John Shapiro, co-founder and managing director of Chieftain, said his firm sent the letter after failing in other attempts to get management to change. "Their emphasis has been growth, not return to shareholders," he said. "There's nothing wrong with growth, but if you overpay for it, it dilute ... Read more

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If the economy was a ship, then Easy Al guided the world's largest economy within spitting distance of the shoals. Now, everybody else has to try and make sure that it doesn't crash into those shores, wrecking secondary havoc elsewhere. The Bank of Canada is widely expected to lower its ... Read more

Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert has decided to move the company one step closer to a Berkshire Hathaway model, according to a story by the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The new holding company structure will split up Sears into as many as three dozen separate businesses, each with its ... Read more

Maybe we can hold here. ... Read more

Today President Bush shed some light on how the government plans to artificially stimulate the economy. The President said he's looking for "direct and rapid tax relief" for both consumers and businesses. To achieve this, he plans on implementing an income tax rebate of between $300 and $600 pe ... Read more

Picture: Kruschev (famous table pounder at the UN) Well, 2006 seemed like the year I pounded the table for emerging markets. If you'd listened to me - heck, if I'd taken my advice more seriously - my portfolio and yours would be turning into serious dough by now. I have a feeling that this ... Read more

The last spike of the transcontinental Railroad is driven at Promontory, Utah in 1869. "Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the la ... Read more

Excuse my very lazy blogging lately, I start catching up with this truly global economic and political analysis. But searching for a new residence in my hometown took all my energies and very often my breath when I saw what is on offer for what prices. (And I spent dark winter evenings reading about ... Read more

With the market and six of the ten sectors closing within 1% of their extreme lows, we are reminded of the extreme highs calculated on October 9th, 2007.  This is not to say that the market will not post lower closes further down the road, but in the short term expect a bounce to the 50-day. ... Read more