naked capitalism Thu 2010-08-05 19:44 EDT

Taleb Calls Out Alan Blinder for Questionable Ethics

Nassim Nicholas Taleb has an intriguing piece at Huffington Post, ``The Regulator Franchise, or the Alan Blinder Problem,'' ...we've come to accept what other eras would view as corruption as business as usual...This may all seem to be so ``dog bites man'' in America so as to no longer elicit any outrage. The famed regulatory revolving door, and all the benefits that former officials and their new private sector masters gain from a legally permitted but socially destructive form of trading of insider know how is now considered business as usual in the US...the ``innovation'' that regulators, academics, consultants, and banks were all advocating more than 20 years ago was regulatory arbitrage...

Alan Blinder; naked capitalism; questionable ethical; Taleb calls.

Thu 2010-08-05 19:31 EDT

Nassim Nicholas Taleb: The Regulator Franchise, or the Alan Blinder Problem

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

...former regulators and public officials who were employed by the citizens to represent their best interests can use the expertise and contacts acquired on the job to benefit from glitches in the system upon joining private employment...the more complex the regulation, the more bureaucratic the network, the more a regulator who knows the loops and glitches would benefit from it later, as his regulator edge would be a convex function of his differential knowledge. This is a franchise...

Alan Blinder Problem; Nassim Nicholas Taleb; Regulator Franchise.

ClubOrlov Wed 2009-08-26 15:35 EDT

Bullets from the Drug War

kollapsnik

The US has lost the "War on Drugs" The losing side is usually not the one to decide when a fight is over or how it ends Unlike other recent defeats, this lost war is a defeat followed by an invasion Mexico is the natural staging area for the invasion (inconvenient though it is for the Mexicans)New franchises are being set up to service the North American drug market (which is the biggest in the world) The CIA has to eat, and all they know how to do competently is run guns and drugs and control thugs; they get a seat at the table The narcs have to eat too, and all they are trained to do is deal (with) drugs; they get a seat at the table tooAs...

bullets; ClubOrlov; Drug War.