Larry Ribstein has an excellent blog post on the end of what is probably the last backdating trial, that of Bruce Karatz, former CEO of KB Homes. Although the government had sought a prison term of six and half years, Judge Otis D. Wright sentenced Karatz to five years’ probation.
The Supreme Court’s “honest services” decision not only sent Jeff Skilling’s case back to the Fifth Circuit, it also sent Conrad Black’s case back to the Seventh Circuit. But Black did not fare well in an opinion written by Judge Richard Posner :
January 2001 -- "The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else." So said John Maynard Keynes, and truly.
The bad news came in the form of international math and science test scores for eighth-graders. American students placed in the middle rank of thirty-eight nations, showing no improvement from the same comparison in 1995 despite concerted efforts to raise the quality of science instruction. American students were surpassed not only by Asians (Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Korea)-no surprise there-but also by Slovenia, Hungary, and the Russian Federation. The study, conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics, also reported data on what is probably a major reason for the United States's mediocre performance. More American teachers majored in education than in the subject they teach; in other countries the reverse is true.
February 2001 -- "There is no right to do wrong." So said Alan Keyes used to say during his presidential campaign. Apparently, he either did not grasp or did not care that freedom implies the right to do wrong, inasmuch as a person permitted no option but to walk the straight and narrow does not walk this path freely. Of course, libertarians know well the truth of that observation, but today it demands a rider: Freedom exists only when the right to do wrong is more than nominal.
While reviewing USA Today’s lengthy exposé of prosecutorial misconduct, I happened upon the following story, which seemed apt in these times of blaming bankers. “ Va. Bankers Scored a Rare Victory against Prosecutors .”
Navigator: What do you think of Ayn Rand 's aesthetic theories and judgments.
May 2001 -- A new school of economic thought, called "behavioral economics," is beginning to take hold in much of America's academic community. One measure of the movement's growth is a bibliography of the field by Matthew Rabin: it comprises more than two thousand "significant" articles and books. Another measure of growth is the number of behavioralists (as they are called) who have been hired by top schools, including the University of Chicago, Yale, Harvard, M.I. T., Stanford, and the University of California-Berkeley.
September 2004 -- Thomas Sydenham (1624-89) was one of London's leading physicians in the latter half of the 17th century. As a follower of Francis Bacon's philosophy, and a close friend of John Locke, Sydenham insisted on an intensely empirical approach to the treatment of disease. For the same reason, however, he remained uninterested in the great anatomical discoveries of his day—and in the bizarre physiological theories to which they gave rise—observing that to a practitioner these theories were useless or worse. Unfortunately, because of this anti-speculative outlook, Sydenham's reputation has suffered somewhat in recent years.
September 2001 -- At sundown on September 26, millions of Jewish people begin their religious tradition of fasting on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. The fast continues on the 27th and culminates in a large break-the-fast after the sun has set. It is one of the holiest, and most celebrated, holidays of the year for modern Jews. The fast is commanded by a passage in the Torah that is often translated as "Ye shall afflict the soul" (Leviticus 23: 23-32). There are other restrictions imposed by Jewish tradition, such as no sexual relations, no work, and no adornments with one's dress. The traditional idea is that on Yom Kippur one must subject himself to self-punishment and self-denial to seek forgiveness and make himself pitiable in front of God.
This story in the Houston Chronicle, “Law Makes It Easier to Blow Whistle on Corporate Crime,” written by Philip Hilder, the lawyer for Enron “whistleblower” Sherron Watkins, explains (though not in so many words) how the new “whistleblower” provisions of Dodd-Frank will turn corporate employees into spies and bounty hunters. One effect, he notes, is that employees will no longer report employee misbehavior to higher-ups but will immediately try to criminalize misbehavior in order to secure some big bucks. “The law's impact could be significant as companies may lose the opportunity to self-correct before a government investigation is launched. It is foreseeable that such an investigation could trigger shareholder or derivative lawsuits against the company. It is equally foreseeable that employees in Watkins' situation will now bypass company protocol and proceed to grab for the golden ring.”
June 2001 -- First came the Camp David Accords. Then the Dayton Accords. Now another set of accords is needed to bring two rivals together. I speak of Republicans and Libertarians. The importance of peace was recently pointed out by John J. Miller of National Review. In a column he wrote for Investor's Business Daily (May 9, 2001), Miller analyzed the elections of 1998 and 2000 and came to this conclusion: Had Republicans and Libertarians joined forces during the last two years, the GOP would have had a 52-48 majority in the Senate and also two more seats in the House. Two weeks later Miller's analysis took on even greater significance. If the GOP had had a clear majority in the Senate, Jim Jeffords would probably not have defected, for he would not have been able to shift power to the Democrats and reap the rewards of doing so.
July/August 2001 -- California's attempt to reform its electricity industry will no doubt become a textbook case of market regulation gone awry. For it is the state's recent reconstruction of its utility market, in an attempt to create some form of "regulated competition" (as one prominent energy expert calls it), that has resulted in a highly volatile system unable to ration electricity effectively when the market is somehow shocked. That is what happened last year when a variety of factors—a drought, the price of natural gas, and unseasonably warm weather—caused a decrease in the amount of electricity produced and a spike in wholesale energy prices. When wholesale prices rose, retail prices could not follow, because of how the state had structured its electricity market.
August 27, 2010 -- "How do you know there is going to be an economic recovery?" Greta Van Susteren asked GOP dummy, Dana Perino. "There always is; these things go in cycles," squeaked the Heidi Klum of the commentariat. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook A tax cut for high-income earners is tantamount to a return of stolen goods. Dana, who was once a spokesperson to a man who was barely able to speak, always smiles with pride when her boss' "modest" government expansion is hearkened to nostalgically on Fox News. You remember the broad sweep of the Bush limited-government program: Medicare Part D, "No Child Left Behind," and the fiscal fiascos that are the wars in Middle East and South-central Asia. Likewise, Dana seems to think that the economy is much like the menstrual cycle. But even that event grinds to a halt when the hormones run out.
The practice of “libel tourism” has developed because libel laws differ among countries. The United States, generally considered to offer the greatest freedom of speech, requires that the plaintiff prove the falsity of the statements against him, as well as malice or negligence on the part of the defendant. In the U.K., however, the burden of proof lies on the defendant to prove the truth of his statements, and a reasonable belief in their truth is not a valid defense.
Islamic banking is also referred to as sharia-compliant banking because banks follow certain restrictions associated with sharia law. For example, lenders cannot charge interest and investors cannot invest in industries like gambling or pornography. In 2005, International Trade Specialist Scott Smith reported that Islamic banking controlled $270 billion in assets in over 25 countries.
September 2001 -- On June 28, New York became the first state to pass a ban on using a handheld cell-phone while driving. Governor George Pataki, who had earlier issued an executive order banning state employees from using state-issued handheld cell phones while driving, quickly signed the bill into law. As of December 1, a motorist caught using a cell-phone while driving in New York State will be fined $100. Governor Pataki justified the law by characterizing drivers' use of cell-phones as "an enormous threat to public safety." On the talk-radio circuit, listeners and hosts joined in the chorus by complaining about swerving drivers and near-miss accidents. Some forty other states and many more local communities are considering bans on using cell phones while driving. And on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Congress held hearings on the issue. Only Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond has had the courage to buck this trend and veto his legislature's attempt to ban the use of cell phones while driving.
December 2001 -- Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies . By James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras. (New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 336 pp. $26.00.) If I had to recommend one book in the field of organizational behavior, Built to Last would be it. The authors, James Collins and Jerry Porras, conducted extensive research on "visionary companies"—members of an elite group of companies that outperform and outlive their competition.
October 2001 -- A commentary from the Navigator Special: The Assault on Civilization, posted September 18, 2001 As the full impact of the barbaric terrorists attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon unfolded, TV anchors, commentators, and community leaders invoked God and prayer as a means of personally dealing with all the tragedy of this attack. Communities and congregations organized prayer vigils and religious services. President Bush declared Friday, September 14, 2001 a "National Day of Prayer and Remembrance."
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