Loren C. Steffy's Blog, page 62

Former AIG exec sues the government over bailout

What would the global economic crisis be without the little laughs along the way? Maurice "Hank" Greenberg is doing his part to keep us all chuckling.

Supercommittee: Apparently, failure is an option (Updated)

(Updates stock market activity.) The great debt-ceiling charade is now winding down its final act. To the surprise of no one, the so-called Supercommittee is about to end in failure, despite earlier pronouncements that such a failure wasn't an option. The 12 bipartisan committee members were supposed to hammer out an agreement on deficit cuts [...]

Oil markets move toward balance as the Grinch lurks

Oil prices are rising, and while that won't affect your trip to Grandma's house this Thanksgiving, it could mean the Grinch will be working the pumps by Christmas.

Fannie and Freddie executives take their turn at the trough

It's an all-too-familiar pattern, yet this time it's occurring within a government agency rather than a publicly traded company: executives getting handsome rewards while their businesses flounder. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the secondary mortgage companies, have required about $170 billion in taxpayer assistance and are now wards of the government. In the quarter that [...]

Insider trading: illegal everywhere except Congress

Members of both parties in Congress continue to exempt themselves from the insider trading laws that would have ensnared even the savviest Wall Street trader for doing the same things they do on a regular basis.

Pfizer and Medco: making consumers' blood pressure rise (Updated)

It's not surprising that Pfizer would be doing everything it can to blunt the introduction of generic Lipitor, its blockbuster cholesterol-fighting drug. But it's got some unusual bedfellows in the fight: pharmacy benefit companies. Big benefit managers, like Medco Health Solutions, are telling pharmacists to continue filling prescriptions with the more expensive Lipitor once Pfizer's [...]

Pfizer and Medco: making consumers' blood pressure rise

It's not surprising that Pfizer would be doing everything it can to blunt the introduction of generic Lipitor, its blockbuster cholesterol-fighting drug. But it's got some unusual bedfellows in the fight: pharmacy benefit companies. Big benefit managers, like Medco Health Solutions, are telling pharmacists to continue filling prescriptions with the more expensive Lipitor once Pfizer's [...]

Pipeline politics amid the Keystone XL delay

In Sunday's column, I discussed how the delay of the Keystone XL pipeline could mean the end of that project, and how its demise could benefit other proposed pipelines, especially one that Houston's Enterprise Products plans to build. But the new pipelines are only part of the equation. As I mentioned in the column, there [...]

The changing face of North American energy

The blog will probably be rather quiet today, because I'm attending, and participating in, a seminar at the University of Houston that's examining the changing outlook for North American energy. Among the topics: the impact of hydraulic fracturing and the now-delayed Keystone XL pipeline on the future of U.S. energy. While the Obama administration opted [...]

Nabors' high-flying executive perks draw SEC inquiry

Even as shareholders and corporate governance experts are decrying Nabors Industries' $100 million severance for former chief executive Eugene Isenberg, the company history of lavish executive perks are drawing the attention of regulators. Nabors, it seems, may have a private jet problem. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, the oil drilling [...]