washingtonpost.com - Steven PearlsteinSteven PearlsteinWashington, The Nation's Weather Wimp- April 23, 2005 Hardly a flake had fallen yesterday morning before every school in the Washington region was closed. Thousands of parents were forced to skip a day of work. Business meetings were postponed, events canceled, trains delayed and government workers sent home early. All day long, TV news crews whipped up fears about "treacherous driving" even as the scenes behind them showed traffic moving smoothly on snowless roads.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51558-2005Feb24.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Ethics Pedestal Assures Some Hard Falls- April 23, 2005 A question that will be played out in ethics classes at business schools for years to come is whether Boeing, one of the largest government contractors, struggling to get out from under an ethics cloud, should have fired its married 68-year-old chief executive for carrying on with one of the company's Washington area employees.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18804-2005Mar8.html?nav=rss_business/column... Chamber Misses Moral Of Enron Story- April 23, 2005 I've been up well past midnight this week reading Kurt Eichenwald's riveting account of the destruction of Enron Corp. "Conspiracy of Fools" is well-written and exhaustively researched, and Eichenwald is wise enough to have let this complex story of greed, fear, incompetence and complacency tell itself rather than force his own conclusions.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11435-2005Mar29.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Stores Should Look Back To Find Future- April 23, 2005 The names -- Hecht's and Woodies here in Washington, Jordan Marsh and Filene's in Boston, Strawbridge's in Philadelphia, Marshall Field's in Chicago -- conjure up wonderful memories for those of a certain age. Visiting Santa Claus and the elaborate Christmas window displays. Buying a first suit or a First Communion dress. The satisfaction as you hand the sales lady the quarters and wadded dollar bills you and your sisters had saved to buy a bottle of eau de toilette for Mother's Day, after the..http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64550-2005Mar1.html?nav=rss_business/column... Big Three Lumbering Toward Failure- April 23, 2005 Six years ago it was Chrysler. Then four years ago, Ford was on the ropes. Now General Motors, facing a $2 billion loss this year from its carmaking operations, has been forced to lay off a quarter of its white-collar workers and plead with union workers to begin contributing to their health insurance.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64666-2005Mar24.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Lawyers Scare Firms Away From Good Ideas- April 23, 2005 It is gospel among management gurus that successful companies listen to their customers.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45704-2005Feb22.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Bubbles Abound In a World of Ready Cash- April 23, 2005 Welcome to the Bubble Economy, 2005. There's the housing bubble and the commercial office space bubble. There's the bond-market bubble and its two progeny, the junk-market bubble and the emerging-market-debt bubble. That $2.50-a-gallon price you see at the pump has all the markings of an...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58600-2005Mar22.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Calling For Real Competition- April 23, 2005 Normally, I take a skeptical view of corporate mergers and acquisitions, from the viewpoint of both consumers and shareholders. But in the telecom industry, deregulation and technological change have created so much overcapacity, driven prices so low and so thoroughly transformed the services being sold that consolidation is now both inevitable and desirable.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27725-2005Feb15.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Ballpark Finance Requires Clear Thinking- April 23, 2005 Doug Duncan, the Montgomery County executive and would-be governor, has joined politicians from the District, Arlington, Loudoun, Prince William and Loudoun counties who have bravely promised "tax cuts" or "tax relief" this year in response to skyrocketing property assessments.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38696-2005Mar15.html?nav=rss_business/colum... Carlyle Leads Mega-Fund Equity Trend- April 23, 2005 Left-wing conspiracists know the Carlyle Group as a secretive global cabal that leverages the political connections of partners and high-profile advisers such as George H.W. Bush, Frank Carlucci and James Baker to create untold riches for the Mellon and bin Laden families.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17517-2005Mar31.html?nav=rss_business/colum... |