Links, Links, and more Links

I didn't used to like blogs that did this, but since I look at all kinds of different blogs for various jobs, I thought I'd do a link round-up or a quick links post or whatever the hell you want to call it. Here goes:

This first one centers around the idea that big companies constantly get to play big-stakes gambling games with little to no risk because the government is constantly there to bail them out: passing laws to protect them; changing laws to protect them; coughing up large sums of money to get them out of a jam -- money that, because it is provided by the government, is actually provided by us...or at least "us" 50 years from now; etc. (There is a book called Free Lunch that addresses these issues and gives many examples (I haven't read it, but I heard the author on Bill Moyers).) All in the name of protecting the economy. One argument goes that if these companies go under it'll be too devastating to our economy. So no matter how moronic their business practices and dealings are, they essentially get a free pass. They get to play big: win big if they win, lose little if they lose. Meanwhile the joe-nine-to-five gets completely screwed for trying to better his existence by buying a house. The average joe loses everything because he was swindled by people whose job it is to know better. Sure, the people getting stuck right now in the housing market and with credit card debt should have known better, but so should the people who gave out the loans, who made the numbers work, whose job it is to examine markets and know that all of that couldn't have lasted. But none of them care, because they're not the ones getting the complete shaft. They're getting bailed out. Well Mr. Average Guy is now renting a one bedroom apartment with his wife and two kids.

Why are we sympathetic to the wrong people?

Anyway, here are some links from people who actually know what they're talking about:

Robert Reich. And another one at Guernica.

Tom Philpot at Grist.org

Becker and Posner blog: some lawyer types who have this site where they go back and forth at each other.


The New York Times today