Brian Gongol
Water protection in Iowa remains a battle
In the post-bailout regulatory rush...
...a lot of people -- particularly politicians -- are going to push hard for more regulations and greater government authority over financial exchange. But it shouldn't be overlooked that if markets in the United States and similar countries (like the UK) become sufficiently unattractive (either over-regulated or poorly-regulated), investment hot-shots are just going to find other places to trade. Dubai? Moscow? Shanghai? The opportunities could be vast for a market that applies just enough regulation to keep everyone honest, and no more. The real problem is that investors exercise little or none of their authority to demand real value for the money they pay to professional money managers and business executives. It's a classic case of the principal-agent problem: Money managers make money, even when the people who have invested with them do not. And executives with huge severance deals make money, whether the companies they lead are profitable or not. More good will come of making investment managers and business executives eat their own cooking than from anything we could entrust our politicians to do. After all, it's the politicians who have led us to a $9.6 trillion debt -- debt which would almost undoubtedly grow even more under a socialist-leaning administration that could be elected in November, particularly if people respond badly to the enormous (and probably over-reaching) bailout plan initiated by the Treasury Department.
Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster walks home from work
Maybe we just need a separate office for head of state
Lots of parliamentary democracies have separate heads of state and heads of government. President Bush has been rather disappointing as a head of government -- particularly to those who believe in limited government -- but there are quite a few stories circulating about his personal virtues that make him sound like a fine ceremonialist.
