Matters Financial

21 April 2003


Pfizer's Sharecard Cuts Prescription Costs
Most of the time, corporations appear to act against their long-term best interests while pursuing short-term profit. Drug-maker Pfizer has been bombarding the airwaves with its Sharecard prescription plan that does the opposite, sacrifice short-term profit for long-term gains. Writing nice things about a company makes a pleasant change, which one hopes will become habit. Click here to read more.

American Air Bankruptcy Threat: Feds Must Act
Yet another US air carrier is on the edge of bankruptcy. This time, it is American Airlines, which has averted immediate financial disaster with hundreds of millions in union give backs (despite revelations of a fat pension funding scheme for the execs -- do they never learn?). However, the firm claims that it still isn't out of the woods under current business conditions. While the deregulated system that the country has enjoyed for the past several years made air travel cheap and plentiful, the new security problems require action from the Federal government. The new circumstances require new rules. Click here to read more.

Allegations Threaten AOLTW
Allegations have just come out about the book-keeping at AOL-Time-Warner that suggests the accounting principles used there are disturbingly similar to those that brought Enron down. While the facts have yet to trickle in, the situation is unsettling because AOL stock is down, its merger with Time-Warner has come under attack, and it is about to sell off a major asset, Comedy Central. These are all signs of a firm that may resort to accounting tricks to keep things afloat. Click here for our view.