paulwilkinson.com

Make Government Information More Transparent

Level the Playing Field: Business Securities and Investors vs. Mortgage Securities and Borrowers

It was nice last week to be included as a signer of a letter organized by Chris Whalento the Secretary of the Treasury, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Chairmen of the SEC, FDIC, Federal Reserve, and the Acting Director of the FHFA about improving the mortgage market. You can read the letter several places on the web, including Nouriel Roubini’s site.

The letter calls for “national standards for originating, selling and servicing mortgage loans” because Continue reading ‘Level the Playing Field: Business Securities and Investors vs. Mortgage Securities and Borrowers’

On the Other Side of Transparency Street

A brilliant classmate at Northwestern University on his way to medical school used to break into “On the Sunny Side of the Street” every once in a while. I don’t remember exactly why, but it’s a wonderful memory.

And I’m not sure why that comes to mind now, but there’s probably a cognitive relation among the ideas I’m pondering about transparency and understanding. The hackneyed metaphor of sunlight as a disinfectant and my time at the SEC are probably related.

Ever since deciding to study journalism at NU nearly three decades ago, a big idea in my life has been Continue reading ‘On the Other Side of Transparency Street’

Local Investing Can Build Global Markets

I’ve been the strongest possible advocate for global free trade ever since my Soviet Economic Institutions professor diverged from the syllabus to draw Ricardo’s theory on the board and prove unequivocally and concisely that it makes everyone better off. I still am. Dennis Santiago, however, makes strong arguments for local investing for California and Los Angeles — and good news: they don’t contradict the case for global free trade. Continue reading ‘Local Investing Can Build Global Markets’

Economic Choice vs. Political Choice

Some choices are better made economically, with individuals able to decide for themselves how to maximize their own utility by allocating their own resources as they see fit. Other choices are better made politically, with groups deciding how to allocate their collective resources to maximize their collective utility. Continue reading ‘Economic Choice vs. Political Choice’

What if Some of this Waste Had Instead Gone to Passenger Intelligence IT?

We taped this story at the intelligence facility responsible for passenger manifest information. Given the focus of attention on the use of intelligence about passengers in recent days, the choice of location seems all too prescient. The reason we chose the location was to illustrate the point of the story: the homeland security budget process was broken and needed to be fixed. Continue reading ‘What if Some of this Waste Had Instead Gone to Passenger Intelligence IT?’

Words for 2010

If you’re not one of the 41,697 who have read this on Scribd or among those who have read it elsewhere, take a look. Among my favorites are facts, sleep, attention, and thnx.

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