Moral Midgets at the Helm

Ross Douhat and Jeff Maximos had the following remarks on the peculiar kind of meritocracy at work at both the Ivies and Wall Street, a new model of leader combines great intellect with a great sense of entitlement, and a very meager sense of civilizational responsibility. Ross begins: I don’t often plug my first book, [...]

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The Wall Street Swamp

Wall Street will always be greedy and profit-minded. That is a given.  But the extent of the rot is really alarming.  The failure of all forms of regulation–internal, public, and market-based, such as bond-rating agencies–will leave a cloud over capital markets for some time. The fearlessness by participants suggests that non-market considerations–friendships, loyalty, ethnic and [...]

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Economists and the Bailout

I’ve recently become intrigued by the writings of Nicholas Taleb.  They resonate with me because his criticism of mathematical modeling of markets–i.e., the central activity of “econometrics” and the basis of so much Wall Street activity–has long been a theme of the Austrian School of Economics. The same skepticism of predictability that leads the Austrians to reject [...]

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Economy Round Up

I thought Mitt Romney’s op-ed opposing the Detroit bailout had the right combination of free market instincts, industry knowledge, patriotic compassion, and credibility. It reminded me of why I voted for him.  I say that as someone who recognizes the unfairness of bailing out Wall Street while letting this strategically important industry suffer.  But there’s [...]

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