Wall Street

Americans Under 30 the Most Cynical Bunch Ever. Good for Them. And Us.

Took a few days off to go canoeing on the Buffalo River in Arkansas -- always a fine way to clear the mind and ease the soul -- and came home to wonderful news: The Harvard Institute of Politics released its 23rd "Survey of Young Americans' Attitude Toward Politics and Public Service" today, finding ... More >>

Obama & Romney's Country-Club Sopranos

American banks are on a massive crime spree. The Presidential candidates hope you won't notice.

Like A Vampire, Wall Street Will Drain TXU Until There's Nothing Left

At least for now, Dallas-based electricity and transmission giant Energy Future Holdings, the former TXU, is paying off its debts. Technically, it's completely insolvent, but that hasn't stopped the Wall Street firms who purchased the company in the biggest leveraged buyout in history from extractin ... More >>

Barbarians in the Ivory Tower

America's for-profit colleges offer education only a con man (or a congressman) could love.

For-Profit Colleges Only a Con Man Could Love

Barbarians in the Ivory Tower

America's Petro-Terrorists

How greedy speculators bought politicians and drove up the price of oil.

Fracking Boom a Ponzi-Inflated Bubble About To Pop? Rolling Stone Sure Thinks So.

Is the United States the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas?" as President Barack Obama has said. Or has the energy industry used fuzzy math to hype its estimated reserves to entice buyouts and Wall Street investment? Tough to say for sure, but last month the U.S. Energy Information Administration scaled ... More >>

Want to Understand Politics, the Economy, Everything? Follow the Levees.

​Figured it out. I can tell you why the Republicans keep assassinating their own nominees. It all goes back to the Trinity River levees. What? You think I can't connect those dots? Stand back. Right now the GOP rivals are reducing Newt Gingrich to road-kill in Iowa with Super-PAC attack ads o ... More >>

What's Occupying Tom Leppert

The Senate candidate doesn't like mobs of protesters. Someone alert the Tea Party.

Dallas Gets Occupied

​Doubtless you've heard about Occupy Wall Street, the protests against corporate greed and Wall Street bailouts (among other things) that have been going on for the last three weeks in New York. The protesters call themselves "the other 99 percent" or just "The 99," and this morning in Pike Park o ... More >>

A Week Into Cannes and Our Critic Sends His Best Regards

Malcolm Gladwell Sends Convention Planners Packing With a Recession Lesson: It Takes Humility to Be a Winner.

Photos by Patrick MichelsThe Professional Convention Management Association closed out its national gathering at the Dallas Convention Center this afternoon with a slick keynote luncheon that telegraphed to the hundreds of event planners: Watch closely, this is how it's done.The food presentation, s ... More >>

Real Estate, M.L. King and The Juniors, Sideshow Tragedy

Saturday, November 28, at City Tavern

No Justice: We've Bailed Out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind Our Financial Collapse?

Tracks of My Tears, | Slumming It, | Critics’ Pick: Tool,

Blockbuster Reports Drop in Total Revenue and, Worse, Same-Store Sales

All week, Wall Street has been anxiously anticipating Blockbuster's first-quarter results, which were released moments ago. Analysts didn't expect good news from the Dallas-based company, whose efforts to reinvent itself we've documented at great length in recent months. And the news is indeed mixed ... More >>

Food For Thought 5.4.09

"[Sales] may have been negatively impacted by media surrounding swine flu." (Chuck E. Cheese executive Michael Magusiak on the effect of the "pandemic" on the family friendly pizza chain's fortunes, The restaurants suffered a 20 percent drop in same-store sales during the first three days last week. ... More >>

Where's My Money? Just Remember, "A Very Simple Old Scam Can Still Fool Smart People."

Bernie Madoff's in jail after pleading guilty to all charges. Closer to home, Allen Stanford's pleading the Fifth. So better now than never, seemed like a good time to catch up with Randy Johnston, a Dallas financial malpractice lawyer and the author of Robbed at Pen Point -- and a guy who predicts ... More >>

10 Questions: Courtney Reum

Patrick MichelsHe is the man behind VeeV, the world's first Acai spirit, a product just hitting the Dallas market.While one can argue the health benefits of acai berries after they've been distilled into alcohol and bottled, Reum's marketing skill goes without question. They've developed a sustainab ... More >>

So Far, Only One Person Wants to Have a T-Bone With T. Boone For a Good Cause

The Wall Street Journal wonders why there's been just a single bid on the opportunity to power-lunch with T. Boone Pickens, who's selling an eat-and-greet at Nick and Sam's to raise dough for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The auction opened Monday, and thus far only "9***a" has made an offer -- for the ... More >>

SMU Economics Prof Ravi Batra Says You Need a Bailout, Not Your Bank

After the jump, SMU professor of economics and prophet Ravi Batra's five-point plan for fixing the U.S.'s busted economy. No doubt, the sixth point of that plan involves writing books about the busted economy, then sending out press releases promoting one of those books exactly two years after its p ... More >>

When Black Friday Comes, I'll Collect Everything I'm Owed

For a brief moment, we considered getting up early to check out the Black Friday scene -- and Steely Dan's as far as we got. (And, for those in actual need of actual information, this compendium of online sales, sales, sales!) But former Observer-er Ann Zimmerman, now at The Wall Street Journal, has ... More >>

Dallas Mavericks' Owner Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading

Uh-oh. Breaking news this morning that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Mavs' owner Mark Cuban with insider trading, stemming from a 2004 sale of stock in an Internet company. Me? I dunno the diff between "insider trading" and a "hot stock tip", but I do this ain't g ... More >>

Dallas Ad Firm Uses Bailout to Sell Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast

Where Wall Street Meets Main Street

Feeling Feverish?

Backtrackin'

Things you may have missed the first time

Mark Cuban Suits Up for Football

Keepin' the Faith (Or, An Eyeball for an Eye Socket)

Red light, Green light

Things get gray when it comes to green

Bye, Bye, Buyout

Rage Against City Hall

My Spell Off-Broadway

Curtain up! Light the lights! Cue the music! And hey, lady, wanna be in the show?

We're So Vain

Circle Theatre's Vanities shows there's life after high school

Numbers Game

The Morning News deals with circulation woes

On the Streets

The Fort Worth Art Dealers Association says "Buy, Buy, Buy"

Applause! Applause!

Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum pundits pass out plaudits

A cut above

American Psycho gets all chopped up, thank God

Greed is very, very bad

Boiler Room serves up the sons of Gordon Gekko

Theme puke

At Jekyll & Hyde Club, the actors act, the puppets howl, and the food...well, never mind

Day trippin'

Dallas' little fish swim with the Wall Street sharks at an online trading house

Major Mistakes

Signing to a record label can be bad for a band's health. So why do they keep doing it?

Stormy weather

Hot new computer game maker ION Storm appears to have all it needs for success -- top talent, plenty of money, and legions of anxious fans. So why is its future so cloudy?

LiL' Things, big problems

Why no one is winning the battle of the baby superstores

Lex and Terry's wet dream

Can two transplants from the land of Lynyrd Skynyrd and fart smells find the key to radio fame at Dallas' Q102?

Revenge of the bourgeoisie

DTC's ambitious Sternheim Project roasts the rise of the middle class

BeloWatch

Redefining reform

Big business proponents contrive some of the worst bills of the 74th session

One Scared Puppy

Why Dallas' Greyhound Lines is fighting for its life