Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

As an alum of GMUSL, I am here to tell you that the school is a right-wing free-market fundamentalist factory. They prosper as an institution in direct proportion to the degree in which they hew the Club For Growth line. Their rapid rise in rankings and
academic credentials over the past two decades notwithstanding, I say that the place indeed sucks.
A quote from a former dean (who was removed for misappropriation of funds, btw): "diversity's place is between law schools, not within them."

Being a dummy, I didn't really know this before I went there. But the school is a propoganda facility, seeking to invalidate the very concept of government regulation (of practically anything). Shitty ethics, too. Expecting rationality or proportion from that citadel of "Law and Economics" is foolhardy.

Here's GMU's page about Ms. Gramm:
http://www.mercatus.org/people.php/35.html?menuid=1

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=983

"As a lame-duck chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Wendy Gramm exempted Enron and other energy futures traders from oversight in response to a request by Enron. At the time, Enron was a significant source of political funding for her husband. Five weeks later, she joined the company’s board and served on the board’s audit committee, where she would have had access to the company’s financial details."

What do you expect from Texas politicians?

She sold her self-respect for money? What was her price?

If you're gonna be a prostitute, at least charge all the market will bear.

Wendy's self-respect is probably enormous. "Get government off the back of the private sector" justifies everything.

Many and perhaps most Americans are "success positivists" -- whatever works for you is OK. ("Can't argue with success" is an explicit statement of this). Awhile back an ex-Democrat whore journalist (possibly but not certainly Susan Estrich, I can't remember) swung by a table of honest journalists and Democrats and let it slip that she was getting paid several times more than any of them.

Since any regulator can make much more money by going into the private sector (after giving a regulatee a sweetheart deal, natch) regulation can often be neutralized without formal action.

I don't think that the capitalist system can work if people are motivated entirely by economic incentives. But that's a can of worms to save for later. It doesn't even seem that our system would even continue to work if everyone behaved rationally.

" This from the woman who: 1) enabled Enron's off balance sheet financial shenanigans;"

For which, there is not a shred of evidence.

" 2) Sat on the B of D of a public company while her husband was a Senator who -- surprise! -- recieved donations from Enron (indeed, why else was she put on the board if not to buy his vote?);"

Oh, maybe the fact that she's a Northwestern Phd in economics whose lifelong specialty is commodities markets? Of course, Phil Gramm's interest in deregulating commodities markets long pre-dates his wife's board membership. And, Enron went out of their way NOT to contribute to Gramm after he took up legislation that would have affected them.

" 3) Cashed out before the whole thing went kablooey."

Which is a flat out lie. Wendy Gramm is a general creditor of Enron (which, along with $5, will get her a Starbuck's latte), BECAUSE she didn't take any stock after 1998 to avoid just the kind of conflict of interest she is now unfairly being accused of. She--unlike Paul Krugman who got all his compensation from Enron upfront--accepted deferred compensation which is now worthless.

Zizka, old man (you must be, for reasons that will become apparent), you have identified a troubling change that has taken place during the latter half of the last century. For all that we take "Victorianism" to be a byword for oppression (sexual and otherwise), repression, bad smells and the like, the notion that standards are to be maintained, that there are obligations beyond profit maximization (or whatever real-world substitute one chooses), the notion that the well off have any obligation to the less fortunate, "there but for the grace of god" all seem to be lost. Some politicians have substituted "values" in their place, but that seems a pretty good indicator that the politician in question has none.

The elder Bush rushed to sign up for WWII. The younger rushed to avoid Vietnam, but now struts around pretending to be our protector. Kerry (far from perfect though he may be) went to Vietnam when he could have ducked, then spoke up about the wrongs he perceived. That has been an issue, but not one that seems to have mattered much. Niether behavior was aimed at enriching Kerry, getting him laid, or getting him a bigger car or a faster boat, but doing what you think is right is no longer a virtue. "Letting you keep your money" (while spending on services to buy your vote), "getting off the back of the back of the private sector" (while investors reap by far the greatest benefit from economic growth), principled adherence to executive perogatives (when one is the executive) - those are virtues now. Too much (opportunistic) faith markets, too much insistence that regulation is a less than second-best alternative to "perfect information."

Here's a better version of the link Brad posted:

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2004/05/cojones_grande.html

Bravo, Patrick!

Now, perhaps you'd cre to make an estimate of how much more culpable Paul Krugman is for the collapse of Enron than Wendy Gramm? After all, she merely sat on its audit committee and exempted it from the requirement to be adequately capitalised, while Krugman received an actual consultancy fee!

dsquared, you're too good: you beat me to any kind of rant aimed at Patrick, and you did it much more cleverly than i would have.

So i'll just cover the one issue you missed - is it possible that Patrick, although he practices it all the time with respect to the backbone administration - has no idea what "enabling" is?

I believe George Mason is Ground Zero for the hardcore element of the public choice economics field. The Buchanan Center is at George Mason and Buchanan (James, not Pat) and Gordon Tullock are both on the faculty, and Wendy Gramm is listed as a Distinguished Fellow.

Not surprising that she would surface at such an institution.

" This from the woman who: 1) enabled Enron's off balance sheet financial shenanigans;"

Patrick:
"For which, there is not a shred of evidence."

Has she been tortured yet, Patrick? I guarantee that I'd get a confession out of her within ten minutes. And we *know* she's guilty - after all, did Enron pick innocent people to sit on it's board? If she hasn't been tortured, how do we know she's innocent?

Barry

" This from the woman who: 1) enabled Enron's off balance sheet financial shenanigans;"

"For which, there is not a shred of evidence."

Membership on the audit committee, perhaps?

I understand that there are respected schools of conservative economic thought, Chicago, for example.

That being said, it appears to me that a lot of folks are saying that GMU is to the study of economics what Pepperdine is to the study of law, i.e. a place where real study is subverted to the political goals of it's management and backers.

Is this an accurate assessment?

Nepotism again. Explain to me why Mrs Grahm has any say in any public policy matter at all? Why does Mrs Tom Daschle have say in the FAA? Why does Colin's little boy Michael have power in the FCC? (appointed by Clinton, and again by Shrub...) Why was Liddy Dole a cabinet officer, now a senator, and what makes Hillary Clinton the best possible representative of New York.

A pox on both houses!

Pouncer has mispounced in the case of Hillary Clinton, former outstanding young lawyer, Director of Wal-Mart inter many alia, and generally very bright lady.

Of course being hated by Republicans has added greatly to her New York cachet, but this is hardly something a competent left-wing woman gets by nepotism.

Why does Hillary have that power? Well, she was elected -- the only one on the list who was.

Pouncer, don't try to fool people who are smarter than you are.

"The elder Bush rushed to sign up for WWII. The younger rushed to avoid Vietnam, but now struts around pretending to be our protector. Kerry (far from perfect though he may be) went to Vietnam when he could have ducked..."

No matter how many times these canards are repeated, they are still false. And there is no excuse for anyone reading these comments sections not to know the truth, because I have tirelessly corrected them every time they are posted here.

John Kerry only joined the navy when his graduate school deferment was disallowed. His choices at that point were: 1. Go to Canada. 2. Be drafted. 3. Enlist.

He chose #3, and spent a year aboard a frigate as an electrical officer. Not liking that duty--he didn't like being under the thumb of the captain of the ship 24 hrs./day, he saw an opportunity for more congenial duty as the lone officer of a Swift Boat--which he knew to be relatively safe duty patrolling off the beautiful beaches of South Vietnam (my source for this is Doug Brinkley, and his source is JOHN KERRY). Also, volunteering for Swift Boat duty got him a month off to visit his girlfriend--later his first heiress wife, that's why he never needed to make money on his own.

Only after he returned to Vietnam did he find that the duty was no longer safe. Adm Zumwalt changed the mission to patrolling the rivers and canals, which Kerry admitted he hadn't bargained for. At any rate he took the opportunity, thanks to a little lobbying for his first Purple Heart, to beat it out after 4 months--leaving a young officer named John O'Neill to take his place amidst the fighting.

Kerry then blew off his 2 year duty for Ready Reserve duty to seek celebrity as an anti-war activist, slandering the people he'd fought with (as well as those who had to replace him) as war criminals.

Not exactly the standard resume for a war hero President.

And this twisted, inaccurate potted history of john kerry is relevant to Wendy Gramm exactly...how, Patrick?

Hey Patrick:

I do not like to automatically assume someone is a troll or anuninformed lackedy -- but you are starting to make my spider sense tingle.

So here's your homework assingment: As this discussion is about Wendy Gramm & Enron, go do some reading and then get back to us. Here, to start you off:

Wendy Gramm has no regrets
By Gary LaMoshi
Salon, Jan. 28, 2004
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/01/28/wendy_gramm/

Phil Gramms Enron Favor
Watchdog: Senator Pushed End to Oversight for Campaign
by James Ridgeway
Village Voice, January 16 - 22, 2002
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0203/ridgeway.php

No Problem Here, and Gramm Should Know
By Al Kamen
Monday, January 26, 2004; Page A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A47126-2004Jan25¬Found=true

Enron and Phil and Wendy Gramm
NANCY BENAC
Associated Press 1/24/02
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2002/20020124/52934.html

So You Want to Buy a President?
1998 PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/president/players/gramm.html

BULL MARKET
Garance Franke-Ruta
Washington City Paper, March 8-14, 2002
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/archives/cover/2002/cover0308.html

Don't dissapoint me . . .

I just want to remark on how wonderful the progress and spread of tolerant, multicultural pluralism across the country has been. Nowadays, even Koreans from Texas understand what chutzpah is!

Patrick: since Kerry's service is inadequate, I assume you agree that the service of the incumbent is so much worse that he should simply resign.

Tell us, whose service is, in your view, adequate? Any Democrats in that number?

Patrick, there are some things you can fake and some things you can't, and dragging a comrade out of the water while under gunfire is one of the ones you can't.

Unless, of course, you have the mainstream media and rightwing trolls beyond counting on your side.

"Why does Hillary have that power? Well, she was elected -- the only one on the list who was."

I believe Sen. Dole was elected, too, and has some claim to distinction apart from simply being the wife of the (other) Sen. Dole. Not that I approve of her politics, exactly . . .

Online Casino Directory

Why does Hillary have that power? Well, she was elected -- the only one on the list who was.

Pouncer, don't try to fool people who are smarter than you are.

Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat - It's not the heat, it's the humidity

Commune periculum concordiam parit - Common danger brings forth harmony

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam - I'll either find a way or make one

Potes currere sed te occulere non potes - You can run, but you can't hide

Nullum saeculum magnis ingeniis clausum est - No generation is closed to great talents. (Seneca)

Was just looking for a site like this, thanks

Nemo surdior est quam is qui non audiet - No man is more deaf than he who will not hear