Retired business editor Jack Markowitz writes Sundays and Thursdays.
Jack Markowitz can be reached via e-mail or at 412-380-8551
Weed out tax root of all evil
By Jack MarkowitzThe best of all by-products from the IRS scandal? That’s easy. It wouldn’t be abolition of the Internal Revenue Service. It would be abolition of the income tax. Won’t happen of course. Tainted though it may be, the IRS isn’t …
America? Find her on the road and on the job in Pittsburgher’s book
By Jack MarkowitzDon’t try to pin down Andree Pruett’s age. “I’m not young and I’m not old,” she chuckled by long-distance. But here are two clues. She’s raising a great-granddaughter. And she owns and operates a challenging business. The Bagdad Cafe is …
Colleges, pressured by buyer resistance, cut tuition
By Jack MarkowitzIt’s working. Buyer resistance is paying off in that bastion of sacrosanct inflation — higher education. Hundreds of colleges are substantially “discounting” what they charge to get a diploma. It’s not a flood yet, but clearly a thaw. Apparently the …
Americans find retirement’s cheaper in the Philippines
By Jack MarkowitzOutsourcing is a fighting word. Whaddaya mean taking work away from Americans and giving it to low-paid foreigners? But how about “out-retirement” — and maybe to the same place? For Bruce Silverman there’s no place like the Philippines. He has …
IMF just can’t leave us alone
By Jack MarkowitzA rebellious impulse arises to tell Christine Lagarde to mind her own business. Trouble is, her business is the world’s business. Lagarde is managing director of the International Monetary Fund, which lends to countries in financial trouble. U.S. taxpayers put …
Feds’ sights set on our 401(k)s
By Jack MarkowitzSmokers, get ready to cough up more. And if you’re hooked on the saving habit, you’ll at least be discouraged from overdoing it. That’s if President Obama’s budget for next year passes. Let’s hope Congress finds and kills some of …
Stockholder rails against Immelt’s bonuses, options
By Jack MarkowitzWhile the rest of us were ‘‘losing our shirts on GE stock ...” That’s the most arresting clause in the mail General Electric Co. sent out for its annual meeting. Not a management phrase for sure. It’s from a disgusted …
Land of the free, home of the taxed
By Jack MarkowitzThere is a day of celebration at this season that is not on any calendar. It falls between mid-March and mid-April but varies from home to home. It happens when the income tax is done. Suddenly the awful, haunting thing …
Powerball winners are those who did not play
By Jack MarkowitzIt’s too bad there’s nothing newsworthy in common sense, where money is concerned. When the Powerball lottery jackpot went over $300 million last week, it became an idiotic sort of news. Television couldn’t ignore it. Anchor people had to pretend …
Bid to tax depositors in Cyprus banks is chilling
By Jack MarkowitzInvestors got shaken up — and they still should be — by what’s going on in Cyprus. The Mediterranean island seemed ready this week to slap a tax up to 10 percent on bank deposits, in order to bail out …
Radio inventor’s tale proves patent thievery not new
By Jack MarkowitzClashes between men and men (or women), and men and corporations are a fixture of business life. Facts may change, but human strengths and frailties seem constant. Here’s a matter that goes back well over a half-century, yet seems awfully …
Click here for Jack Markowitz archive stories.
