TOW #20: "Liar's Poker" Part 1

              Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker is an account of Lewis’s own experiences as a bond trader on Wall Street. In the first half of the book, he covers many chapters of his life including his college years at Princeton, his search for a job, and his time as a trainee. Lewis explores the colorful yet consistent characters of Wall Street workers that give the title of “bond-trader” the accurate reputation it has acclaimed.

              It becomes apparent early on that Lewis has mixed feelings about his time on Wall Street. It seems that his purpose in writing the book was to emphasize the negative sides of the occupation. This is evident in his reasoning for not pursuing economics in college. On pg 30, he says “people were pursuing economics for all the wrong reasons.” One reason, clearly, was the desire to get rich. Lewis acknowledges this. He knows that a book about why making millions can be miserable may seem unconvincing when written by a man who has made millions himself. At points, he echoes what were his, and probably many economists’ motives today, to join the trading game. On pg 33 he puts in italics “I want to be an investment banker, Lehman Brothers is the best, I want to be rich.” He also acknowledges the obvious argument against his idea (being rich is better than being poor because you can buy more things). When he is telling the story of a “Liars’ Poker” game between the haughty traders Gutfriend and Merriweather, Gutfriend contemplates a wager of $10 million. At this point, Lewis interjects himself to state “It WAS good to be rich.”

              Lewis is certainly thorough enough to give the reader an idea of what Wall Street is like. He also does a fine job of acknowledging the primordial bias that anything that makes (a ton of) money is the best option. However, the story is somewhat unsatisfying in the way it is written. The liars’ poker game, for instance, never took place in the writing. Surely it will later in the book, but Lewis’s tendency to jump around makes the book irritating to read at times.

TOW #19: The Press Conference (visual)

              This political cartoon was created by Clay Bennett of Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Times Free Press. It is one of Bennett’s hundreds of political cartoons. This particular one was published on February 17^th. This was the day after Trump gave his first press conference as president of the United States. The cartoon depicts the press conference, but Trump himself is lying on a couch in front of the microphone as if he were speaking to a therapist. Meanwhile, the audience is furiously taking notes. This cartoon is commenting on Trump’s behavior at the conference and stating it was similar to the behavior of someone who should see a therapist.

              The metaphor of Trump as a therapist’s patient is the result of a few interactions he had at the press conference with the audience. One of the most notable ones was when Trump responded to a question by stating that his victory in the presidential race was the biggest since Ronald Reagan’s. An audience member was quick to reference Obama’s victory, which was by a much larger margin than Trump’s. Trump, who has seldom been confronted about his inaccurate statements, then doubles down by stating that it was the biggest republican victory since Ronald Reagan. The audience member refutes this as well by referencing George H. W. Bush’s victory, which was also larger than Trump’s. Trump then responds by saying that someone told him his was the biggest and that is why he thought it was the biggest. This pattern of denial and dishonesty is somewhat reminiscent of a psychopath and is why Bennett felt the need to depict Trump in a therapist’s couch.

              If the intention of the author had been to make Trump seem psychotic, then it was unsuccessful. It does not add to the context in which it was created. If, however, the author intended to simply mock Trump, he had more success in doing so. The cartoon helps to immortalize a moment of madness from an event that put it on display.

TOW 18: We Need To Build More Startups Like Tesla (argument #1)

              This article was written by Babur Habib, CEO of Portfolio School and contributor to Forbes.com. The article discusses the success of Tesla and similar companies and why they are favorable over other successful companies. Previously, the manufacturer would get their product to the customer through a network of middlemen. Now though, companies are taking over the whole route by themselves. Tesla, for instance, builds cars in their own factories (that they built), using batteries that they built, and sells them through their own company dealerships to customers. Habib argues that this model is superior to the old one because it allows customers more personalization in their experience. Tesla offers more customizability than any other car manufacturer, for example. Habib calls these companies “full-stack” companies.

              While there are definitely advantages to full-stack companies, such as the customer personalization that Habib talked about, they also carry certain downsides with them. Firstly, the reduction of middlemen decreases job opportunity. The factory companies and dealerships that were paid by Mercedes and BMW, were not paid by Tesla. Of course, those workers could get a job at Tesla, but this is another problem in itself. Many of the workers have no place at Tesla. Other companies that Habib identifies as full-stack are Uber (who takes jobs away from taxi-drivers) and Airbnb (who puts hotels out of business). The idea that full-stack companies are objectively good comes from a very narrow perspective, the perspective of the direct consumer. This is a little bit like saying piracy is good because you can get movies and TV shows for cheaper. Yes, it is good for the person clicking “play” but in the broader picture, it does much more damage. Full-stack companies have found a way to further exploit an ever-more desperate lower class. They are good, but only when you are giving them your money.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/baburhabib/2017/02/06/we-need-to-build-more-startups-like-tesla/#10b9bf1a19a1

IRB Intro #3

Over the course of marking period three, I will be reading "Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis. This semi-autobiography describes the life of a high-frequency trader on Wall Street. Lewis himself was a trader in the late 1980s and he tells his story through this highly-acclaimed book. I find the idea of high-frequency trading interesting and I reading a first-hand account of the experience sounds very intriguing. 

TOW 17: Why we should free violent criminals

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2017/02/05/why-should-free-violent-criminals/HK8zo5OMtsMjhhQuXySuDM/story.html

This article was written by David Scharfenberg for The Boston Globe. Scharfenberg is a graduate of Brown University and was responsible for covering events such as the 2013 Boston mayor race and the 2014 governor-race. This particular article highlights the flaws in the American prison system. The Author argues that many of the problems come from the treatment of violent offenders, and he proposes new changes to the system. The Author makes it clear in the beginning that a quarter of the world's prisoners are in America (only 5% of the world’s population) and that prison populations are higher now than in 1970, despite crime rates being much lower.

One way the author argues his claim is with facts. Firstly, he dismisses the idea that the overpopulation of prisons is due to the war on drugs. He presents a statistic that shows only 20% of prisoners being drug offenders. He even says “Free them all tomorrow, and the United States would still have the largest prison population in the world.” Perhaps the best statistic he uses for arguing his point is the fact that prosecutors were twice as likely to seek jail time for the offender in 2008 than in the 1990s. However, the author uses more than just data, he uses anecdotes. He tells the story of Christopher, who stole 30 computers, and his prosecutor who let him off the hook. Christopher went on to earn a college degree and when he saw his prosecutor at an event he hugged him and said, “you changed my life.” This story demonstrates the need for opportunities for redemption for prisoners.

The author’s argument is very effective. Not only does he identify the problem and the source, but he explains how it can, and should, be solved. One cannot argue neither the data nor the instances of redeemed prisoners that Scharfenberg references. He shows that it is time for America to let the condemned redeem themselves.