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Rogue CEOs. Given the recent failures of banks and financial institutions previously thought to be untouchable, there has been a tremendous amount of justifiable venom being spewed at the CEOs of these firms. Their ignorance, and in some cases their arrogance, allowed these rogue CEOs to operate outside of normal business rules, conduct self-serving agendas, and partake in self-dealing transactions all while receiving outrageous compensation. Before I go any further, let me state that I believe we should understand that the overwhelming majority of CEOs operate within the bounds of reason and ethics consistently placing stakeholder interests ahead of their own. The real question we should be asking…

Just before noon EST today, it was announced that the debate between presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain will indeed go forward tonight as planned at the University of Mississippi. The debate had been in danger of being canceled as Washington legislators focus on keeping the nation’s financial system, and perhaps the economy as a whole, from collapsing. McCain agreed to the debate and at presstime was about to leave Washington on his way to Oxford, Miss. Meanwhile, mixed messages were filtering out about Congressional efforts to hammer out a rescue plan. In a press conference at…

Washington Mutual customers checking their failed bank’s Web site this morning were greeted with a welcome from the thrift’s new owner, JPMorgan Chase, which assured customers that their deposits were safe and banks would operate as usual today. It was another twist in the ongoing financial soap opera playing out in Washington, D.C., and across America as WaMu customers learned the 119-year-old, Seattle-based bank had been seized by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision and sold to JPMorgan Chase Thursday for the fire-sale price of $1.9 billion. With $307 billion in assets, it was the largest bank failure in history,…

Last night’s hubbub at the White House over the Wall Street bailout seems to have quieted down somewhat today, with various dissatisfied parties returning to negotiations, but still nothing has been settled. Leaders of both parties have announced that they will keep Congress in session until some kind of deal is worked out. The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially dropped this morning as investors drank their coffee and mused about a financial apocalypse, which not only led to lower stock prices, but also a lower trading volume. The index rallied in the afternoon, led by JP Morgan, up about 1…

The UCLA Anderson forecast has released a statement that claims that the United States economy is not technically in a recession. Citing data from the second quarter of 2008 that showed the gross domestic product had increased by 3.3 percent, the forecast states that the nation is not in a recession by the definition set forth by the National Bureau of Economic Research, but is quick to realize that the economy is “stalled.” The forecast predicts that third quarter GDP growth will be 1 percent in the third quarter followed by a fourth quarter GDP growth of essentially zero. The…

Recognizing that the healthcare industry continues to grow despite a weakened economy, Dallas-based RM Crowe acquired a 60,000-square-foot medical facility in Bettendorf, Iowa, as part of its $50 million fund to pursue health care real estate opportunities nationwide. RM Crowe anticipates utilizing this fund to acquire approximately $150 million worth of new product over the next six to nine months. The company acquired the Terrace Park Professional Center in Bettendorf, Iowa. The on-campus medical office building is the first acquisition of the fund to pursue health care real estate opportunities nationwide. Terrace Park Professional Center is a state-of-the-art, medical office…

Total collections for suburban office complexes nationwide in 2007 dipped less than 1 percent from 2006 levels to $19.31 per square foot of net rentable area, whereas those for downtown properties increased 3.1 percent to $19.85 per square foot. Total actual collections for downtown properties were 2.8 percent more last year than their suburban counterparts, according to the 2008 edition of the Income/Expense Analysis: Office Buildings, a new benchmarking study published by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).The annual report analyzed operating income and costs for 1,549 private-sector office complexes–some containing multiple buildings–in major metropolitan areas and regions in…

The day after President Bush went to the airwaves to ask the nation for $700 billion, he planned to meet with the two men who would be his successor. No word as yet what, if anything, would come of this meeting. The president warned of a “long and painful recession”–that is, a depression–if Congress doesn’t act immediately.Not everyone in Congress is so sure about that, and neither are the American people for that matter, and the push continues for changes in the plan suggested by the administration, such as an equity stake for the government in companies that it bails…

Following closed door meetings on Capitol Hill today, where a tentative agreement was reached on the administration’s $700 billion bailout plan, Congressional leaders joined President Bush and presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain at a historic White House meeting. Although Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters shortly before 1:30 EST that an agreement on a “set of principles” had been reached and officials were prepared to act quickly to “send a message to the markets,” some Republicans were still apparently balking at the plan. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the leading Republican on the…

After more than a decade with CB Richard Ellis Investors, Robert Zerbst, now the company’s chairman, will bid adieu to the firm. The industry veteran’s retirement from CBRE Investors will be effective December 31 of this year. Zerbst kicked off his career at CBRE Investors in 1997 as CEO of the company, bringing to the table his real estate expertise honed as founder and CEO of Piedmont Realty Advisors and partner with RREEF Funds, as well as a history in academia and research. He served as CBRE Investors’ CEO until last year, when he was named chairman, and Vance Maddocks…