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Wednesday, June 26, 2002
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Free Samuel Waksal. Poor Samuel Waksal. Back in December, the Food and Drug Administration struck a grave blow to his company, ImClone Systems, by denying it the right to market a potential cancer treatment it had developed.
Then two weeks ago the FBI arrested him (and the Securities and Exchange Commission sued him) for letting relatives know about the FDAâs plan before it issued its press release. They sold ImClone stock before it started dropping upon news of the FDAâs decisions. So did Waksal's pal Martha Stewart, and the news is causing her no end of trouble and lost stock value for her own company -- although she denies being tipped off. Waksal, who recently resigned as CEO of ImClone, faces a potential 75 years in prison, plus fines, if found guilty of all charges. [Reason]
This is the same case as the following article. The potential prison sentence is ridiculous--I don't know how long he would really be sentenced for if convicted, but 75 years is more than most murder sentences. Of course, that could be because we need to move those murderers out of the prisons quickly to make room for the really dangerous people, like marijuana smokers and people who sold stock.
1:29:51 PM 
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The Attack on Martha. While the view that all society must be egalitarian is evident nearly everywhere, perhaps it is no more prevalent in the business world than in how we regulate capital markets. As Ilana Mercer has written, the law requires information to be socialized. If one party knows more than others regarding information about a particular firm or industry, then the SEC is perfectly able to rule that possessing--and acting upon--that knowledge is a crime. [Ludwig von Mises Institute]
This article addresses the injustice of "insider trading" laws. It is my opinion that such laws are at least partially responsible for the insane behavior of the stock market, where stock prices often bear no relationship to a company's performance. If everyone who has actual knowledge of a company is barred from using it, it's hardly surprising that the stock price is essentially random.
There's also a mention that Rudy Giuliani prosecuted several high-profile insider trading cases early in his career. I hadn't known that--I knew he had been a prosecuter, but, silly me, I had assumed he prosecuted actual criminals.
1:19:51 PM
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Witness: Don't aim gun unless you mean business. "That's when my reaction kicked in. That's when I said, 'I've got to help (the officer),' " said Porter, 31, of Richland, who was in the car with a friend. "I decided to go for it."
She popped the trunk, found her purse and pulled out a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun from the front pocket. She loaded it and looked up.
[...]
Porter said that by the time she looked up, the man had already fired at least eight rounds at Herzog, including three rounds at point-blank range. He then started running away. [Seattle Times]
There's a lesson on preparedness here. If Porter had her pistol on her person, instead of unloaded in the trunk, she might very well have been able to save the cop's life. If you're going to carry a pistol, make sure you actually carry it, and don't leave it someplace you can't get to it instantly if you need it.
12:38:26 PM
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The Answer for Africa. According to Andrew Cockburn in the July 2002 issue of National Geographic magazine, Somalia is rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the 1993 war (which inspired the movie Black Hawk Down) and becoming an economic powerhouse in western Africa precisely because anarchy has reigned ever since. Consider Cockburnâs on-the-scene assessment of what has happened since the war. "Like plants sprouting after a forest fire, Somalis have managed to survive and build on their own, in some respects with more success than developing nations on the receiving end of international aid and advice." [LewRockwell.com]
Another articles on the situation in Somalia since they defeated the UN.
6:22:50 AM
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© Copyright
2006
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
2/14/2006; 6:50:57 PM.
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