[ExI] Belief in Market Efficiency

[Damien Broderick]

At 09:58 PM 1/30/2009 -0800, Fred wrote:

>somebody has been spreading a rumor that the communists hold that some
>are more equal than others.

The curious thing is that almost every ideology these days, in 
practice even when not explicitly in theory, holds the same view.

E.g.: Bernard Maddoff (not known to be a communist) vs. Roy Brown:

<http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/01/justice-is-white-mans-word.html>
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Bernard Madoff ran a 50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. Over the 
Christmas season he attempted to send jewellery to his sons and the 
prosecutor suspects that he is busy trying to hide assets.  At least 
one man has already committed suicide upon learning of the money that 
he lost by investing with him. Bernard Madoff is yet another example 
of the ways in which whiteness is privileged in the justice system. 
Many who invested their life savings with him are on the verge of 
financial disaster.  To him his victims were just faceless entities 
but the people <http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/16589>who had 
their retirement savings invested with him, counted on him to be 
honest in his dealings.  Here we have a man who ran one of the 
biggest financial scams of all time and where is he sleeping - in his own bed.

Let's do a comparison between Bernard Madoff and 54 year old Roy Brown.


A man who said he robbed a downtown Shreveport bank because he was 
out of a job and hungry has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for 
first-degree robbery.

Roy Brown, 54, of Audrey Lane, pleaded guilty in Caddo District Court 
to robbing the Capital One bank in December 2007. Brown admitted 
walking up to a teller with one of his hands under his jacket and 
telling her it was a "stickup."

The teller handed the man three stacks of bills and he took a single 
$100 bill, told her he was homeless and left, police said.

Brown surrendered to police the next day, telling them his mother 
didn't raise him that way.
Police let him sober up and interviewed him two days later. Police 
said Brown told them he needed money to stay in a downtown detox 
center, had nowhere to stay and was hungry -- so he walked up the 
street and robbed the bank.

Here we have two vastly different interactions with the justice 
system; a black man who turned himself in after stealing one hundred 
dollars because he hungry and Madoff who stole billions to feed his 
greed and ego. How does the man who stole 100 dollars out of a sense 
of desperation merit 15 years in jail, while the billionaire sits in 
his luxurious home surrounded by his ill gotten gains?  Someone want 
to tell me again about how blind the justice system is?

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Damien Broderick