Churchill Sans Cigar?
AFP is reporting that the British government may allow film, television, and stage actors to… brace yourself… smoke in public! Oh…but only if smoking “is integral to the plot or storyline” of the performance at issue. Announcing this little dollop of (potential) legislative grace, a Department of Health spokesman explained: The government is considering providing ... Churchill Sans Cigar?
Dirty Coal’s Rent-Seeking Pays Off
Today’s Heard on the Street column in the W$J reports that utilities are moving away from low-sulfur coal in favor of the dirtier, high-sulfur variety. This might seem odd, given that the Clean Air Act operates on sort of a “ratchet” principle — i.e., when air quality improves, degradation is generally forbidden. One might expect ... Dirty Coal’s Rent-Seeking Pays Off
Thank You for Smoking — And (Another) Shameless Plug
I went to see Thank You for Smoking over the weekend, expecting to endure the usual one-sided attack on the business everyone loves to hate, Big Tobacco. I was pleasantly surprised. The film undoubtedly skewers the industry a bit (as when a tobacco executive proclaims, “We sell cigarettes. They’re cool. They’re available. And they’re addictive. ... Thank You for Smoking — And (Another) Shameless Plug
Robert Reich on the Massachusetts Health Care Plan
Today’s “Marketplace” program on NPR featured a commentary by Robert Reich (audio available here), in which the former labor secretary sang the virtues of Massachusetts’ new health insurance law. Reich emphasized a couple of times that the Massachusetts plan wouldn’t involve any new taxes. That aspect, he said, might make the plan attractive to the ... Robert Reich on the Massachusetts Health Care Plan
In Defense of Short-Selling
In today’s W$J, Holman Jenkins stands up for short-sellers, and rightly so. Those folks have taken a bit of a beating lately. They’ve been sued by companies like Biovail and Overstock.com and trashed on talk shows like CBS’s 60 Minutes. [NOTE: I originally linked to the 60 Minutes segment, but I just realized that the ... In Defense of Short-Selling
Live from Pyongyang!
In today’s NYT, columnist John Tierney sends CNN’s Lou Dobbs to North Korea to experience first-hand the sort of self-sufficient (isolationist?) utopia Dobbs and his jingoist fans long for. Perhaps a little unfair, but pretty funny. Read it here (Times Select subscription required).
A Bizarre Insider Trading Case from Down Under
Today’s W$J reports on an odd lawsuit the Australian government is pursuing against Citigroup. According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a smoke break conversation between Citigroup employees resulted in illegal insider trading. Citigroup, it seems, was representing bidder Toll Holdings, Inc. in a yet-to-be-announced hostile bid for Patrick Corp., Austrialia’s largest port cargo ... A Bizarre Insider Trading Case from Down Under
Nacchio’s Puzzling Insider Trading Defense, Part II
I’m really starting to worry about the lawyers for former Qwest CEO, Joseph Nacchio. (I first expressed concern here.) Mr. Nacchio has been charged with 42 counts of criminal insider trading. The charges are based on allegations that Mr. Nacchio learned, after Qwest had made some rosy public statements, that business wasn’t going as well ... Nacchio’s Puzzling Insider Trading Defense, Part II
Sen. Lugar’s New Grip on Reality
In a recent speech at the Brookings Institution, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) bashed what he called “a laissez-faire energy policy that relies on market evolution.” Under such a policy, he says, “life in America is going to be much more difficult in the coming decades.” He insists that “[w]hat is needed is an urgent national ... Sen. Lugar’s New Grip on Reality
Mandating Cost-Savings for Hospitals
It drives me nuts when the government attempts to justify rules mandating particular business practices on grounds that they reduce costs for the businesses being regulated. My favorite recent example of this is OSHA’s ultimately repealed (thank goodness!) ergonomics standard. The agency sought to justify the extraordinarily intrusive rule on grounds that it would save ... Mandating Cost-Savings for Hospitals
CEOs, Shareholders, and Preferences for Risk
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and co-owner of Landmark Theatres, has been blogging about equity-based CEO compensation and the problems it purportedly creates. Cuban’s theory is that paying CEOs in company stock does not tend to align their interests with those of shareholders; instead, it leads CEOs to pursue excessively risky business ventures. ... CEOs, Shareholders, and Preferences for Risk
What I Did on My Blog Vacation
So I’ve been a little absent from the blog lately. Sorry about that. I have a decent excuse. As our law prof readers know, but others might not, this is prime article submission season. The conventional wisdom is that it’s best your get your article into the hands of newly minted law review editors right ... What I Did on My Blog Vacation
