Subject: Wall Street

• When There Were People

  November 4, 1999

• The Fix Was In For The GOP?

  Your hunch at the gas pump was right. In advance of recent federal elections, oil companies seemed to have lowered gas prices--a move that's benefited the party in power: Republicans. But now there's conclusive evidence that you weren't nuts. Last week, the good folks over at The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights released data demonstrating that oil companies sharply reduced gas prices in the months before the last three federal elections. After the Republicans retained their politica

  November 7, 2006

• Squeezing Money from Corpses in Irvine

  That companies which use magical accounting practices to rewrite history to fatten the bank accounts of their executives would try to squeeze money from corpses isn't really too surprising, but it is still disgusting. And it's happening in Irvine. The Wall Street Journal reports that dozens of companies used the collapse of prices in the stock market following the 9/11 attack as an opportunity to shovel more money into the troughs of their executives via the backdating of stock options. (The

  March 7, 2007

• Toll Road to Ruin, Chapter 11

  This month Orange County's bumbling Transportation Corridors Agency (TCA) devised yet another new plan to solve its continual financial disaster woes: The government agency wants to change its name to the Transportation Corridor System (TCS). Oh, and one other minor detail: They also want to spend an additional $4.7 BILLION in "speculative grade" debt for the 11-year-old 73 Toll Road that slices through Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Irvine and Laguna Beach on the way south to I5. Bend over baby

  April 28, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises

  Speed Eating: Would you eat 42 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in 10 minutes for $1,500? Patrick “P-Rock” Beroletti, a twentysomething-year-old Chicago cook, won the Drum Corps International World Peanut Butter and Jelly Eating Championship this week at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. (Earlier this year, Beroletti devoured 47 donuts in five minutes.) Tim “Eater X” Janus dunked his treats in a milk-water mixture and nabbed second place with 37.5 sandwiches. Rich “The Locust” LeF

  August 9, 2007

• What's The Deal With OC Billionaires?

  We've got the George Argyros-owned apartment empire "systematically ripping off" its largely poor or lower middle class tenants by fabricating excuses for not refunding deposits to literally thousands of people. We've got Donald L. Bren--owner of the Irvine Co. using strong arm tactics on small local businesses and, in a messy child support case in Los Angeles, declaring himself exempt from law because he's so rich. And, perhaps most colorful of all, we've got Henry T. Nicholas III--a founde

  June 7, 2008

• This Week in the OC Weekly

  October 3, 2008

• Getting More Retail than Sinatra

  January 20, 2000

• A River Runs Beneath It

  January 20, 2000

• OC's Taliban-Loving Congressman to Address OC's Taliban This Wednesday

  Ya wanna know why the California Coalition for Immigration Reform are evil, decrepit hypocrites? Because they're hosting Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Taliban) this Wednesday at their monthly Klavern at the Garden Grove Woman's Club on the corner of Gilbert and Garden Grove Blvd (starts at 7:30 pm; admission $5 for non-CCIR members). From the keyboard of CCIR head Barbara Coe: The courageous patriot Representative who always stands strong for the rights of loyal, law-abiding Americans of ever

  October 20, 2008

• Tim Carpenter: Back With a Vengeance

  “I haven't seen you since 1988,” Tim Carpenter says with astonishment as he finally recognizes the progressive activist whose hand he's been shaking during a brief break between a press conference and rally for Democratic candidates at the Teamsters Local 952 union hall in Orange last Friday. Before 2002, if there was a demonstration for homeless rights or against the death penalty or nuclear proliferation, you can bet he was not only there, he probably organized it. Partially for financial

  October 20, 2008

• Lets Get Physical

  November 20, 2003

• Jim and Ted's Excellent (Immigrant-Bashing) Adventure

  If you thought you missed your chance to pelt the father of the once headline-gobbling Minuteman Project and his Cricket playing, immigrant-hating homeless sidekick with your burning questions (Why do you wear a straight-jacket-vest-thing over your clothes? Are you gay?), you'll get your chance this Monday. Jim Gilchrist, who caused a ruckus last year at Cal State Long Beach during a scheduled debate, is back for another rant session. This time he'll be teaming with sidekick Ted Hayes, the dread

  December 4, 2008

• As Cox Takes More Heat, a Bizarro World Blast From the Past

  The hits keep coming for embattled Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, the former local congressman (R-Newport Beach). Amid the Bernard L. Madoff scandal, Cox last week publicly blamed his staff for not vigorously investigating complaints against the fraudster. Today, we hear from...Wayne State State Law School professor Peter J. Henning, in the New York Times: "I always thought the whole idea of leadership was that 'the buck stops here,' which means the chairman takes t

  December 22, 2008

• Feds Kill Foothill-South Toll Road Proposal. Now What? Punt?

  UPDATED WITH TCA NON-RESPONSE RESPONSE; BLOOMBERG REPORT...If the posting times are correct, The Orange County Register (9:40 a.m.) beat the Los Angeles Times (10:03 a.m.) in getting the news out that the U.S. Department of Commerce had announced it would uphold the state Coastal Commission's rejection of the plan to extend the 241 Foothill-South toll road through San Onofre State Park and perilously close to Trestles beach.Jane C. Luxton, general counsel of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmos

  December 18, 2008

• Believe the Investment Advice From the Man With No Mustache

  In mock congressional testimony, Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), said today the U.S. should only nationalize banks as a last resort, that focus should instead be placed on shoring up lending and staving off foreclosures and, most importantly, that he shaved off his mustache at the urging of his mother.In "Hairy Lips Sink Ships," his March Investment Outlook posted on the PIMCO website, Gross explains, "One thing I've

  February 24, 2009

• Moyers Picks Brain of Last Socialist (and Weekly Pal)

  Saturday Night Live had this skit years ago where they presented a Fugitivesque TV show called The Last Liberal. With all the talk on Fox News and conservative talk radio about the rise of Socialism in Obamerica, Bill Moyers decided to go out and find The Last Socialist to get the other side of the story. It turns out the subject of the host's recent Bill Moyers Journal interview is an old pal of the Weekly to boot!Moyers jokes that when it came to locating a socialist, his show "consulted the E

  March 23, 2009

• [Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show,' 'A Clockwork Orange,' More

  January 29, 2009

• [Scariest People 2008] Count Coxula

  October 30, 2008

• [Moxley Confidential] Chris Cox Says He's a Tough Wall Street Regulator, SEC Record Proves Otherwise

  October 2, 2008

• Proposition Me

  March 9, 2000

• Summer Reading

  May 29, 2003

• Toll Road to Ruin

  OC agency wants to borrow $4.7 billion more

  May 3, 2007

• Same Old Story

  Sequels, prequels, and threequels headline Hollywood 2007

  January 4, 2007

• Total Recall

  August 24, 2006

• Catch Me If You Can

  March 23, 2006

• Un-Made in Mexico

  February 2, 2006

• This Week in Glow-in-the-Dark Chevys

  January 19, 2006

• Go Time

  January 13, 2005

• Fool's Gold

  January 16, 2003

• The Party's Over

  November 21, 2002

• Uncle Sam Bets Big Money on Iraq

  November 14, 2002

• Let Them Eat Nachos

  October 3, 2002

• It's the Economy, Stupid

  August 8, 2002

• Reform-School Congress

  July 25, 2002

• And for the Design-Conscious Hippie?

  December 20, 2001

• The Visible Invisible Man

  November 15, 2001

• Its a Living

  September 6, 2001

• Behind the Smoke

  November 9, 2000

• Death Pool

  August 17, 2000

• Val Garay, Laguna Beach-Based Superproducer

  August 10, 2000

• Its Official!

  March 2, 2000

• Bankruptcy? What Bankruptcy?!

  December 9, 1999

• The Shock of the Nude

  August 12, 1999

• Putting the P-U in Public/Private Partnerships

  July 22, 1999

• Blown Coverage

  February 18, 1999

• The Safety Dance

  January 7, 1999

• Out of Sight

  October 1, 1998

• Chuck DeVore Tweets on the Issues!

  May 21, 2009

• Consumer Confidence Reports Reach Opposite Conclusions

  ​According to Associated Press economics writer Chrstopher S. Rugaber, "Consumer sentiment rose more than expected in August and expectations hit the highest level since the recession began, indications that Americans' pessimism about the economy may be lifting."Rugaber cites findings from the New York-based Conference Board that show the Consumer Confidence index rose to 54.1 from an upwardly revised 47.4 in July. Economists had expected a slight increase to 47.5.That seems to fly in the face

  August 25, 2009