John Cohn

Have you been to the mall lately? If you are anything like me, the idea of an afternoon at the mall is as attractive as proctologic exam. I prefer to do my shopping from the comfort of an easy chair. Although I still am not thrilled with the safety and security of internet shopping, I’m willing to take the added risk if it means I can avoid the mall. If the current trend of retails closures continues, online shopping may be one of the few viable options open to consumers like me.

Everyone likes to throw down a wager now and again. Most of us gamble everyday; some more than others. Now that the results of the big bank “stress tests” are out, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is wagering that U.S. banks can do something their Japanese counterparts were unable to accomplish in that country’s “lost decade” of the 1990s: earn their way out of trouble.

It’s Judgment Day for the nation’s largest banks.

Although the news about the bank stress tests have been dripping out, the official results of the government’s financial stability examination will be released today after the stock market closes.

The only bond most of us find intriguing is the film operative James.

But in the complex world of corporate risk and investment, bonds are without peer.

Grizzled veterans of the trading wars have an old adage:

“Sell in May and go away until November.”

Is this good advice or simply a myth?

This should have happened months ago.

Everyone knew that Chrysler had a date with destiny. They tried. But the President’s Auto Task Force could not pull it off.

It’s a Barnum and Bailey world.

Since the clock struck midnight on the dawn of the 21st century, our greatest export has been our toxic debt. Nothing we manufactured or assembled came close.

When the U.S. catches a cold, the whole world sneezes.

It’s an old adage.

But as we’ve seen over the past several months, our nausea from the over-consumption of toxic assets has caused economic indigestion throughout the world economy.

Legendary Israeli general Moshe Dayan was as well known for his pithy aphorisms as he was for his iconic eye patch and military acumen.

Once when queried about a seemingly hopeless strategic position held by his chronically outnumbered troops, he characteristically shrugged his shoulders and responded, “If I cover one eye, it don’t look so bad.”

Historians have found lots of reasons to revile Richard M. Nixon.

The list is long; Watergate, dirty tricks and the Whispering Campaign he used to gain his first congressional seat.