- Suddenly, Greenspan Is, Well, Mortal (NYT): “Like the statues of dictators, investment icons have toppled one by one since the stock market peaked in 2000. Chief executives, once lionized by their shareholders, are now often viewed with mistrust. Stock analysts who were once Wall Street’s equivalent of rock stars are now seen as carnival barkers.But through it all, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, kept deity status. Not long ago, one lawmaker predicted that Mr. Greenspan would be remembered as the greatest central banker of all time. Even after years of falling stock prices, the Fed chairman was a man that investors still found worthy of worship. Until last week, that is, when the bowing and scraping stopped. And from Washington to Wall Street, deep skepticism took its place. Last week, Mr. Greenspan visited Capitol Hill for his regular testimony on monetary policy. It was not the usual love fest. He was questioned sharply by some lawmakers, who appear to have grown tired of waiting for the economic recovery that he has regarded as imminent for almost two years now.”
- Diversity Training Not Profitable (USA Today): Diversity programs are coming under intensified scrutiny amid a weak economy and new research showing that racial and gender diversity has virtually no impact on bottom-line performance. The criticism could cause employers to scale back training programs just as racial discrimination claims climb. It’s also prompting debate that challenges the fast-growing diversity-training industry. More than 40% of Americans believe affirmative action is no longer necessary to achieve diversity in the workplace, according to a July survey by San Francisco-based Employment Law Alliance. The debate comes as cases involving alleged racial and gender discrimination climb. Race-based claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached nearly 30,000, hitting a seven-year high in 2002.
- Wireless Means Profitless? (AP): “Take my Wi-Fi, please. That might as well be the motto of the increasing number of people who set up wireless Internet networks in their homes and businesses and — sometimes unwittingly — leave them open for anyone to share. Then there are colleges, geeks and city officials who are making Wi-Fi as free as the foliage in public plazas. You can use Wi-Fi gratis in New York if you are a Verizon Internet subscriber or eating an Extra Value Meal at some McDonald’s restaurants. Add it all up, and there is a significant number of places where people with a properly outfitted laptop or hand-held computer can get wireless Internet access without reaching for a credit card.”
- Founding Father of Iraq? By Lew Rockwell (LRC): “A way to understand war and its aftermath is through historical analogy. If the war party can cast itself as a good guy from some important historical epic, it stands a better chance of distracting from the ongoing horror of its military occupation. This time, the war party has chosen the most improbable analogy of all: the US founding.”
Posted by Mises.org News
