Expense Account, Mint
As I saw the Osian’s Art Fund story unfold last week, I was reminded of the numerous times reporters had made art fund story pitches to me in the last four years. This was the time of the giant asset bubbles across the globe—real estate, stocks, oil and, of course, art. Everybody was gorging on the cheap cash still in the system. One of my reporters, who dared ask hard questions at the time of the Osian’s fund float, was told how art was only going to boom by the promoter of the fund, who also advised her to go and learn some art before she covered this area. Three years later, it does seem like she doesn’t need to learn more about art and that he needs to learn more about investing. Needless to say I spiked all rah-rah stories on art and only ran the do-not-invest stories.