Wall Street’s kangaroo court gets a black eye

“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” the future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote in a 1913 article for Harpers’ Weekly, and now, almost 100 years later, there is evidence that Brandeis was right. On July 9, I wrote a column describing how the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-policing organization, seemingly out of nowhere fired three arbitrators in the months after a May 2011 case in which they awarded $520,000 to the estate of th

July 31, 2012

Cronyism the real cause of Olympic security mess

It’s hip these days for everyone from world leaders to the Occupy Wall Street crowd to attack free-market, limited-government capitalism as wild and in need of control because it’s supposedly the cause of the world economic collapse. This is a myth. It’s too much government-facilitated cronyism that’s causing the mayhem wrongfully attributed to capitalism. This trend now continues in the context of the London Olympics and its private security outsourcing.Security firm G4S fell drastically short

July 30, 2012

Don’t like Asian state capitalism? Blame the West

State capitalism, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, is a serious rival to U.S. and European businesses, which face being excluded from some markets. “Instead of trying to prevent ― or worse, dismiss altogether ― the rise of state-capitalist systems,” the magazine argues, “U.S. and European companies and governments would do better to learn from them.” A similar case was made in the 1980s, when Japan’s state-supported conglomerates briefly threatened to take over the world. For a moment ― as I

July 30, 2012

Dynastic politics continues to dominate Pakistan

Despite huge political and social changes that have occurred over the last 60 years, electoral politics in Pakistan has remained largely a family enterprise. A limited number of families continue to dominate Pakistan’s legislatures, turning them into oligarchies.This stranglehold of a narrow power elite on the country’s politics was highlighted by the victory of Abdul Qadir Gilani in the by-election on the seat vacated by his father Yousuf Raza Gilani.Although the former prime minister himself i

July 30, 2012

BRICs should focus on their own problems

As the world struggles to deal with its two largest foreign-affairs dilemmas, Syria and Iran, resolutely standing in the way are the BRICs.That’s the acronym foreign-policy wonks use for the block of nations that routinely refuses to join the multilateral world of diplomacy, dominated by the United States and the West. They seem to glory in being contrary. The nations are Brazil, Russia, India and China.Russia and China, of course, routinely veto any United Nations Security Council resolution cr

July 29, 2012

Making the rich poorer doesn’t enrich middle class

Here’s a question for you: Would you rather have more money, or keep your current income and see the rich become less wealthy? It’s not a trick question. Any member of the middle class would rather have more money. Income inequality may be a problem for society at large, but it isn’t a concern for those struggling to make ends meet. Give more to those with less, and they will be better off. Making the rich poorer does nothing for the middle class ― it may even hurt ― except assuage some jealousy

July 29, 2012

Poverty looms over U.S. campaign for presidency

Lots of things are still very wrong with the U.S. economy, but this is one that should be getting more attention: Census figures for 2011 are expected to show the poverty rate jumping to its highest level since the 1960s.Essentially, all the anti-poverty public policy of the last 50 years ― the war on poverty and the expansion of the social safety net, the massive private-sector gains spurred by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and Bill Clinton in the 1990s ― has been rendered ineffective by the meltd

July 29, 2012

Life goes on for victims after Aurora killings

Murders ― especially random mass murders ― are frightening. And when we’re frightened, we look for explanations that will restore some sense of safety to the world. That’s one reason so many people are speculating about whether James Holmes, the suspect in Friday’s horrific Colorado shootings, is mentally ill.In some ways it would be reassuring to find out that he is. Then we could begin figuring out new ways to keep ourselves safe. Some people would argue for better outreach to the mentally ill

July 29, 2012

What Cameron can do about Britain’s economy

The London Olympics open Friday, and let’s hope they go well. The host country could use some good news. This week’s figures for U.K. national output showed a surprisingly big contraction of 0.7 percent in the second quarter, deepening a double-dip recession. There’s no longer much question about it: Prime Minister David Cameron’s government needs to loosen up its austerity-focused fiscal policy. Admittedly, the latest growth figures are puzzling, leading some analysts to ask whether they can be

July 27, 2012

Chinese drainage system fails to rein in rain

Has the rainwater drainage system received enough attention in our urbanization drive over the past few decades?Urban planners need to reflect on the question especially after the heaviest rainstorm in 61 years devastated Beijing last Saturday. Similar rainstorms have caused trouble in a number of other cities, including Nanjing, Hefei, Wuhan and Chengdu lately. In fact, a torrential downpour, even if it is not the heaviest in decades, can paralyze traffic in many Chinese cities.Beijing authorit

July 27, 2012

More caution needed for death penalty

A pair of government officials, convicted of embezzling state funds and accepting bribes, was executed before a firing squad after their appeals were turned down. Fortunately, it did not happen here in Indonesia, but in China, where corruption is equally entrenched.But the death penalties meted out last year against Xu Maiyong and Jiang Renjie, respectively former vice mayor of Hangzhou and former vice mayor of Suzhou in China, may someday be handed down to Indonesian graft convicts in a bid to

July 27, 2012

Use Fukushima lessons to improve nuke plant safety

Based on lessons learned from the results of investigations into the unprecedented nuclear power plant crisis, the government and electric power companies must work on measures to prevent future nuclear accidents.The government’s Nuclear Incident Investigation and Verification Committee, responsible for looking into the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, released its final report on Monday.Investigation commissions of the Diet and TEPCO as well as a private

July 27, 2012

More billions for Greece still a bargain

The prospect of Greece leaving the euro is infecting markets again like a recurring case of the Spanish flu. As Greece’s international creditors begin talks in Athens, a few deep breaths and some perspective are in order. Did anyone think Greece wasn’t still at risk of a euro departure? The election of a pro-euro government on June 17 did no more than avoid an instant Greek exit. The challenges that existed before the vote remain, and that was as clear in June as it is now. The latest hyperventi

July 26, 2012