding. As this New York Times story details, “They may be old plans that the recession had forced a state to shelve, but multiplied by thousands, they will quickly get bulldozers rolling again and paychecks flowing. On the highway projects alone, the White House said Tuesday that 150,000 jobs would be created or saved.” The construction industry is applauding the jobs jolt. Mike Gibson, executive director of Associated Contractors of New Mexico, says his state lost 4,500 highway construction jobs last year.