Texas State Board of Education Investment Choice Takes Heat — I got interested in pension fund investing back in January, and tried to figure out why a particular $20.5 billion fund’s trustees seemed to be rejecting professional advice. Then it turned into a series, with State Education Trustees Failed to Disclose Gifts and a few others. I like Texas. The Dallas Morning News and Austin American Statesman.

Taken for a Ride — How New York City turned taxi medallions into tradable financial assets — and screwed over both cab drivers and passengers. The next time someone talks about how privatizing public assets is a great idea, it’s something to think about.

Five Top Genocide Suspects Living Free in Canada —  The title sums this one up. It’s the product of five months I spent in Rwanda in 2007. The Montreal Gazette,  A1, Sept. 4 2007.

The Surreal Life — A profile of an odd and amazing magician and crypto-zoologist who devoted himself to preserving the ecological diversity of monster sightings. Turns out that, once people see an alien on TV, they stop being able to see the more imaginative ones. Washington City Paper, Sept. 16, 2005.


Home loans Brokered by Non-Profits Helped Fuel the Housing Crisis — Two non-profit companies managed to put $54 billion in loans on the FHA’s balance sheet, and the results aren’t pretty. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Oct. 1, 2009.

Tainted Legacy — How the Resolution Trust Corporation bailed the U.S. out of one real estate mess and begot another. Portfolio Magazine, Oct. 2008.

Some Stress Dow’s Distortions — If every financial stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average went broke, it wouldn’t be a big deal — on a weighted basis. The Washington Post, Feb. 21, 2009.

Google: We’re Actually Quite Small — How the undisputed champion of the search engine wars plans to argue it’s not a monopoly.  The Big Money and The Washington Post. June 6, 2009.