Battle of Ideas 2010--London

I was listening to a podcast of the BBC's Radio 4's Woman's Hour and I heard an interview with someone I knew. Maria Grasso. She helped run a post-graduate student's group in London while I was there. She edited an abstract for a paper I presented to the group. She went to Oxford and is much smarter than I. She is a clever girl, but not actually clever enough to be on Radio 4.

She is part of a larger group called the Institute of Ideas. They are a clever bunch. I learned quite a bit from spending time with some of their members. I learned about myself and about them. They are brilliant, moronic, narcissistic, self-promoters who actually get things really right every now and then.

Each year they put together a fabulous weekend of debate in London. It is amazing the support they get. This is because they think on the fringe, I believe. So they actually can be super progressive and super navel gazing all at the same time. It is fascinating and informative.
Here is the link below. Of course, there is video as well on YouTube and fora TV.

Enjoy you useful idiot you!


http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/

East African Community

Two interesting articles on integration and the East African Community.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/67946

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/68005

Misc., conferences and foreclosure documentation crisis

My paper, the Politics of African Stock Exchanges was accepted for the UT-Austin Africa in World Politics conference in March 2011. This will be the first conference on Africa that I have attended in the states. Should be good.

Also, it is time again to moan about the Law and Society meeting in San Francisco, May 2011.
I am going and writing a paper on climate change and financial regualtion in East Africa.
Very, very interested in what I will find to write about......

The foreclosure documentation crisis is a biggie here on the Left Coast. Bank of America has stopped foreclosing in 50 states. The White House is encouraging banks to ge the matter resolved so that there is no further slow down to a housing recovery. That seems very problematic. First things first and all that. Let's sort the mess out and see if people can actually keep their homes and lets do it properly.

Please note links to blogs below which explain in more detail the documentation proble. The August 2009 decision by the Supreme Court of Kansas, mentioned in creditwritedowns.com, gets at the heart of what is wrong with the documentation process.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/123641-white-house-urges-banks-to-keep-foreclosure-process-moving

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/10/foreclosure-problems-deeper-than-robo-signers.html

The Politics of African Stock Exchanges

The University of Texas at Austin is having a conference on Africa in March 2011. It is all about Politics and History. I submitted an abstract. Here it is:

In many countries in Africa, a stock exchange seems an oddity. Exchanges, national symbols of investment and commerce are housed in cities rife with poverty. Some African Stock Exchanges were established with funds from international donors-their existence a condition for receipt of funds. In general, there was no pressing economic need to establish an exchange. Since inception, these stock exchanges function in much the same way as their birth would suggest; as products of a political agenda in contrast to the traditional economic institution generating wealth for private and institutional investors.

This paper considers specific African stock exchanges, primarily in Eastern and Southern Africa, in comparison to Western exchanges in terms of history and politics. These exchanges are distinct in many ways in terms of liquidity, volume, and regulation. Furthermore, they continue to strive to conform to international standards. For example, many endeavour to obtain membership in the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the gold standard in securities regulation dominated by Western developed exchanges. Additionally, they operate in nations that have few companies able to raise capital on the exchange and few consumers with the financial capability to invest.

The African exchanges considered by this paper developed in a manner distinct from Western exchanges. Still they are compared and measured according to standards set by others. This paper explores specific stock exchange beginnings and how they function now to hopefully better define how they operate domestically and possibly discover where they fit in the global community of stock exchanges.

http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/2011/11Home.html

Flash Crash report

I have not had a chance to read the 104 page Flash crash report but I will.
I do surmise from the general reading I have done that this focus on the Waddell Reed trade as the trigger is misplaced.

See http://www.itg.com/blotter/

The regulators got caught with their pants down plain and simple.

BTW, Andrei lost in the quarter-finals and is now back in Oklahoma.
Then, he is on to more futures tournaments in Texas and Florida.