So, Business 2.0 released their list of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2006.  While I don’t normally ready Business 2.0 the keyword Stupid tends to get my attention.  I don’t remember all of the stories that they mention, but a few are definately worth a chuckle or two…

Take for example Number 2.  Northwest Airlines  (which by the way is one of my least favorite airlines) in preparation for laying off a few thousand ground workers releases a handy dandy pamphlet called “101 Ways to Save Money.”  Among the suggestions for saving a few bucks - Dumpster Diving, about which it says you shouldn’t “be shy about pulling things you like out of the trash;” then there’s the suggestion to make your own baby food, and using shredded news paper as kitty litter.  The pamphlet even offers some dating advice recommending long walks in the wood as a low cost dating alternative…

Greece lays claim to Number 39, which I think should have been higher up on the list.  In September the nation revised it’s GDP since 2000, raising it up by an incredible 25%.  What caused the incredible jump?  Why the Greek’s decided to include  activities like prostitution and money laundering when it calculated the GDP…

There’s Number 5 which comes all the way from Kazakhstan.  You know Kazakhstan, they’re the nation “featured” in the Borat skits and movies.  The Kazakhs decided to issue new paper currency this year, but there was one minor problem with the new bills…  They spelled the word “bank” wrong!

How about Cablevision, who was granting stock options to a dead guy!

I’ve got more highlights…

Number 13 is from the Consumer Product Safety Comission in response to the exploding laptop batteries a few months ago (which by the way were Number 12).  The CPSC issued a recommendation for laptop users “don’t use your laptop in your lap.”  I didn’t know Captain Obvious had a new job…

Number 26 will just make you go ick, and it’s curtesy of Greyhound.  It seems that a Greyhound bus managed to dump the content of it’s sewage tank through the sunroof of a passing Ford Explorer dousing the family inside with a variety of waste products.  The family is suing Greyhound for $300,000.

I’ve never been laid off, but I’m pretty sure I’d be upset if I got my pink slip via e-mail.  Radio Shack made this tasteless move over the summer, and it made Number 27.  How do you lay off your employees via e-mail, send them one that says “The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.”   Not to be outdone though is National Semiconductor who makes chips that are used in iPods.  Number 28 belongs to them.  They earned the spot by giving their employees iPods in June of 2006, in July they laid off 35 workers… and demanded the iPods back!

How about allowing Playboy Bunnies make your stock picks?  Number 32 was a website that invited Playboy Bunnies to make some stock picks over the course of the year.  The end results, 40 percent of the bunnies deliver better returns than the S&P 500, compared with just 29 percent of actively managed mutual fund.

Of but there’s more, like the mayor of New Lenox IL who paid for a $1,462 bill in a strip club with his official credit card.  Why?  Because nobody else in his party could pay the bill!  Duh!

Or the pioneers of the cryonics movement, (where they freeze you when you die and hopefully revive you in the future) naturally the had themselves frozen right after their death… too bad the freezers failed…

There’s more worth noting, if you have the time you should glance through the list…