February 1, 2013

Weekend Economists' SuperBawl Special: "NEVERMORE!" February 1-3, 2013

As I understand it, this is a "special" weekend, Superbowl Weekend, and the two competing teams are coached by rival brothers. (I do know some normal people, who keep me clued in to facets of normal American life. They make great pets...besides, it's all over the grocery ads, too.)

But one of the teams, the Baltimore Ravens, are named after that bird immortalized by Edgar Allan Poe, a former resident of Baltimore. And that's what I'd like to fixate and obsess about, because ravens and death and the grave and all that fit my mood. So!

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door--
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--
Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"--
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore--
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;--
'Tis the wind and nothing more.

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door--
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door--
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore--
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door--
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpour
Nothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered--
Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before--
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore--
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never--nevermore.'"

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted--nevermore!


Anything after that will sound like good news...by contrast. Post what you have.

February 1, 2013

Banks Don’t Commit Fraud; Banksters Commit Fraud: Response to Yglesias

http://www.economonitor.com/lrwray/2013/01/31/banks-dont-commit-fraud-banksters-commit-fraud-response-to-yglesias/

The often interesting Matthew Yglesias wonders “Are Banks Too Big To Prosecute?”.

See here:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/30/too_big_to_prosecute_can_the_government_bring_serious_criminal_charges_against.html.



Here’s his thesis: Sure, Megabanks committed tons of fraud. But we cannot prosecute banks for the fraud because that would bring them down. And the bigger they are, the more fraud they perpetrated, but the bigger the insolvency hole if we investigated them. So best to bail them out and look the other way.

But here’s the deal: Banks don’t commit fraud. Banksters commit fraud.

This is what all the gun nuts are teaching us. Guns never kill people. Insane people kill people. Guns are just a tool that allows the insane to kill massive numbers in schools, shopping malls and offices. Since Sandy Hook, the gun nuts have been out in full force, spraying bullets all over the US to quickly do as much killing as possible before the Communist Obama takes away their guns. Every day another mass murder. Now a rational person might think this works against the gun-nut NRA lobby. Not at all, folks. It just proves their point. You need more guns to protect yourself from errant gun nuts. Besides, who would take an AK-47 into a kindergarten or Sears to commit mass murder?

Why, the mentally ill, of course, as the deliciously named Wayne LaPierre keeps telling us (simultaneously recalling the macho John Wayne, while the French pierre—rock or stone—reminds one variously of The Rock or Rock Hudson, both icons in their own right). So to preserve the Constitutional right to arm yourself with military assault weapons, we’ve got to lock up anyone suspected of mental illness. Your right to weapons of mass murder trumps the right of the mentally ill to fresh air. They all ought to be locked up to prevent freely available weapons of mass destruction from getting into the wrong hands. Such is the thinking of the NRA. One wonders why someone who is not mentally ill should believe that amassing assault rifles is not an indication of mental illness. But I digress.

Back to Iglesias. His argument would appear to be this: We wouldn’t want to punish a bank for fraud because “Had you secured criminal convictions against these megabanks, you’d have had to nationalize them and assume their liabilities or else face an economic catastrophe.” Ergo, do not prosecute illegal activities at the megabanks.

Here’s the deal: Banks don’t commit fraud; they are used as weapons for fraud by the top bank management to commit fraud. Those in the top management of the megabanks are the ones who are committing the fraud. The banks are just assault rifles, harmless when left in the locked closet. They become dangerous only at the hands of the Hanks, Bobs, Jamies, and Lloyds. So who do you prosecute? The weapon or the one who pulls the trigger, spraying bullets all over the shopping mall The Obama administration (backed by Yglesias) argues that you should just forgive (nay, bail-out) the triggermen who ran the banks. Let them walk away with their hundreds of millions and billions stolen from customers. That will teach them a lesson!

Now, we don’t want to carry the analogy too far. We’ve got lots of gun nuts accumulating assault rifles and as well lots of banksters accumulating banks. Going forward what do you do to constrain them? Reduce the lethality of the weapons they have at their disposal. The NRA is right about one thing. There’s a lot of crazies out there. But you cannot lock them all up in anticipation that some of them might use the weapons at hand.

Makes much more sense to:

a) Investigate and prosecute to the full extent of the law those that use weapons of mass destruction (such as AK-47s and financial derivatives); and

b) Remove the weapons of mass destruction (AK-47s and financial derivatives).