As reported several different places, billionaire Mark Cuban was charged with insider trading today for selling 600,000 shares of Mamma.com more than four years ago.  Understandably, Cuban is contesting the charges (click the links above for details). 

The SEC is stating that the sale allowed Cuban to avoid around $750,000 in losses.  I find it rather amusing that they no doubt feel the avoided loss will strengthen their case.  Since the amount is by no means substantial to Cuban, I can't help but wonder if stating this will actually weaken it.  To me, it's pretty obvious that the sale was not strictly based on trying to save a few hundred thousand dollars.

I wish Mark all the best, but I suspect everything will turn out alright for him.  The SEC is notorious for doing a consistently terrible job, and besides, Mark appears far too innocent for this to go anywhere.  I've seen shows on CNBC actually bring up charts detailing insider trading almost in real time, but the SEC rarely does anything.  One host even poked fun at the SEC, stating that it was so easy for him to spot but, mysteriously, so difficult for them.  Hopefully, this will all blow over soon so they can focus their limited resources elsewhere.

Volkswagen shares jumped nearly 90 percent today, on a day that saw a Dow jump of almost 900 points as well.  However, Volkswagen AG was also up 150 percent the previous day.  How?  Porsche announced on Sunday that they had upped their stake in the company to 42.6 percent, and had plans to increase it's holdings to 75% in 2009, but that's not the whole story.

Rumor has it (aka, I heard on CNBC...) that the gigantic run was due in part to hedge funds being short squeezed.  At one point, Volkswagen became not just the most valuable automaker, but the most valuable company on the planet (momentarily besting Exxon Mobil).  The Financial Ninja has covered this story in depth if you're looking for more details.

Though it's now October, and the bailout bill has finally gone through, I still think this basketball-style elimination chart on TechCrunch is pretty well done.  Can Berkshire Hathaway win it all?

Paulson, Bernanke and Cox updated congress today regarding a $700 billion bailout.  So far, the market is responding positively, and gold and oil are down.  On a less important note (though no doubt more important to some people), Google is launching the Android phone today (Gphone), and TechCrunch is liveblogging about it.  It will be available in the United States for $179 on October 22nd, in the UK in November, and in the rest of Europe in 2009.  I haven't been able to find any information as of yet regarding a Canadian launch.  However, say what you will about HTC's Android product, I'm still happy with their flagship phone, the Touch Diamond.

If you haven't already heard, the markets aren't doing so well today.  Lehman Brothers, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saw its stock plummet by 95%!  Bank of America also declared that they'll buy Merrill Lynch for around $29 a share ($50 billion in total), which is a 70% premium over the stock's closing price on Friday.  The reaction so far today, predictably, has been a 26% gain in Merrill and a 14% drop in B of A.  Everything considered, $300 billion in value was lost on the markets.  Since events like this affect us all in one way or another, I'd highly recommend doing some further research into what's going on in our financial system.

The Associated Press has released a list of the 10 highest paid CEOs of S&P500 companies for 2007, based on their calculations.  The overall compensation of each CEO is determined by salary, bonuses, perks, stock options and more.  Larry Ellison, pictured left, is in the lead at $84.6 million, though I would have thought he'd lead by a larger margin.  You can find the nine other highest paid CEOs in an article published yesterday by The Huffington Post.

A new season of Dragons' Den (Canada) premiers on September 29th at 8:00PM EST on CBC.  Season Three sees a new dragon, Brett Wilson, replace Laurence Lewin, who couldn't stay on this season due to health reasons.  If you'd like to keep up to date on the latest news, or aren't familiar with the show, be sure to check out http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden.  Wikipedia has some extra information on the history of the show, which has also been produced in several other countries.

America's rich, in these volatile economic times, are becoming more value conscious than ever.  One Telegraph article even quotes the head of a private jet brokerage firm as saying that customers, while flying private, can no longer find value in paying $50 for an in-flight lunch.  Considering the amount of spending attributed to the top 10% of income earners, I'm not surprised that I've seen so many articles published on this topic in the past several days, including one in my local Toronto Star.  However, it seems to me that a lot of this is based solely on the perception of value, rather than actual dollar-over-dollar savings.  It's not like those choosing private jet travel have to save, they just want to feel that their spending is a little more reasonable than it used to be.

Here are a few interesting blog posts and articles that I've collected over the past week.  Depending on the amount of quality content I can find, I may end up making summaries like this into a weekly thing.  If you've written about something interesting or entertaining over the past seven days that you think should be included, feel free to contact me using the form on the Contact page of this website.

The Financial Blogger discusses television, the biggest time waster in everyone's life:

http://www.thefinancialblogger.com/my-tv-is-eating-out-my-brain/

Jonathan Chevreau from the Financial Post talks about good debt vs. bad debt:

http://www.financialpost.com/magazine/family_finance/story.html?id=610662

For the home and garden fans, Kathleen N. Brenzel covers how to build a patio for under $200:

http://realestate.msn.com/improve/Article_sunset.aspx?cp-documentid=9127735&GT1=35000

The Canadian dollar is weakening in comparison to the US dollar, and the slide doesn't appear to be slowing.  However, the latest downturn may be a result of the US dollar's sudden comeback; a result of a surprise rise in June home sales.  For certain Canadians, this slide may actually be of benefit, as many internet businesses get paid in US dollars, and a sliding Canadian dollar yields larger pay after the exchange.  Canadian companies who sell to American customers in Canadian currency may also benefit, as the US dollar will now go a little farther for those consumers.