The Sound of Music: Marital Roles and Inner Transformations

Fifty years after the film’s initial release in 1965, viewers of The Sound of Music could measure the imprint of the women’s movement of the 1970s by how very different—antiquated actually—the film is in terms of marital roles. Whether Liesl in the first half of the film or Maria in the second, their acceptance of the dominance of husbands over wives stood out like a blade of grass needing to be cut in 2015 for all but a minority of viewers. Yet the internal changes that Maria and the Captain have the courage to undergo resonate in any age, being so much a part of human nature, as distinct from sociological artifacts.

The full essay is at “The Sound of Music.”

The Zuckerberg Syndrome; San Francisco as the Epicenter

It is difficult enough diagnosing a dysfunctional culture in a large corporation—imaging having a large American city as a de facto patient. Not that I had any idea what treatment could possibly cure a social-psychological disease when I was in San Francisco. I, like so many other new-comers there, temporary or permanent, got the sense after only a few weeks that something was very wrong in the way people were interacting there. As a corporate man in his late twenties from L.A. remarked after just ten days in the city, “The people here are very rude.” As he described the particular behavior pattern, I was stunned; it matched what had taken a month for me to discern. This began my curiosity as to the dysfunctional culture undergirding the wholesale lack of manners, and, more particularly, how it is that a distinct mentality or value-set and behavioral trait can show up in so many individuals.

What lies beneath the clouds is not necessarily visible from above. (Jeff Chiu of AP)

The full essay is at “San Francisco.” 

American and European Federalism: A Critique of Rick Perry’s Book, "Fed Up!"

In his book, Fed Up! Governor Rick Perry of Texas provides a basis for viewing the states of the U.S. as equivalent to the E.U.’s member-states. All of these states are semi-sovereign, as they have all transferred some governmental sovereignty to federal institutions. This implies that the E.U. and U.S. are commensurate. I contend that both are instances of empire-level and scale federal systems in which the federal level is both international and national in nature. This distinguishes both unions from international organizations on the one hand, and the state governments on the other.

The full essay is at "American and European Federalism."

The Age of Adaline: Death as No Longer Inevitable

In The Age of Adaline (2015), the age-old “fountain of youth” leitmotif springs forth yet again. In this incarnation, Adaline is forced to come to grips with the fact that everyone around her, including her daughter, is aging even as Adaline herself does not. A strong electromagnetic has altered her genes such that her cells do not divide at slower rates as they age. As she becomes aware of the repercussions, we in turn can marvel at what may be just decades away scientifically concerning the expected human life-span. In short, when the film came out, scientists were already openly discussing whether death itself may no longer be inevitable for human beings.

The full essay is at “The Age of Adaline.”

Americans on How Political Campaigns Are Funded: A Black Hole in the Center of the Political System

Considering the widening cultural and political divides in American society that were on full display in Congress during the first half of the 2010s, uncovering a general will stretching across partisan lines as well as across a the continent and beyond would proffer a rare opportunity for significant legislative output. Furthermore, such a case would enable us to assess whether the elected representatives of the People were indeed representing, and, if so, whom. That is to say, the political distance between the People and their political class could be measured. I contend as respecting the stance of the People on money in politics and public governance, much unity and, unfortunately, much distance can be discerned, at least as of the end of May 2015 when a New York Times/CBS News telephone-poll was taken.

A Rockefeller Republican turned populist? (Getty Images)

The full essay is at “Americans on How Political Campaigns Are Funded.” 

FIFA’s Corporate Sponsors: Reliable Ethical Change-Agents?

In the wake of the U.S. Justice Department’s initial arrests of FIFA officials in May 2015 on corruption charges, could the public reasonably expect FIFA’s corporate sponsors to pressure the international governing body of footfall (soccer in the U.S., where “football” is reserved for “subconcussions being inherent to a sport”)? If so, would the pressure be sufficient to rid the powerful international organization of its squalid officials and practices? I contend that these questions come down to how the power was divided at the time between the sponsors and the organization, rather than to the sponsors’ respective ethical positions or even how strongly the executives feel about ethics in business, including FIFA. 

The full essay is in Cases of Unethical Business: A Malignant Mentality of Mendacity, available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.com.

On the Nature of Entrenched Power: FIFA’s President Ensconced in Corruption

In May 2015, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch was “shocking FIFA like an earthquake,” according to the European newspaper, Das Bild.[1] She was leading “an American-led takedown of corruption in FIFA,” the Federation Internationale de Football Association, which oversees the sport of football, or soccer as it is known in the U.S., globally.[2] With great power comes resounding responsibility. When the head of an organization goes after the corruption-fighters rather than admitting to error at the very least in having presided over allegedly corrupt officials near the top—and in fact repeatedly dismisses calls to resign and not stand for re-election—the question becomes one of the intractability of squalid power, as if it were defying gravity—at least that of the ethical variety.

Sepp Blatter of FIFA, as if holding in all the bad news.

The full essay is in Cases of Unethical Business: A Malignant Mentality of Mendacity, available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.

---

[1] Josh Gerstein, “For Loretta Lynch, A Stunning Debut on the World Stage,” Politico, May 28, 2015.

[2] Ibid.

European Council’s Budget Deal: Does the Parliament Have a Choice?

“Deal done!” Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, wrote after the heads of the E.U.’s state governments agreed during a Council meeting to a ceiling of €960 for the E.U.’s budget from 2014 to 2020. This represents a 3 percent cut compared to the previous seven-year budget. Van Rompuy had proposed a €1.03 billion budget, but the governors felt that austerity should reach the federal level too. In other words, if the states had to cut their budgets, the E.U. should not be exempt. Put another way, the fact that the European Council represents the state governments is relevant to the outcome from the Council.

Van Rompuy (right) is tasked with facilitating agreement between the state officials at the European Council.  State interests dominate.   Source: timesofoman.com

The complete essay is at Essays on Two Federal Empires.

The U.S. Senate in Disarray: Founding Principles or Mismanagement?

Herding cats. This expression typically is used to describe two arcane artifacts of human organization: academic faculties and the U.S. Senate. In the latter case, the operational difficulty stems at least in part from the principles on which the legislative chamber is based. More particularly, the senators represent semi-sovereign polities rather than individuals, and governmental autonomy, however slight that may be, translates into senate mechanisms such as the filibuster as well as the related super-majority needed to end such a “debate,” and the power that a single senator has to object to a unanimous-consent request made on the Senate floor. In May 2015, Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, found himself mired in both mechanisms as he sought to end debate on whether to give the Pacific trade deal (TPP) fast-track (i.e., no amendments) treatment, and then to extend the Patriot Act. Whereas The New York Times points to McConnell’s failure to live up to his promise to take the Senate back to its committee process and away from passing legislation by senate leaders making deals such as by horse-trading, I contend that more utility lies in examining how the Senate’s basic principles contribute to the dysfunction.[1]

The complete essay is at Essays on Two Federal Empires.



See also: “The U.S. Senate Approves Fast-Track for Pacific Trade Deal.”

---

[1] Jennifer Steinhauer and Jonathan Weisman, “N.S.A. and Other Matters Leave McConnell’s Senate in Disarray,” The New York Times, May 23, 2015.

Wasteful Agency-Spending: Employee Bonuses as a Solution

Use it or lose it. I am referring to “the habit of [U.S. Government] agencies spending all surplus funding at the end of the fiscal year in order to avoid budget reductions the following year.”[1] By spending the entire amount allotted for the budgetary year, a federal agency can avoid a lower base-line for the following year’s allotment from Congress. The incentive in this system is to spend every dollar in the budget, whether efficiently or profligately. The challenge is how to replace that incentive with another—one that results in efficient public budgeting. Unfortunately, relying on an incentive presupposes discretion, and one person can never be sure what lies behind another person’s use of it.

The full essay is at “Wasteful Agency-Spending.”

---

[1] Andy Medici, “New Bill: Point Out Surplus Funds, Get a $10,000 Bonus,” Federal Times, May 21, 2015. 

The U.S. Senate Approves Fast-Track for Pacific Trade Deal: Overstating the General Will

The way the world works is not in itself reason enough to dismiss the possibility of an ideal being more fully realized, and to refuse to take practical steps to its realization. Horse-trading is a staple in politics. The expression “making sausage” is typically used to refer to political horse-trading because people generally do not know—nor do they want to know—how sausage gets made; and it is probably best that way, at least according to the politicians. I propose that we “get under the hood” anyway, because only then can we ask ourselves whether political horse-trading is overused; a better way may be possible and even practical under some conditions. The way in which the U.S. Senate passed "fast-track" status for the proposed Pacific trade agreement provides a useful case study.

The full essay is at “The U.S. Senate Approves Fast-Track for Pacific Trade Deal.”

See also: "The U.S. Senate in Disarray."

Banks Guilty of Colluding to Set Euro-Dollar Exchange-Rate Fix: Toward a Competitive Market

In May 2015, Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland both acknowledged colluding to set the “fix” rate in foreign exchange markets, and agreed both to change their internal cultures and pay criminal fines of over $2.5 billion.[1] The U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, stated that her department would “vigorously prosecute all those who tilt the economic system in their favor; who subvert our marketplaces; and who enrich themselves at the expense of American customers.”[2] I submit that this does not go far enough, given the size and power of the banks and the condition of the sector.

The full essay is at “Banks Guilty.”

---

[1] Loretta Lynch, “Attorney General Lynch Delivers Remarks at a Press Conference on Foreign Exchange Spot Market Manipulation,” The U.S. Department of Justice, May 20-, 2015.

[2] Ibid.

President Obama Overreaching on Trade

Throughout the twentieth century, the U.S. Government grabbed more and more power from the governments of the member-states. Even within the U.S. Government, presidents have tended to over-reach. Specifically, they have put their role in proposing legislation and treaties above their role as that government’s chief executive in enforcing existing laws. In May 2015, Sen. Elizabeth Warren issued a report whose thesis is that presidents of both parties had failed to enforce the labor-provisions in the existing trade treaties. That the current president, Barak Obama, was in the midst of negotiating yet another trade treaty said to have labor provisions included opens him up to the charge of over-reaching. That is to say, rather than focusing first on enforcing existing trade arrangements to which the U.S. was then a party, he was going beyond—that is, over-reaching—to negotiate yet another deal. Such over-reaching is akin to going beyond the negative legislative power in vetoing legislation to spend a lot of time proposing legislation at the expense of devoting time to running the executive branch as its chief executive and conferring with members of Congress on ways to improve the administration of existing law. In this essay, I use Warren’s report as a means into answering why the overreaching habit has become so ubiquitous among American presidents that the electorate barely recognizes it as such.

The full essay is at "Overreacting on Trade."

Beyond Facebook’s Impact on Political Polarization in the U.S.

Any time “scientists” at a company purport to have done a study involving said company in any way, the public has good reason to be suspicious of the reported conclusions. Were the folks running the company really intent on providing credible information, they would use independent scholars (i.e., not being compensated by the company). Such a management would want to obviate even the appearance of a conflict of interest—their desire to provide the public with an answer being so strong. So the management at Facebook may not have been very invested in providing the public an answer to the question: how much influence do users actually have over the content in their feeds? In May 2015, three “Facebook data scientists” published a peer-reviewed study in Science Magazine on how often Facebook users had been “exposed to political views different from their own.”[1] The “scientists” concluded that if users “mostly see news and updates from friends who support their own political ideology, it’s primarily because of their own choices—not the company’s algorithm.”[2] Academic scholars criticized the study’s methodology and cautioned that the risk of polarized “echo chambers” on Facebook was nonetheless significant.[3] I was in academia long enough to know that methodological criticism by more than one scholar is enough to put an empirical study’s findings in doubt. Nowadays, I am more oriented to the broader implications of the “echo-chamber” criticism.

The entire essay is at “Beyond Facebook’s Impact.”

See: Taking the Face Off Facebook: Strategic and Ethical Issues

---

[i] Alexander B. Howard, “Facebook Study Says Users Control What They See, But Critics Disagree,” The Huffington Post, May 12, 2015.

[ii] Ibid. I put the quotes around “scientists” to make the point that the conflict of interest renders the label itself controversial in being applied to the study’s investigators.

[iii] See, for example, Christian Sandvig, “The Facebook ‘It’s Not Our Fault’ Study,” Multicast, Harvard Law School Blogs, May 7, 2015.

Taking the Face off Facebook

In testing out its search feature as a mobile app, Facebook's priority was still on mobile-ad revenue even in 2015. The stress on that revenue stream in turn resulted due to pressure from Wall Street analysts during Facebook's IPO. Was this simply a quarterly vs. long-term difference in perspective? Did Facebook cave too much, leaving its users with a sense of being exploited? In Taking the Face off Facebook, a collection of my essays, I analyze Facebook's strategic and ethical choices in the wake of the company's initian public-stock offering (IPO).

The book

See also: "Beyond Facebook's Impact on Political Polarization."