For a spy novelist like me, the Edward J. Snowden story has everything. A man driven by ego and idealism – can anyone ever distinguish the two? – leaves his job and his beautiful girlfriend behind. He must tell the world the Panopticon has arrived. His masters vow to punish him, and he heads for Moscow in a desperate search for refuge.
Higher productivity enables companies to increase sales without adding workers. Even if job markets tighten and wages rise, corporate profits can continue to climb as long as worker productivity is growing faster than overall wages.
Institutions like mutual funds often worry that if they disclose their plans to buy a stock, copycats will move quickly and drive up the stock before the purchase is completed.
Soldiers willingly, sometimes foolishly, risk their own lives to keep their comrades out of enemy hands.
Technology investment drove growth in the 1990s, both directly and by fueling a rising stock market that led to increased consumer spending.
For more than two decades, Barry Diller has been among the most respected – and feared – figures in the entertainment industry.
Most companies can survive even if their debt ratings are lowered below investment grade, although they will have higher borrowing costs.
Over the years, I’ve spent time in Saudi Arabia, the Bekaa Valley, Afghanistan, Jordan, and Kenya, among other vacation hotspots.
Shareholder meetings are not usually the occasion for utter candor – or for that matter, arch sarcasm – by chief executives.
In general, investors prefer companies to reward executives for producing recurring income, not one-time gains.
Most unfortunately, Enron’s plunge into bankruptcy court also cost many of its rank-and-file employees their savings.
Mr. Snowden did not start out as a spy, and calling him one bends the term past recognition. Spies don’t give their secrets to journalists for free.