101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2006

Big money, big egos and a general lack of common sense = serious business!










Some highlights of the lowlights:

• Northwest Airlines: In July, bankrupt Northwest Airlines begins laying off thousands of ground workers, but not before issuing some of them a handy guide, "101 Ways to Save Money." The advice includes dumpster diving ("Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash"), making your own baby food, shredding old newspapers for use as cat litter, and taking walks in the woods as a low-cost dating alternative.
• Kazakhstan: Amid efforts by Kazakhstan to prove it's not the backward land portrayed in the movie Borat, the nation's central bank misspells the Kazakh word for "bank" on its 2,000- and 5,000-tenge notes.
• National Semiconductor: In June, National Semiconductor boosts morale by handing every employee a 30-gigabyte iPod, for which it makes computer chips. In July, National lays off 35 employees - and demands their iPods back, claiming that the portable music players are company "equipment."
• British Food Processor: Mick Woods purchases a package of cooked ham made by British food processor H.R. Hargreaves & Son. After reviewing the complete list of ingredients, which includes "dog shit," he loses his appetite. Hargreaves fires the employee responsible for the prank and begins a recall of the mislabeled packages.
• DDS Media: British multimedia publisher DDS Media is forced to scrap 10,000 copies of TV anchor Eamonn Holmes's spelling game after it misspells Holmes's name on the DVD.
• Mars: Mars recalls more than 1,000 M&Ms menorahs after receiving reports that five of the plastic candleholders - designed to resemble the popular candies and featuring a pair of M&Ms characters holding Stars of David - have started smoldering or burst into flames.

And this last one isn't stupid, just funny :)

• Crackheadz Gone Wild: New York: Entrepreneurs David Singletary and Milton Greagory begin selling Crackheadz Gone Wild: New York DVDs for $10 in New York's Harlem neighborhood. "It's basically a drug-awareness video," says Singletary, a former crack dealer. The thriving business rakes in $2,500 a week at a single table across from the Apollo Theater.

Check out the entire list at CNN.com.