On Monday, October 10th something strange happened in the world of high finance: Goldman Sachs lost its crown. The news, despite trumpeting a major new player in the world of HFT, or high-frequency trading, got no coverage at all from popular media outlets, save for a mention on Matt Taibbi’s blog at RollingStone.com. Yet for anyone with an interest in our fragile economy, the development would have been noteworthy: a new, unheard of company listed… [read more »]
These days civil disobedience feels like a given. Though rare and often unsettling, it never looks alien to us. As early as kindergarten we learn to venerate its most dutiful practitioners: Gandhi, MLK and Mandela. We bind our history and our values to their greatest triumphs. On the National Mall, MLK now towers among our gods: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Even when civil disobedience takes root overseas, in places as unfamiliar as Iran, we… [read more »]