Richard Fisher on Banking

Richard Fisher once again proves he's one of the few honest government officials left:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/06/financial-reform-or-financial-dementia/

My message to you tonight is to remember where we have been. We have collectively been to hell and back. Let’s not go there again. Let’s remember that bankers should never succumb to what is trendy or fashionable or convenient but should instead focus on what is sustainable and in the interest of providing for the long-term good of their customers...

This leaves us with only one way to get serious about TBTF [too big to fail]--the “shrink ’em” camp. Banks that are TBTF are simply TB—“too big.” We must cap their size or break them up--in one way or another shrink them relative to the size of the industry.

Ah, common sense. Capitalism can't survive without it.

PG-13 Moment of the Day

From my friend, Nader A.:

Putting bankers and corrupt politicians in the same room is like putting a bunch of drunk sailors in a whorehouse...someone is gonna overpay, and someone is gonna get screwed in more ways than one!

'Nuff said.

Stephan Pastis Autograph!

Mr. Pastis, author of Pearls Before Swine, is a former California attorney. Although he is a big Peanuts fan, Pastis' style is probably closer to Bill Watterson, who penned Calvin and Hobbes.

Update on April 21, 2013 (book signing in Willow Glen/San Jose, CA):

According to Stephan Pastis, the alligators' accents are supposed to be Russian.  I always thought they were Jamaican for some reason.

Numbers Galore

Don't just look at the Fed and BLS numbers--Intuit has an interesting index of small business employment:

http://payroll.intuit.com/employment_index/

SCU Magazine: Giacomini and John Adams

From SCU Magazine, Summer 2010, interview by Ron Hansen:

George Giacomini: John Adams has a quote that goes something like: "I study politics and war that my sons may study mathematics and philosophy and their children may study poetry and music." There's a progression of necessary learning. I'm a meat and potatoes guy. I still think you need to know politics and economics...and that's where I would put my emphasis in my classes...I don't want to trivialize what other faculty are doing, but I worry that in the process of enriching the material, we're losing the foundational events and ideas. Which just means I'm old.

Old Jesuits have lots of wisdom.

Bonus: John Quincy Adams, former U.S. President and Secretary of State: "We go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy." Oh, how things have changed post-Bush II.

Do Sanctions Make It Easier to Declare War?

Interesting theory--sanctions don't work, everyone realizes they don't work, but the sanctions make it easier to declare war against the target country:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/06/09/sanctioning-iran/

Did sanctions work Iraq? Or did they just make it easier for the U.N. Security Council to grant permission to go to war?

Once you show that x country is violating a bunch of rules related to sanctions, you can then argue it is more likely that x country is violating another set of rules, like WMDs, nuclear weapons, etc.

Film Rec: Putting Things in Perspective

If you want to watch an incredible, but tragic film, check out 2005's Beyond the Gates. It's an amazing re-creation of the Rwandan genocide.

If you wish to donate to a humanitarian association that assists refugees, you may want to consider https://www.rescue.org/