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Friday, Jan 18, 2002

game theory

"This is not necessarily the Great Game, Part 2. The incentives for American cooperation with Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the other regional powers far outweigh the incentives for confrontation. A great deal of 20th century Mideast conflict can be explained by American-Soviet rivalry � another great game that brought much misery. There is no need to repeat that in Central Asia and every reason not to. To move away from gamesmanship and toward cooperation, Russia might begin by reconsidering its close relations with its regional customers, Saddam Hussein and the Iranian military. And the United States should use great discretion in establishing its bases in Central Asian nations like Kyrgyzstan. Better to build more joint pipelines and fewer military bases."

folkswagon

"Coming at the end of a dismal year for the United States in general and for its largest city in particular, the opening of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien's American Folk Art Museum in New York was a thoroughly uplifting event. The reasons for these good tidings stand quite apart from the timely re-affirmation of American culture at its best. Since the terrorist attacks, the worsening economy and the sharp drop in travel have precipitated a disastrous decline in museum revenues, especially in New York, where several institutions have recently sacked workers and canceled exhibitions. The hardest hit has been the over-reaching Guggenheim, and it is safe to say that Thomas Krens's grandiose scheme for a Frank Gehry building in lower Manhattan, an enterprise dependent on a great deal of municipal funding that now must be allocated elsewhere, is a titanium-armored dinosaur doomed to extinction."

sunshine laws

"Offshore accounts. IBCs. Walking trusts. Financial institutions have plenty of names for the places where the wealthy now hide their money from the IRS. They just don't call it cheating."

Thursday, Jan 17, 2002

name of the rose

finally.

man of the year

"Everyone knows that Rudy Giuliani went out on top, ending his operatic eight-year reign over New York City as the Person of the Year. But hardly anyone noticed that he left behind a parting gift. On his last day in office, Rudy signed an agreement to proceed with the largest corporate subsidy in New York history: up to $1.1 billion in cash and tax breaks for the New York Stock Exchange. Even when the deal was announced three years earlier, it committed money the city didn't really have to a new trading floor the exchange didn't really need in order to generate a new skyscraper no one really wanted in response to a flee-the-city threat no one really believed. And that was before the city began to hemorrhage cash, skyscrapers began to look like targets, and flee-the-city threats began to feel like municipal treason."

i did not have financial relations with that company

"Until a few weeks ago, Enron Corp. ranked among the biggest contributors to lawmakers and campaign committees of both parties. But now that the Houston-based firm is considered politically radioactive, members of Congress and party officials are devising ways to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars in Enron donations to distance themselves from the company's woes."

auditory nerve

"I know how tough a task this is. When I was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we put into place a number of reforms to improve audits and minimize conflicts of interest. But we were largely unsuccessful in persuading accounting firms to separate their auditing businesses from their consulting businesses and in convincing the auditing profession to do a better job of policing itself. Congress and federal regulators should use this scandal to demand some long overdue changes."

nothing to sneeze at

Study Suggests Booze Boosts Allergic Reactions

blackhawk downs

"But now certain members of the MoMA brass � Glenn Lowry, the Modern's director, and Mary Lea Bandy, head of the Department of Film and Media � have shut down the Stills Archive. They are burying the collection in a patch of earth 2-1/2 hours by car from Manhattan: in Hamlin, Pa., where the Museum stores its films. With this one ill-considered stroke, a significant portion of our collective cultural memory was just struck with amnesia. The decision echoes the final words in "Kane," when the cynical butler snaps, to a workman holding an old sled, "Throw that junk." And Rosebud goes into the fire."

hoop dreams

"The featured celebrities usually aren't much older than Lebron, but they are a heck of a lot wealthier. At least until March 23, 2003, the day after Lebron James presumably wins his fourth state high school championship, the day he can declare for the NBA Draft, the day the floodgates of wealth can open, the day the lines of credit can be established, the day corporate America can start showering millions on a family that will finally be able to go from nothing to everything quicker than a crossover"

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