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It's Only Money

By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 commentator

Dallas, TX – It's Friday so "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not so big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.

So why didn't they tell us this earlier. Two days after the Dallas City Council gave New York-based Palladium Company a thumbs-up for their Victory Project, there's a buzz around town that they'll never fill the 20-acre downtown development. This buzz, from today's Dallas Morning News, is from two local realty companies, kvetching (that's complaining) that Palladium will never find the retail vendors needed for this large project.

First off, this is Dallas, where retail unofficially is the number one industry. Second, why would anyone want to see a project falls on its you-know-what before it's even out of the gate? It's time for an attitude check. Now that it has been approved, it needs all the support we can give it.

Speaking of The Dallas Morning News - oops - someone needs to look a little deeper into the article before writing the headlines. "KPMG hires local Andersen staff." That's not the story. The fact that the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy moved yesterday to revoke Arthur Andersen's accounting license is the story. This is after a six-month investigation after the Enron fall. The accounting board is also asking for at least $1 million in fines and penalties. But I do think it's great that the Andersen staff is finding other employment. The sooner the better.

And just when the telecom industry went from bad to worse, "China may impose the world's toughest mobile phone radiation standards due to health risks." This would be a huge financial burden on the cell phone makers. China's the biggest market. My question: why hasn't the rest of the world demanded these higher standards?

In the what-did-he-know-that-the-rest-of-Wall-Street-didn't category, Robert McTeer, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said yesterday that the revised GDP coming out today would be down. The Street expected it to be revised up but it was down. The Street was surprised - McTeer wasn't.

And all U.S. financial markets will be closed on Monday, honoring Memorial Day. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro, wishing you a safe, healthy, and happy weekend.

 

Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 P.M.