In a recent interview, Chilton said that, despite years of hard work by financial regulators to put the 2010 Dodd-Frank law into force (witness the 882 pages required to explain a 71-page Volcker Rule), their efforts will be futile in the face of Wall Street’s money and power. “The lesson for me is: The financial sector is so powerful that they will roll things back over time,” Chilton says. “The Wall Street firms have tremendous influence, and they can impact policy to a greater degree than any one regulator or a small group of regulators can.” Bart Chilton’s Parting Salvo
1. We surround ourselves with information that matches our beliefs. 2. We believe the ‘swimmer’s body’ illusion. 3. We worry about things we’ve already lost. 4. We incorrectly predict odds. 5. We rationalize purchases we don’t want. 6. We make decisions based on the anchoring effect. 7. We believe our memories more than facts. 8. We pay more attention to stereotypes than we think. Avoid Common Thinking Mistakes
In 2011, Congress tried and failed to fix America’s broken patent system with the America Invents Act. Now, reform advocates like Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) are trying again with a bigger coalition of supporters, and some novel methods to educate the public about the problem.
This includes a clever YouTube video posted by the House Judiciary Committee, which Goodlatte chairs, that explains how patent trolls engage in “legalized extortion” and make everyday products more expensive for everyone:
The video astutely notes that patent trolls (like the one using a Holocaust foundation’s 1998 patent to sue the New York Times have been a problem almost as long as the patent system, and how one ambitious troll almost stopped Henry Ford from making the Model-T. It concludes by asking for support for the bipartisan Innovation Act.
It’s a creative effort but, unfortunately, it may be too late. Microsoft and IBM have already gutted the most important provision from the proposed law, one that would have made it easier to challenge garbage patents in the first place.
People close to the process, however, say that real reform still stands a chance in the Senate where influential figures like Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. John Corryn have all taken stands against abuse of the patent system.
Around the world, the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationship is fraught. Blame Oedipus.
In India,he mother-in-law syndrome reflects the skewed power relations between the sexes, as well as strife between the generations. The imbalance begins at (or before) birth. Even today, girls are likelier than boys to die in childhood; they often receive less food, schooling or medical care, or are simply abandoned. This is largely because males still wield economic power. Boys generally inherit land and other assets, and are far likelier to bring home wages. Girls are passed to other families as wives and domestic labour. Women in Conflict
Twice every business day in London, representatives of five banks and some select clients participate in a phone call in which offers to buy and sell gold are put forward. These calls determine the morning and afternoon gold fixings, which serve as the benchmark for trillions of dollars in transactions around the world. Silver fixings work similarly, with only three banks involved. Price Manipulation by Banks
Our clarity maven, Lloyd McAulay, a New York based patent lawyer and political activist analyzes some aspects of inequality and suggests ways that both the right and left may be comfortable implementing. The GINI Problem
Like Europe in the period leading up to the First World War, changes are radical worldwide today. They are so large that it is difficult for us to see them, much less measure them. The Economist analyzes some factors that may be in play. Gaping Chasms in the World- 1914, 2014
World is one of America’s largest providers of installment loans, an industry that thrives in at least 19 states, mostly in the South and Midwest; claims more than 10 million customers; and has survived recent efforts by lawmakers to curtail lending that carries exorbitant interest rates and fees.
Installment lenders were not included in a 2006 federal law that banned selling some classes of loans with an annual percentage rate above 36 percent to service members — so the companies often set up shop near the gates of military bases, offering loans with annual rates that can soar into the triple digits. Bilking the Poor
Hoping to become the Middle East’s legal hub, in 2011 Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) threw open its courts to disputes from any country, provided both parties agree to be bound by its decisions. The attraction is that the courts use the English language and operate in public under English-style common law (Scotland has a different legal system). This makes the legal process more transparent and much less risky for Western firms, which are put off by the reputation of Dubai’s local civil-law courts for favouring Emiratis over foreigners, according to Will Buckby at Beale & Company, a law firm. British lawyers in Dubai
