<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - Deals</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/columns/economy/deals?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><description>Deals</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[General Motors Getting Eaten Alive by a Free Lunch]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64599-2005Apr18.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64599-2005Apr18.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  A free lunch can be the most expensive meal in the world. For living proof, look at General Motors. A big reason that GM has gotten into such trouble is that the pension and health care commitments it made to employees decades ago seemed to be a free lunch.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[From Tax 'Reform' Panel, Expect a Foregone Conclusion]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45395-2005Apr11.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45395-2005Apr11.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Now that April 15th is almost here, you're likely to be either licking your wounds from filling out tax returns or obsessing about the imminence of tax day. Maybe even both. You may have gotten all sorts of bad news, such as losing tons of deductions to the alternative minimum tax or discovering that if you work in one state and live in another, you've been taxed coming and going. If you're one of the brave souls who do taxes by hand, rather than using a software program, you may have discovered that the instructions have been written in no known language. Certainly not in any language resembling English.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Modest Proposal to Patch Up Social Security]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8276-2005Mar28.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8276-2005Mar28.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Yes, it must be spring. Lawns are turning green, baseball season is almost here  --  and Social Security's trustees have just issued their annual report about the state of the nation's biggest benefits program. Normally, the last of these annual vernal events passes unnoticed by everyone but hard-core numbers junkies. After all, a report consisting largely of statistics isn't exactly a page-turner.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Enron Book Reads More Like Notes Than a Finished Story]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55491-2005Mar21.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55491-2005Mar21.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  "Conspiracy of Fools," the new Enron book by New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald, is the hottest and most heavily promoted book about business that we've seen in years. It's even hotter than Jim Stewart's "DisneyWar," which unlike this book is about a subject  --  the Walt Disney Co.  --  that you don't need a master's degree in business to understand.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Small Investors Should Resist the Pull to Bet Against the Dollar]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35368-2005Mar14.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35368-2005Mar14.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Betting against the U.S. dollar seems like a sure way to make money. After all, the dollar's been falling for years, and as traders say, "The trend is your friend."]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[An Honest Deed Turns Misstep Into a Capital Experience]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15542-2005Mar7.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15542-2005Mar7.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  When you spend as much time as I do dealing with dollars measured in trillions and subjects so complicated they make your teeth hurt, it's nice to find something simple, unexpected and upbeat. And that's what I came upon in Washington last week. I can report, without fear of contradiction, that there's at least one honest man working in Our Nation's Capital, and I've met him.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Editorial Page  Has No Say in Tax Breaks Won by Parent Company]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42678-2005Feb21.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42678-2005Feb21.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   The New York Times editorial page is unsparing when it comes to flogging tax-dodging corporations. Corporate tax avoidance, it intoned in a typical piece last April, is "both a straightforward fiscal problem" and "a broader threat to our civic culture." Indeed.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[No Accounting for White House Accounting]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24835-2005Feb14.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24835-2005Feb14.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  We're in our fourth year of post-Enron corporate scandals, with no end in sight. Barely a month goes by without a new scandal, or a new trial from an old scandal. But there's good news to report for business -- on the public relations front, that is. It's that Congress and the White House have managed the seemingly impossible: When it comes to accountability and accounting, they're making corporate America look good.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bush Marketing Beats His Plan]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6222-2005Feb7.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6222-2005Feb7.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[You've got to give President Bush an A-plus for the way he marketed the Social Security proposals last week, but the centerpiece of his reforms doesn't do anything to fix the system's woes.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[In the Acquisition Super Bowl, P&#38;G Scores a TD and SBC Kicks a Field Goal]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52843-2005Jan31.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52843-2005Jan31.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Listen up, fans. This is Super Bowl week, prime season for pro football, and it's prime season for corporate takeovers, what with Procter &#38; Gamble buying Gillette and AT&#38;T finally managing to sell itself to SBC, the former Southwestern Bell. These events aren't unrelated.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[New Law Will Create Jobs, All Right, but for Whom?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33966-2005Jan24.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33966-2005Jan24.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Congress trying to control what corporate America does with its money is like a toddler trying to go one-on-one with Michael Jordan in his prime. It's no contest.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stocks' Payoff Myth]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11377-2005Jan15.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11377-2005Jan15.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[At Friday's close, the Dow was still 10 percent below its all-time high. And that understates the damage investors have suffered since stocks peaked five years ago.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Halliburton Pays Dearly but Finally Escapes Cheney's Asbestos Mess]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2005Jan10.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2005Jan10.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  It's time for yet another Halliburton story -- but not the one you may be expecting. This isn't about the endlessly scrutinized Iraq contracting business of the big energy services company that Dick Cheney ran before he became vice president. And it's not about Halliburton's profit-boosting accounting change during Cheney's regime, or the scandals and problems currently affecting some of the firm's far-flung projects.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Morsels Learned in 2004: Talk Turkey, but With a Side of Humble Pie]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30401-2004Dec27.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30401-2004Dec27.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   One of the ways I try to keep myself intellectually honest is to sit down at the end of the year and review my own work, especially my mistakes. It's a humbling experience,  particularly this year. I'm not talking about factual mistakes, which I correct as soon as possible. I'm talking about having the facts right but drawing the wrong conclusions from them.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[There's No Accounting for the New Social Security Plan]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62440-2004Dec13.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62440-2004Dec13.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  One of the reasons that an outsider like me has so much fun writing about Washington is that the politicians in our nation's capital talk one way but act another. They want corporations to provide the public with numbers that bear some resemblance to reality, but they've never bothered to clean up their own budget numbers.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Better Marketing Won't Make Smarter Economics]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41829-2004Dec6.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41829-2004Dec6.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   It's become a Washington routine: President George W. Bush once again shuffling his economic team, with word emanating from the White House that the newbies will do a better job of marketing the president's program. So you can see a big reason that Bush picked Kellogg's chief executive, Carlos Gutierrez, as commerce secretary. Anyone whose company persuades millions of consumers to pay five bucks a box for grain, packaging and air has got to be a marvelous marketer.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stock-Options Rule, Merck, AOL Ads: The Top Turkeys]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6043-2004Nov22.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6043-2004Nov22.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, what better time to talk about turkeys? Of the business variety, of course. You know, the kind of foul-up that makes you say, "Wow, that idea was a real turkey." Normally, a single candidate stands head-and-drumstick above the flock. But this year three candidates -- involving math, medicine and marketing -- are so strong that picking one is like choosing among roast turkey, turkey gravy and turkey sandwiches. They're all wonderful in their own way; the one you like best depends on your particular taste.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Read Tax 'Reform' as More Cuts]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52932-2004Nov15.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52932-2004Nov15.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The big parlor game in Washington these days is guessing who's going to get the big jobs in the Bush administration's second term. It's fun, it's gossipy, it's all about power. But I'd like to propose my own game: guessing what George W. Bush is really up to when he talks about "reforming" taxes and Social Security, and how he proposes to deal with the budget deficit. Since it's my game, I get to go first. Prediction one: Despite Bush's promises that tax reform will be "revenue-neutral," we'll get lots more cuts than increases. Eliminating taxes on income from investments is more fun than getting Congress to pass a big national sales tax. Second, I think Bush will push for personal Social Security accounts right away rather than chartering yet another bipartisan commission and waiting a year for its report. And, finally, Bush will try to use a nifty little math trick -- call it "accounting reform" -- to show personal accounts reducing the budget deficit even though the Treasury will have to borrow more money.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Leading the Way in Loophole Efficiency]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62841-2004Oct25.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62841-2004Oct25.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ When it comes to creating the most-efficient manufacturing plants or fuel-efficient cars, we in the United States still lag behind other countries. But when it comes to creating tax-efficient corporate transactions, we continue to lead the world. No matter how many tax loopholes get closed, corporate America and its tax technologists always seem to find new ones to squeeze through. The latest piece of corporate-tax tech is something called a "cash-rich split-off." Don't try this at home. It's designed for companies that have ownership relationships with each other but have decided the time has come to split up. In a mutually profitable way, of course.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Small Business, Ill-Defined]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43712-2004Oct18.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43712-2004Oct18.html?nav=rss_business/columns/economy/deals</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:25:25 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  You may not have heard my name mentioned, but I was a hot item of discussion during the Bush-Kerry debates. How can that be, given that the words "Allan Sloan" passed the lips of neither Kerry nor Bush? Because it turns out that I'm one of the 900,000 top-two-tax-bracket "small businesses" that Bush claims will be hurt if Kerry succeeds in enacting his proposed tax plan and whose pain will cause them to hire fewer people. This has become a key part of the debate, because everyone -- even me -- loves small business. It's Mom and apple pie and self-reliance, and employs zillions of people.]]></description><author> Allan Sloan</author></item></channel></rss>
