U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis took shotgun blasts to the TARP program for being a fat big lie. “We were told to take it so that we could help Darwin synthesize the weaker banks and acquire those and put them under different leadership,” Davis said. OMG – truth alert!
minnesota
As The Recession Deepens, The Mall Of America Says It's Doing Fine
By 2.3.09
The New York Times says there are about 1,500 malls in the US and many of them are in trouble. They’re being converted to office buildings or closing their doors for good. And yet, Minnesota’s Mall of America is allegedly doing fine.
By 1.16.09
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The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, whose excellent Best Buy and Target coverage we really appreciate, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [Reuters]
Target's Pharmacy Will Not Answer Questions One Minute After Closing?
By 1.7.09
If you’re picking up your prescriptions close to closing time at Target’s pharmacy, you might want to make sure you don’t have any questions after closing time. Reader Kathy says she realized that she had a question about her son’s prescription immediately after picking up the prescription, but when she turned around to ask it — she was too late.
Giving The Phone Book Spammers What For
By 1.5.09
How can you tell the number of vacant houses on a block? Easy. Just look for the houses with phone books piling up on the porch. The phone book spammers count those property-value killers into their circulation numbers, which is how they sucker businesses into buying listings in the yellow pages. Minnesota blogger Ed Kohler is even angrier about phone book spam than I am, and is on a bit of a mission to never have a phone book on his property again. So he got a little pissed when Verizon, a company he has no business relationship with, tossed one on his steps.
Help! Family Buying Appliances Were Locked Inside Sears
By 11.26.08
A family shopping for appliances were locked inside a Sears store in Maplewood, MN, says the local Fox affiliate. Anthony (who was scheduled to have hip surgery the next day), his wife Kathy and her sister Crystal were just about to buy a stove, a fridge and a dishwasher when they heard an announcement that the store was about to close. They asked an employee if they should just come back another day. He said no.
Best Buy Testing New Logo At Mall Of America, Do You Care?
By 10.27.08
Best Buy is tired of their logo, so they’re testing a new one on those local guinea pigs at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. (Best Buy is headquartered in Minnesota, land of lutefisk, Garrison Keillor and Target.)
By 10.6.08
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Mykl Roventine has an amazing set of photos of last year’s Minnesota State Fair over at Flickr. It’s a confetti-colored slice of Americana, and a great collection of both fair food and the signage that advertises it. Cheer yourself up. [MN State Fair at Flickr]
Honey, Was That PotBelly's Sandwich $4.23 Or $858,432?
By 9.28.08
Sorry PotBelly Sandwich Works customers, you can’t order the Chicken Salad Sandwich unless you qualify for a mortgage. Ashley’s husband thought his usual lunchtime meal cost $4.23, but, as his wife discovered when trying to pay their credit card bill, the sandwich actually costs $858,432.06.
Attorneys Convince Monster That Consumers Can Tell The Difference Between A Deer Lick And An Audio Cable
By 7.22.08
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, attorneys filed a dismissal motion on behalf of Denco, an ethanol producer in Morris, Minn. that had been selling a product called “Monster Deer Block” since 2005. What were they trying to dismiss? A trademark lawsuit from Monster Cable, of course.
By 7.15.08
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This morning, very early in the morning, we were on KTLK in Minnesota talking about, yep, you guessed it, the Grocery Shrink Ray. Clip is here. And earlier this week we were featured in an article in the UK’s Observer.
Judge Orders Wal-Mart To Pay $6.5 Million For Violating Labor Laws
By 7.2.08
The AP reports that in a class-action lawsuit, a Minnesota judge ordered that Wal-Mart pay $6.5 million in compensatory damages for violating state labor laws 2-million times. Violations were incurred when the company reduced break time for employees and “willfully” allowed them to work off the clock. Other infractions include the failure to keep time records and denying employees time for meal breaks. Details, inside…
Circuit City Calls The Cops On Customer Who Requests A Price Match
By 5.24.08
Emmett writes: Dear Mr. Schoonover:
CenterPoint Energy Thinks Your Fish Tank Is A Meth Lab, So Police Kick In Your Door
By 4.30.08
You’d think between the reactionary CenterPoint…
Real Estate Speculation: From A Trailer Park To Foreclosure On 4 Homes
By 4.21.08
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a fascinating article about real estate speculation in Minnesota. The article focuses on Bradley and Sarah Collin, a couple with three children who were living in a trailer park when they were suckered by a local “property management company” that (illegally) paid the couple $20,000 cash to buy 4 houses in a new subdivision.
By 3.27.08
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The Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force has given up on investigating mortgage fraud. “We don’t have the staff or funding to address it,” said Mike Siitari, Edina police chief and oversight council chairman. “We have hundreds of cases of backlog.” [Pioneer Press via Caveat Emptor]
Qwest: The Phone Line We Installed In Your Father's Nursing Home Never Worked, But Pay Us Anyway
By 3.21.08
My father grew up in Ottawa, a small Midwest town in Illinois. For the majority of his life, he had 2 full-time jobs. He was the receiving clerk for a hardware store and he was also a house painter. He went to work between 3 to 5 AM and rarely got home until after dark, 6 days a week. He was very active and self-sufficient so when in 1992 he was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive case of multiple sclerosis, he was devastated as was my entire family. His MS never went into regression and within 5 years he was wheelchair bound, in a nursing home, and very reliant on others.
