By ASSed

David Elbert and the D Moines Register seem to have some sort of issue with Principal Financial Group.

In October (Completely Irresponsible) I noted how an all time low had been reached by injecting conjecture and speculation from an "anonymous broker friend" as to why The Principal Financial Group has taken a market hit on it's stock.

Yesterday the assault on the Iowa based employer continued and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Principal hit hardest of Iowa firms in slide; trucking company does well

They chart a two month window which shows their stock down 69% during the time period.

Not many financial institutions have been unscathed and "anonymous" gossip from a broker friend or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have not helped.

Lee Enterprises was also down 69% on the Register's chart, but did not receive one mention in the story.

The Register listed them as an Iowa Manufacturer, but Lee (like the Register/Gannett) is in the publishing/news business.

It feels like a little professional courtesy kept them out of the story, sort of we won't write about how bad you're doing (Lee stock is trading around $1) if you won't write about how bad we are (Gannett/GCI is trading around $8 and is down from a high of $39.50).

As of this writing I am not aware of any job cuts at Principal Financial, the same can't be said for the Register that is facing its second round of layoffs.

My wife, Chris, has worked for both the Principal and the Register and I have found that the former is a far better corporate citizen than the latter.