Narrowing the New Class Divide

BOOK REVIEW
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, Author: Charles Murray.

By Charles Murray – I can see four steps that might weaken the isolation of at least the children of the new upper class.

For one thing, we should get rid of unpaid internships. The children of the new upper class hardly ever get real jobs during summer vacation. Instead, they get internships at places like the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute (where I work) or a senator’s office.

It amounts to career assistance for rich, smart children. Those from the middle and working class, struggling to pay for college, can’t afford to work for free. Internships pave the way for children to move seamlessly from their privileged upbringings to privileged careers without ever holding a job that is boring or physically demanding. more> http://tinyurl.com/6na8yp9

Related articles

• Non-judgmentalism – the new upper-class hypocrisy (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• Is This the Best Charles Murray Can Do? (thedailybeast.com)
• Is White, Working Class America ‘Coming Apart’? (npr.org)
  

Banks Shouldn’t Be Both Judge and Jury on Credit Defaults

Editorial – Imagine you bought a house and, to insure it, you had to purchase coverage from the homebuilder.

Then imagine a fire nearly destroyed the house, but your ability to collect the insurance depended on a committee of anonymous homebuilders meeting in secret to vote on whether to write you a check. If denied, the panel wouldn’t have to provide an explanation, you wouldn’t be allowed to review the minutes of closed-door discussions and you’d have no right to appeal.

Not a great system. But not dissimilar to the one that governs the world of credit-default swaps.

Panels made up of representatives from large banks, hedge funds, investment firms and other interested parties, formed by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, decide whether payouts will be made to investors. more> http://tinyurl.com/6pyr6c5

Related articles

• Credit Default Swaps: They’re Still Here and Still Dangerous (fool.com)
• The Money Masters Are Living in Fear (thepressnet.com)
• ISDA to determine if Greece credit event occurred (marketwatch.com)
• When is a Debt Default not a “Credit Event?” (ritholtz.com)
• Credit Default Swaps (CDS) Are Insurance Products, Not Tradeable Assets (ritholtz.com)
• Beyond Greece: More Questions Than Answers Over Future of CDS Markets (247wallst.com)

White House tries cyber scare demonstration to spur Senate

By Jennifer Martinez – The White House orchestrated a simulated cyberattack on New York City’s power supply during a summer heat wave late Wednesday to illustrate not only potential human and economic casualties, but to tee up support for Senate passage of a sweeping cybersecurity bill.

Backed by the White House and Senate Democrats, the Lieberman bill would require operators of critical infrastructure to work with DHS to set security standards they must follow. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have raised concerns that this approach is too regulatory and would refocus industry’s attention from security to complying with new government mandates. more> http://tinyurl.com/74kpx9h

Related articles

• Cybersecurity and False Hope ↓
• White House, NSA weigh cybersecurity, personal privacy (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• Is Harry Reid Slipping SOPA Into A New Cyber-Security Bill? (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• White House wages mock cyberattack on NYC to push security bill (digitaltrends.com)
• White House Simulates Cyberattack on New York City (mashable.com)
• Obama Uses Staged Cyber Attack To Sell Draconian Cybersecurity Bill (wrc559.com)
• White House Will Simulate NYC Power Grid Attack to Teach the Senate a Lesson [Security] (gizmodo.com)
• Feds Simulate Crippling Cybersecurity Attack On NYC Electricity (informationweek.com)
• Report Warns of Cyber Attack from China (myfoxny.com)

Vladimir Putin and the Law

Vladimir Putin – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009 (Photo credit: World Economic Forum)

By William Partlett – Vladimir Putin has been busy — he recently published his seventh pre-election article in two months. These lengthy articles cover a dizzying range of issues, from ethnic integration to foreign policy.

Reliance on the law has typically been short-lived amongst Russian leaders. From Lenin to Yeltsin, Russian leaders have strategically used legal rhetoric but have ultimately jettisoned legal limitations in the relentless pursuit of their political and economic goals. Mr. Putin’s emphasis on what he has previously called the “dictatorship of law” hints at a different approach, explicitly drawing on a deep tradition of conservative Russian legal thought that begins with the nineteenth century philosopher Boris Chicherin and that persists today in the current chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin.

Mr. Putin proclaims that the Russian state will not allow itself to be swept up in growing forces of instability, but instead will seek to control these forces by actively “setting the rules of the game.” He continues: Russia will “muscle up” by “being open to change” through state sanctioned procedures and rules.

As he eyes another six years in power, only Mr. Putin knows whether he will expand on these limited steps toward a law-based state. more> http://tinyurl.com/7rdghxz

Related articles

• Much Too Early to Say Putin has Won: Understanding the Big Lie, Paul Roderick Gregory, Forbes
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• Vladimir Putin opposition admits they face long haul to defeat him (telegraph.co.uk)
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The Rich Get Richer: 2010 Was a Very Good Year to Be in the 1%

By Derek Thompson – During the Great Recession, the 1% absorbed half of total income losses between 2007 and 2009. But in the first year of the recovery, the top percentile won 93% of all income gains.

As for this recession, Tim Noah puts it beautifully: This recovery has been a luxury item. For the bottom 99%, real income growth over the first two years of the recovery was one-fifth of one percent. The richest percentile saw its income rebound by 11.6%. It is only slightly sensational to point out that the 1%’s income has outgained the rest of the economy by a factor of 58 in the recovery. more> http://tinyurl.com/79e2sly

Related articles

• The Richest 1 Percent Captured 93 Percent Of Income Gains In 2010 (thinkprogress.org)
• New Study Shows How The 1% Got 93% Of The Income Gains During The Great Recovery (businessinsider.com)
• The income-adjusted cost of living in New York, Andrew Schiff edition (blogs.reuters.com)
• The 1% Had a Fantastic 2010 (rortybomb.wordpress.com)
• Top one per cent pocket 93 per cent of US dosh (rt.com)
• Why The Economic Recovery Hasn’t Felt Like One For The 99 Percent (CHARTS) (alternet.org)
• Why The Economic Recovery Hasn’t Felt Like One For The 99 Percent (CHARTS) (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Recovery Leaves 99 Percent Poorer (reason.com)
• The Rich Are Rebounding Nicely, Thank You Very Much (motherjones.com)
• Income inequality: 1 percent still going strong (cbsnews.com)