Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Due Process: Holder vs Colbert. Art or Reality. Choose.

Re-posted from last year is Dan Becker’s post: Due Process: Holder vs Colbert. Art or Reality. Choose. This is the object: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury,… nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due […]

Due Process: Holder vs Colbert. Art or Reality. Choose.

This is the object:  No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury,… nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;   It’s all one sentence. Any questions?   This is Art: The lyrics of […]

Not So Dumb as Economists, Part 1

I was going to point out that finance people are not so dumb as economists,* but Echidne’s takedown of Gary Becker is so divine it deserves your attention more: This argument was initially made by Gary Becker, an economist, a very long time ago.** It is not an uncommon argument from conservatives (or from certain […]

Systemic Discrimination is Legal as long as you are Large

Welcome to the New United States. Trust that Jared Bernstein (if this one shows up, instead of this one) will have more on how much future damage can be done to the economy. UPDATE: Scott Lemieux weighs in, correctly seeing it as worse than any reasonable examination of the facts would have permitted*: Systematic discrimination […]

Senators Who Committed a Crime Demands Rule of Law

David Vitter (R-DiaperPuta) stands firm: Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) will block two nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission…Daniel Gallagher Jr., a partner at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP who was nominated to join the SEC, and agency commissioner Luis Aguilar, who was nominated for a second term….both require […]

I Hate It When My Cynicism is the OPTIMISTIC Version

I wisecracked yesterday chez DeLong that, given the current political climate, I wouldn’t invest in a company without political connections using his money, let alone my own. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the Supreme Court already had decided earlier yesterday that investing in mutual funds should be a hazardous activity: Janus […]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

As the title indicates, this will be a more than usually confused post.The stimulus was the now famous grief over elementary fairness which errupted when “[Judge] Scott Fairgrieve of Nassau County District Court, wrote that ‘swearing to false statements reflects poorly on the profession [of law] as a whole” and fined lawyer Steven J Baum […]

My Kids Have School Today: An Inequality Survey

The kids in the next town over don’t.  Indeed, the place where my Eldest Daughter’s swim team practices is closed because it’s a holiday, and their schools are.  But not here: the banks are closed, the government offices are closed, the local libraries are closed. (Heck, the New York Public Library is closed.)  But the […]

Clinton Global Initiative, Day 2 – Empowering Girls and Women (Plenary)

Moderator is Katie Couric, News Anchor and Managing Editor at CBS News. Panelists are Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah , Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company Mr. Kent’s favorite book is Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. […]

UC-Berkeley Law School Degrades Itself Even More

No wonder Brad DeLong has had no luck persuading Christopher Edley to get rid of the malfeasant John Yoo. As Bob Somersby observes: Christopher Edley thinks he’s one of your “betters.” It’s hard to believe, but that’s the exceptionally low-IQ framework this self-proclaimed member of the elite enunciated in Sunday’s piece. According to Edley, rubes […]