I have heard this expression used to describe a situation that has considerable concern about the outcome, as in a flood of uncertainty. An example would be, “The way the stock market is acting lately creates a river of doubt.” I was unaware that the expression originated with the exploration of the Rio da Duvida or the River of Doubt in Brazil. The book “The River of Doubt, Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” describes the exploration and the brutal conditions the expedition faced. There is a review of that book posted on that link of this web site.
Unintended Consequences of Financial Regulations
I’ve expressed skepticism about the move by regulators to take advantage of the 2008 financial crisis to impose more control on business by government in previous postings on this link. The negative impacts from the massive Dodd-Frank law continue to mount. I don’t know how to measure the impact from businesses being cautious about their plans until the hundreds of new regulations are finally developed and implemented. However, there are some negative impacts being experienced by small businesses and people employed by the banking industry.
David Migoya wrote an article in the Denver Post discussing how the limits on bank card fees are adding costs to small businesses that are or will be passed to consumers. Dodd-Frank decided that the previous charges to retailers of 42 cents per swipe of a debit card was excessive, and capped the charges at 22 cents per swipe. They had previously charged as low as 2 cents for a dollar transaction and that escalated on a graduated scale up to the maximum of 42 cents. Debit card companies began charging 22 cents for every swipe after Dodd-Frank passed. According to Mr. Migoya’s article a popular site in a food court in downtown Denver was losing 3.8 % of revenue to the new fees, and the owners were worried that they would have to raise prices to remain profitable. Businesses that “…primarily run charges of less than $10 are being slammed.” Vending businesses are faced with raising prices to protect already thin profit margins. I expect that Mr. Dodd and Mr. Frank would explain that it was worth it to try and prevent banks from making a profit.
A report by the Financial Services Committee titled “One Year Later: The Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Act” by Chairman Spencer Bachus and Vice-Chairman Jeb Hensnarling does not report that the act had the intended consequences of improving the economy. The hundreds of new Federal Regulations creating massive bureaucracies when the economy is fragile had the opposite effect. The regulations did not address “too big to fail,” but instead provided financial support to large financial companies while businesses “…too small to save are left to fend for themselves.” The Federal Reserve Board’s Chairman acknowledged “…that the government is not capable of calculating the effect of the cumulative regulatory burden imposed over the past year…on the strength of the U. S. economy.”
It is really quite simple. The government decided that there were 387 new sets of rules needed. Most of the new bureaucracies haven’t had high level positions filled to impose the regulations, few if any deadlines to impose regulations have been met, and businesses that could be the engine to economic growth are waiting to see what the government is going to do.
Let me ask a question that makes the question personal. What would you do if you were contemplating a new business if you didn’t know what the government was going to require? What would you do if you were an existing business that will undoubtedly be impacted by whatever the new regulations might be? Would you hire people thinking the new regulations will be “business friendly?” I think the answer is “Not likely.”
I saw a report on CNBC about the banking industry, and there have been about 40,000 jobs cut from large banks, I’m guessing the people who lost their jobs were not those who received huge bonuses for driving the businesses into huge losses during the 2008 economic crisis. They were probably “middle class Americans” who had nothing to do with the risky investments that caused the crisis. Of course the Dodd-Frank law didn’t do anything to help those people since they were associated with “big banks.”
The quest of the government to protect “average Americans” has harmed thousands of “average Americans.” Perhaps someday we will learn that more government doesn’t help. Perhaps not.
How to Break a Terrorist
The most important part of this book to me was the description of the origin of the conflict between Shia and Sunnis. It comes in a quoted passage of the author being questioned to determine his qualifications to be on an Iraqi terrorist interrogation team. When asked to explain the difference between Shia and Sunni, he replied, “That’s an easy one. It goes back to the schism in Islam caused by the death of Muhammad. Sunnis believe that the legitimate successor was Muhammad’s closest disciple, Abu Bakr. Shi believe the succession should have passed through his cousin Ali, who was also his daughter Fatima’s husband. The Shia lost, and Abu Bakr retained leadership until he died…and the Sunnis have held the balance of power ever since.” Sunnis held power under Saddam Hussein in the dominantly Shiite country of Iraq.
The book describes how an American interrogation team was searching for Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who established a terrorist organization called Tawhid al Jihad, and established strong ties with the Sunnis after Saddam was taken out of power. The book is listed as being authored by Matthew Alexander, but the author’s note states that it was written under a pseudonym and passages are blacked out, as by a censor.
The wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal changed everything in the interrogation techniques to “more civilized interrogation techniques.” The Foreword by Mark Bowden states that the question of limits to interrogation techniques “…had become predictably politically charged and highly controversial, with liberals viewing harsher tactics as a sign of more and legal degeneration, and conservatives regarding attitude toward coercion as a litmus test of one’s seriousness about the war on ‘terror’.” The “more civilized techniques” included getting to know the subject “…and then manipulating him by role-playing, flattering, misleading, and nudging his or her perception of truth slightly off center.” It seemed to me that “misleading” was the most important aspect, since lying to the prisoner was the most frequent part of the process. Continue reading
Olly Olly Oxen Free
This expression was used by children playing “hide and seek” or “kick the can” to declare that all those who are “out” can come in without risk. Wikipedia speculates that the expression is close to the German phrase “Alle alle ach sind frei, meaning everyone is also free.” There are other versions of the expression, such as “all-y all-y in come free,” which lends credibility to the Wikipedia version of the origin.
First Anniversary for RockyFlatsFacts.com
We launched the web site in November 2010, so this posting is a bit late. The “About” link of the web site describes that we established this site to share a book about the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons production plant in Colorado titled “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked.” We consider that to be a success. We didn’t add a counter to the link for the book until a couple of months after it posting it, but there had been over 2000 views of it by the end of November. Several of my colleagues at Rocky Flats told me they had been forwarded electronic versions of the book, which wouldn’t show up on the counter. There have also been a couple hundred paperbacks sold by Amazon to those who prefer to hold a real book. We’re quite proud that four people have chosen to review the book and gave it excellent ratings (one reviewer gave it four stars and three others gave it five stars). There is also a Kindle version of the book, which has numerous photos.
The only other link with a counter on the web site is the blog, and there were about fifteen thousand visits to that link between January and November. We did 64 postings the first year, and have approved 246 comments. We blog about just about anything that we think is interesting, and the history category wins the most postings with 20. That makes sense, since I often refer to myself as an “amateur historian.” There were 17 postings about the Rocky Flats Plant. Other popular posting subjects were historical figures, current events, and economics.
There is a link on the web site for book reviews. There were 52 postings (which is consistent with the goal of posting a review each Wednesday). I think my favorite review is the first one posted about “Venona, Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr.
The greatest challenge in doing reviews is that I don’t want to do a book the disservice, and have often had to post reviews in multiple parts. I’ve convinced myself I really should work at restricting a review to no more than two typed pages. We’ll see whether I have the discipline to follow that guideline.
There have been 73 expressions posted, and several people helped me with ideas for that link. It is interesting to learn the origin of common expressions. An example is “making money hand over fist.” It turns out that one is literal, since it came from the process of making coins by pounding blanks of metal with a template.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get this going, the people who have provided me suggestions for improvement and content, and the people who take the time to read the posts. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I intend to search for content that has interest and value and to work at writing and editing with care. My New Year resolution is to work at respecting your time if you choose to read what has been posted.
To Die In Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-1865
I recently reviewed “Andersonville Journey,” about the Union prisoners of war held at that “death camp,” and decided I should read about treatment of Confederate prisoners of war. The book by George Levy provides a wealth of information about Camp Douglas, named after a deceased Senator Stephen Douglas, but it is certainly not fun to read. The occasional quotes from prisoners are interesting. I was much less interested in the discussions of budgeting, construction, sanitation, security, and command and control. Chapter 15 is titled “Social Life Among the Prisoners,” and that sounded interesting. The chapter begins with discussions of scurvy, reinforcing the stockade, the commandant, organization of the fire department, favoritism among prisoners, the water supply to the bath houses and for flushing the sinks (latrines), deaths from freezing, the value of tobacco, sadistic guards and punishments, numbers of new arrivals, prisoner of war Confederate General Beall arranging the sale of cotton (the North needed cotton and the South needed money), and meal cooking arrangements. The social activities of the prisoners are discussed in a few short paragraphs (including arts, crafts, gambling, and entertainment) fifteen pages into the chapter.
The camp was constructed to house Union units being trained to fight in the Civil War, so there were decent barracks and other facilities. Supplies of food were often described as at least adequate, and sutlers sold fruits, vegetables, and other supplies to the prisoners. Occasionally the commandants would cut that off, and prisoners would develop scurvy. By comparison, Andersonville was a stockade with no shelter, didn’t have an adequate water supply, didn’t have a way to dispose of wastes, and food supplies were grossly inadequate for both prisoners and guards. The only advantage prisoners had at Andersonville was that they didn’t have to contend with the winter cold. Like Andersonville, Douglas was a serious mistake because of the unanticipated numbers of prisoners, parolees (Union prisoners exchanged for Confederates), guards, and soldiers in the many units that used the place. The early days of the camp were marked by a lack of discipline. There were 1037 men court martialed between January and August 1862 for drunkenness, insubordination, fighting, theft, destruction of property, desertion, shooting an officer, and “…playing cards with prisoners.” Continue reading