Soul Conviction: 2010

Monday, June 7, 2010

Epistemic Closure

You just gotta love the look on David Frum's face when Jonah Goldberg struggles to answer the question, "Was Richard Nixon more or less socialist than Barack Obama?"

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Please join us this Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Senator Theater for the Baltimore Premiere Screening of "The Yes Men Fix the World." Star of the film, Mike Bonanno will be there along with film producer, Jenn Lopez.

"The Yes Men Fix the World" (http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/) is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks. From New Orleans to India to New York City, armed with little more than cheap thrift-store suits, the Yes Men squeeze raucous comedy out of all the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. Brüno meets Michael Moore in this gut-busting wake-up call that proves a little imagination can go a long way towards vanquishing the Cult of Greed. Who knew fixing the world could be so much fun?

After the film, we will talk about how you can fix the world starting with the national "improved Medicare for All" campaign. We will also tell you about the Maryland state single payer bill: the Maryland Health Security Act (HB 767/ SB 682) and the economic impact study.

Bring your friends and family for some rollicking laughs and up to date information on health reform!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Historical Perspectives on the Financial Crisis

This Essay discusses two historical parallels between the current financial
crisis and the financial crisis of the late 1920s and 1930s. First, financial
innovation was at the core of both crises. In particular, the machinations of
Ivar Kreuger illuminate how financial innovation tends to outstrip the ability,
and perhaps the willingness, of investors and intermediaries to process
information. Second, reliance on credit ratings began as a response to the 1929
crash and became a primary cause of the recent crisis. During the 1930s,
regulators developed rules based on credit ratings; those rules are the
ancestors of today’s widespread regulatory reliance on ratings. Without
financial innovation and overreliance on credit ratings, the recent crisis likely
would not have occurred, and certainly would not have been as deep.