Take Five Video: Robinson Discusses Legacy of Alternative Minimum Tax
Accounting Professor John Robinson recently sat down and discussed the current-day ramifications of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). Robinson said the AMT was originally enacted 40 years ago as a way to make sure a small number of super-wealthy citizens paid taxes. But, Robinson said, because the AMT was never indexed for inflation, it is now ensnaring more and more average tax payers each year. "What they should do is repeal this tax," Robinson said. "But it's like Frankenstein — nobody wants it alive, but nobody knows how to kill it."
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Prentice Opinion: Supreme Court Fails Investors in Important Business Case 
Imagine Joe wants to buy your thousand shares of Google stock. Because Joe wishes to buy on credit, paying you the purchase price plus interest six months from now, you inquire about his net worth. He shows you his name on the deed to a house worth a million dollars, so you make the sale. Only after Joe fails to pay and takes bankruptcy do you learn that he had bought the house from Ann for $2,000 just two days before your deal, and sold it back to Ann for $1,000 four days later. Ann made $1,000. Joe got your stock. You got the shaft. Worse yet, the Supreme Court ruled Jan. 15 that you cannot sue Ann for securities fraud, even though she knew that the only reason for the fictitious sale of her house was to enable Joe to fool you into selling your stock.
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Texas Magazine for Fall/Winter 2007 Now Online
If you haven't yet picked up the latest issue of Texas magazine at stands around the business school, it is now available for online perusal. Top stories include: "Leading in the 21st Century," in which Dean George Gau provides a four-year progress report on our goal  to become the best public business school in the nation; "Excellence Across the Board," an in-depth story on how faculty manage the difficult task of balancing classroom excellence while preparing top-level research; "The Rankings Race," a look at the current state of affairs in the never-ending cycle of the rankings industry; a feature on Accounting Professor Bill Kinney, one of the leading auditing experts and researchers working today;  and Julie Irwin (left), associate professor of marketing and the new director of ethics education at McCombs, writes about her motivations in the "Why I Do What I Do" feature. Plus, much, much more!
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Media: The Most and Least Profitable Businesses to Start
Forbes.com, Jan. 18, 2008
Forbes.com has compiled a list of the most and least profitable businesses for aspiring entrepreneurs. Close to the bottom is the restaurant industry. Small food manufacturers really get squeezed in the value chain. "The only people making money in the food chain are big corporations, because scale is the only driver of profits in that industry," said James Nolen, distinguished senior lecturer in finance.
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Media: Rate Cut May Spell Relief for Central Texas
KUT, Jan. 22, 2008
Michael Brandl, senior finance lecturer, commented on the possible benefits from the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to slash the target overnight lending rate by 0.75 percentage points to 3.5 percent. "We'll probably see mortgage interest rates either not increase as quickly as they could have or perhaps even fall," Brandl said. "That's very important for people who have gotten those adjustable rate mortgages."
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