December 2004  Email this  Print this
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YOUR FINANCES
Mad Money
by Jane Bennett Clark
A look back at the quirky financial news of 2004. Eliot Spitzer's smackdowns
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer got a lot of ink going after mutual fund bad guys in 2004, squeezing almost $3 billion in fines and promised restitution from them. As the AG ponders his political future in '06, no violation of law seems to go unnoticed by his prosecutors and publicity machine:
- Tableware collusion. The corporate owners of Bloomingdale's, Macy's and Lord & Taylor, along with Waterford Wedgwood and Lenox, allegedly conspired to prevent Bed, Bath & Beyond from stocking Waterford and Lenox products. Total penalties: $2.9 million.
- Empty album. A Brooklyn-based wedding photographer who jilted a client and failed to show up at the ceremony was ordered to pay restitution and damages of $13,357.
- Tree tampering. If the Father of Our Country were alive today, he'd be in a heap of trouble in New York. A poacher recently admitted to chopping down 19 state-owned cherry trees. The plea cost him $5,600 and got him one to three.
Winners and loosers
Savvy buyers looking to score a deal on eBay claim that a slip at the search engine spells b-a-r-g-a-i-n. We tested the theory and, sure enough, found that a Bally  Lifecycle "exercize" bike found no takers at the $98.50 starting bid, whereas an identical exercise bike garnered 16 bidders and a $236.17 final bid. On the other hand, a search for a Dyson "vacum" turned up 39 bids -- 13 more than the same appliance listed with two u's garnered -- and a $300 final bid. Conclusion: Lousy spelling sometimes pays off, but don't bet the Hoover on it.
Cutting edge at DoD
When Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called for a sleeker military a few years ago, he wasn't talking about tummy tucks. Nonetheless, Defense Department officials recently confirmed that active-duty personnel can get free cosmetic surgery, including liposuction, tummy tucks and face-lifts, on a "space available" basis at military surgical centers.
Such coverage, rarely offered by private insurance, constitutes a Pentagon-size bennie. Janis Garcia, a former lieutenant commander in the Navy, acknowledged in the New Yorker magazine last summer that she had undergone a nose job, a chin realignment and jaw reconstruction, and had her teeth straightened, all on the military's dime. The same procedures in the civilian world would likely have cost her a jaw-dropping $100,000.
But military spokesmen insist the freebies serve a worthy goal. "Experience with cosmetic cases gives the surgeons an ability to achieve the best possible results for reconstructive patients," says DoD spokesman James Turner. "Military medicine is not in the makeover business."
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