The New York Times reports that if Verizon decides to match its $9.75 billion bid for MCI, then the mountain bell operator could raise its bid to $32 a share, or possibly higher. I have been calling this “the madness” for a while and now NYT has come to that conclusion. Perhaps more shareholders will get interested and stop one of the bidders to stop from committing hari-kari. NYT again makes my point when it notes that SBC got a better deal with AT&T. Jeffrey Halpern, of Sanford C. Bernstein & Company quips, “It’s twice the price but not twice the value,” when he compares the two deals.