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Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

nytimes.com

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Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#171

Post by lazyasciiart »

vadym909 wrote: post #170
Klinky wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not benign. Your comment is an example of rich people hitting the easy button, and still being considered a "success" when doing so. Also I'd prefer public institutions to not be reliant on magic philanthropists or rich people with dumb kids. Just tax rich people more and build the needed buildings from public funds.

I agree it is benign. There are only a few Bill Gates level rich people donating buildings. Sure it is corrupt strictly speaking but would you rather a poor student compete with one Gates kid or 100 millionaire kids that have discovered other cheaper corrupt openings?

It’s definitely more common than Gates. Perhaps around 5% of Ivy League students - https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-much-do-college-donations-h...

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#172

Post by dodobirdlord »

Klinky wrote: post #167
Tycho wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your suggestion would force rich people to find some other way to buttress the careers of their progeny, and it would probably be worse.

Examples of worse outcomes? I mean, it sounds like you're saying rich people will find alternative ways to undermine integrity, so we should lessen the path of resistance and just accept it. I am not sure why anyone would be okay with that.

Rich people can buy things with their money, that’s sorta the point. One of those things is a college admission. Whose integrity is compromised when a college trades an admission slot for a building?

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#173

Post by harry8 »

wp381640 wrote: post #150
whimsicalism wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Taibbi is not at the same level as Matt Levine. He is writer first, analyst second.

Taibbi also has zero sense of humour - like when he reported that a trader was exchanging insider LIBOR tips for day-old sushi not realising it was obviously meant in jest: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/everythi...

>Screwing around with world interest rates that affect billions of people in exchange for day-old sushi – it’s hard to imagine an image that better captures the moral insanity of the modern financial-services sector.

"...an image that captures..."

I think it's you who misread Taibi's meaning rather than him having missed something there, fwiw.

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#175

Post by m463 »

baby wrote: post #131
xyzzyz wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good example of what corruption in America looks like. America enjoys a reputation of being a rather non-corrupt country. To large degree, this is true: bribing scandals are rare, and most Americans would be completely aghast at the idea of passing an envelope under the table to the official who is responsible for issuing building permits. Instead, the corruption in the US operates through completely transp…

The fact that lobbyism is legal is telling.

The argument I've heard is that it will exist anyhow, but make the players identify themselves.

I don't know if that is reasonable to say, or if it is like talking about "trickle-down economics".

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#176

Post by humanrebar »

m463 wrote: post #175
baby wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that lobbyism is legal is telling.

The argument I've heard is that it will exist anyhow, but make the players identify themselves. I don't know if that is reasonable to say, or if it is like talking about "trickle-down economics".

The best argument is that complaining to your elected officials without restrictions or reprisals is constitutionally protected for good reason.

Further, it's not a good idea to prevent rich entities in particular from being effective at it because with enough resources, they will be effective anyway. So the ineffective prevention mechanisms will just end up being regressive and/or even more corrupt at the end of the day.

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#177

Post by piva00 »

xyzzyz wrote: post #130
supernova87a wrote: post #128

I especially liked his column about the college admissions scandal, and it wasn't that it was unfair, it was that it was theft . Theft from the colleges. Because you know, they already sell their admissions: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-13/you-ha... Here is one thing that U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in announcing the charges: “There can be no separate college admissions system for the weal…

This is a good example of what corruption in America looks like. America enjoys a reputation of being a rather non-corrupt country. To large degree, this is true: bribing scandals are rare, and most Americans would be completely aghast at the idea of passing an envelope under the table to the official who is responsible for issuing building permits. Instead, the corruption in the US operates through completely transp…

It's bourgeois aristocracy, the same is true in Europe in a smaller scale: most corruption is done through connections and who-knows-who rather than a peasant cash bribe.

Just more layers to peel off from the same basic concept: greed. His description of how unacceptable it is when it looks transactional but how it is fine, and even expected, if it comes from the traditional ways of indirect corruption summarises it rather well.

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#178

Post by roenxi »

Klinky wrote: post #167
Tycho wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your suggestion would force rich people to find some other way to buttress the careers of their progeny, and it would probably be worse.

Examples of worse outcomes? I mean, it sounds like you're saying rich people will find alternative ways to undermine integrity, so we should lessen the path of resistance and just accept it. I am not sure why anyone would be okay with that.

Do you foresee a future where rich and powerful people don't routinely get what they want? That would involve redefining what it means to be rich and powerful.

The US's strategy of funnelling the power through visible, legal channels with some levels of consistency is by far the best. If they want their kids in prestigious universities then that is what will happen. There isn't an alternative where the powerful shrug sheepishly and let their position erode.

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#179

Post by Dylan16807 »

adewinter wrote: post #141
iancoleman wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One group that measures corruption (I'm sure there are many) is freedomhouse.org They rate USA 3/4 for corruption (Section C2 [0]) Comparing other similar nations for corruption Australia 4/4 Canada 4/4 New Zealand 4/4 United Kingdom 4/4 [0] https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world...

They rate USA 75% for corruption, and the (ex) British colonies as 100% for corruption. What does that mean? Is literally every single transaction in those places corrupt? "Out of 4" seems like a very poor way of doing this kind or rating.

You can't just turn ratings out of 4 or 5 or 10 into percents like that. It doesn't mean the same thing. So no they don't rate those countries that.

Re: Matt Levine makes sense of Wall Street like none other

#180

Post by Dylan16807 »

harry8 wrote: post #173
wp381640 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taibbi also has zero sense of humour - like when he reported that a trader was exchanging insider LIBOR tips for day-old sushi not realising it was obviously meant in jest: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/everythi...

>Screwing around with world interest rates that affect billions of people in exchange for day-old sushi – it’s hard to imagine an image that better captures the moral insanity of the modern financial-services sector. "...an image that captures..." I think it's you who misread Taibi's meaning rather than him having missed something there, fwiw.

Considering it never happened I think it's a pretty poor fit for an image that captures, so either way I'm not very impressed.
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