Laws.com just published an article listing what they consider to be the top 50 justice blogs. Consistent with the sentiment of this site and my books, they note that while the U.S. has made some great strides toward equality, we have not reached or goal. (I'd say that we will never reach the goal; it will always be a struggle for more equality.) They suggest that an important part of the battle is increased awareness and thus want to bring attention to justice bloggers. As the headline of this post notes, PaulsJusticeBlog is on the list (see #4). But I'm... continue reading »
"Wall St Incompetence Tax", Continued Last week, the proposed bailout was the big news and the bare bones, 3 page plan for a $700 billion bailout package was being fleshed out. One commentator quoted a Wall St Journal story that Treasury Secretary "Paulson cautioned lawmakers against letting the plan get bogged down in a debate over unnecessary additions." The commentator adds: "'Unnecessary additions' - things like accountability, transparency, making sure that the crisis does not happen again, and making sure that it solves the underlying problem."The revised plan grew to 110 pages and started to include a few items to... continue reading »
$700 Billion Bailout / "Wall St Incompetence Tax" for TaxpayersThe big news this week is the proposed $700 billion agency, funded by taxpayer $, to buy troubled debt and rescue the financial system. The NY Times has the text of the original bill, which is worth considering even though Congress is likely to demand changes. (Hat tip to the Big Picture for the "incompetence tax" phrase.) Some of the key provisions and criticisms include:$700 billionThe proposed text:Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any... continue reading »
Last week I started a White Collar Crime review as part of a class on white collar crime I am teaching, and here's an update on elite deviance, abuses of power, etc that's happened in the last week. Before the review, a quick example of what Friedrich's Trusted Criminals book means by 'normal accident.' Remember that this is how human responsibility for the failure of complex systems becomes erased, so failures seem like 'normal accidents' (no one to blame here, move along). I mentioned the current financial crisis and Barry Ritholtz, who was chief investment strategist for an investment firm... continue reading »
Now that I'm teaching a class on white collar crime, I hope to periodically post collections of links about white collar crime, elite deviance and abuses of power. Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac BailoutThe government announced the takeover of these two institutions, which own or guarantee between $5 and $6 billion in mortgages. They were GSEs - government sponsored entities - so they already had some government involvement, but now it is total. (Everything you might want to know is collected in the links here.) This raises questions about free markets and whether how much this will cost taxpayers, which... continue reading »
In an earlier posting about the arrests in Britain for the plot to use explosives in liquid bottles, I mentioned an item from Juan Cole's excellent blog: It turns out that the more Arab students listen to Radio Sawa and watch al-Hurra Television, the US government's main media effort at winning hearts and minds, the more they disliked US policies. Turns out it isn't how the policies are packaged on the airwaves that matters. It is the policies. The students mostly think they stink. I was going to make a snarky comment about the need for Western-style democracy there -... continue reading »
Many thanks to those of you stopping by to check out the blog. I've been working out a few technical bugs and hope to start posting more frequently over the next few weeks.This week is a little lighter than last week's review of terrorism, but we still have violence in the Mid East to deal with. But first, sex, drugs and CEO pay & how they profited from Sept 11. Sex-Regina Lynn writes the Sex Drive column for Wired.com (yes, work safe): It has long been illegal in California to knowingly pass a communicable disease, venereal or otherwise, to another... continue reading »
A standard feature of many blog is a blogroll - that list that can be either long or endless. While I like checking out suggestions of my favorite bloggers, long blogrolls are overwhelming and not useful. So, I will be doing posts (hopefully one a week) that review a few highlights and point out some good material in blogs I recommend. They will all be filed under the 'linkfest/recommended' category. While you probably think this should start out with Ken Lay, that's a bit too US centric...Anniversary of London Bombings "Everything was all normal and then suddenly, it was not.... continue reading »