Definitions

Insurance Bid Rigging: Insurance company brokers decided in advance which insurer would get a client's business and at what price, and then called underwriters at other insurers for "B" quotes -- higher rates for insurance coverage that couldn't win in a phony "competitive bidding process". This would ensure that the incumbent insurance carrier's would retain that client's business but would give the appearance of a real competitive bidding process. B-quote insurers knew their turn would come another time.

Insurance placement service agreements: Also known as "contingent commissions" or "market service agreements". The fees, which are over and above ordinary commissions, have been paid by insurance companies to brokers, mainly for steering profitable clients the insurer's way.

Off-shoring / Outsourcing: politically correct term when a firm decides to lay-off current employees located in the United States and hire employees or consultants in locations outside of the United States to take advantage of lower employee wages / cost.

Pump and Dump: Also known as "buy-write-sell" or "scalping". Buying shares of small, thinly-traded companies, writing highly favorable profiles recommending the companies or touting them, and then selling the shares when the stock price had been driven up by the promotion.

Right-sizing: term often used by human resources or public relations personnel when speaking publicly about lay-offs at the firm they represent. By reducing the number of employable positions, the firm is claiming that the number of persons employed are the "right size" for the firm's existing financial structure.

Short Sales: term used when trading securities. An investor will borrow shares of stock at a set price and is liable for re-paying those shares borrowed. Essentially, the investor is speculating that the price of the stock will go down in price. If the price does go down in price, the investor can buy the stock at the lower price and re-pay the borrowed shares. The profit to the investor is the difference between the market value of borrowed shares and the market value of the stock purchased to repay those borrowed shares, less commissions.

Naked Short Sales: illegal practice of taking a short position on a security without actually borrowing shares of that stock. In the most extreme scenario, the marketplace could end up with more short positions on a stock than the actual number of shares that stock has outstanding.