Month: July 2012

With 32 sports in the Summer Olympics, little attention is devoted to determining which ones might be missing. The existing 32 fit into categories though sometimes cases can be made for more than one. Among the criteria for including a sport in the Olympics are the number of countries in which it is played, the […]

Slumbering reporters were taken by surprise at the sudden announcement of a merger between World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and the Congress of the United States.  Spokespeople for Goldman Sachs, which arranged the transaction, appeared oblivious to the opening ceremony for the London Olympics scheduled later in the day.  They were equally unaware of the absence […]

What does the US Postal Service have in common with Bashar al-Assad? Both are dead men walking. No country will take the Syrian leader and his options are down to one, but if Congress got out of the way, USPS might be turned into a viable private company. Different but viable. Problem is nobody likes […]

According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal written by Stacy Meichtry and Liam Molony, Sicily is in the process of going bust. It’s governor resigned after seeking a bailout from Rome, but Rome has only a sieve to offer. I had a few minutes to spare so I thought I’d solve the problem. […]

I should be thanking Barclays and its CEO, Bob Diamond. As a result of the recent LIBOR fixing scandal, I have taken a mental tour of the world of punishment.  The image of Braveheart’s death recurred though I preferred the reality of William Wallace being disemboweled before being drawn and quartered to Mel Gibson’s “Freedom” […]

When properly spelled, LIBOR stands for the London Interbank Offered Rate and it is the benchmark against which much consumer related debt is priced. Since LIBOR is a measure of the average interest rate at which large London banks make short-term loans to one another, the calculation depends on self reporting by each of these […]