Business

George Graham Rice

SCAMMER OF A CENTURY AGO PIONEERED TACTICS USED TODAY

George Graham Rice? Never heard of him. Who is he? A century ago, though, he was a famous flamboyant scammer, a pied-piper of stock manipulation. While incarcerated for the third or fourth time, he wrote a series of periodical articles that eventually coalesced into a book. As with other scammers, Rice was brazen, even boastful about his felonious escapades. He wryly entitled his book My Adventures with Your Money.
UNI Lux Logo

University of Northern Iowa business college names students to 2021 spring semester Dean's List

401 business students from Iowa and surrounding states are among the students named to the 2021 spring semester Dean's List at University of Northern Iowa's College of Business.
UNI Campanile

Accounting professor doubles as an established painter

Tim Lindquist began painting when he was just a teenager. A friend invited him over to learn how to create a dog on canvas, and Lindquist was hooked. He asked for paints that Christmas and considered majoring in art at college. But he chose accounting instead, becoming an educator and professor at the College of Business.
Working from Home

Working Remotely - A Year in Review

Since March 2020, many organizations have moved to a work-from-home model to limit as much person-to-person contact as possible. And it’s stuck longer than many expected at first. In fact, in June 2020, S&P Global found 67% of companies expected the shift to stick, at least in some capacity. 
Elon Musk

Bucking the 'MBA-ization of America'

Elon Musk, the popular founder of Tesla and SpaceX, sent shockwaves through the business world when he criticized the “MBA-ization of America.” His point: Too many business executives focus on financials and meetings—taught to them by various masters of business administration (MBA) programs—rather than the products and services themselves. 
Closed Sign

Good-bye, mom and pop restaurants and shops

Most of my readers are familiar with small towns in Iowa that have longstanding family-owned businesses, such as family eateries. Grandparents, parents, and children may own and work in these restaurants. They often have loyal employees that are “part of the family.” These owners may be unable to afford to pay their workers much more than $10 per hour, to say nothing of the proposed $15 per hour minimum wage.
Dictionary Billionaire

All hail the billionaire

After months of dreary experimentation in her basement, Dr. von Frankenstein, PhD, has concocted an effective antidote and vaccine for a deadly virus sweeping the United States. She files and receives a patent for her discovery.
Piggy Bank

New ways to milk customers

There’s a new way marketers are getting young people to fork over their money. The new tactic revolves around consumers making four payments of one-quarter the retail price of an item (Amanda Mull, “Jeans Now, Pay Later,” Atlantic, January/February 2021, 18-20). This is just the old come-on--“Buy now, pay later”—in a new guise.