A conversation half remembered

I don’t know what it was but I overheard a conversation on the train while travelling to the folks place over Christmas…don’t ask why this popped into my head, but it has, there’s this American guy going to Christmas with a friend..and for some reason they were talking about family..the conversation went sort of like this.

AD. “My dad died a couple of years ago and jeez it caused shit when he did. Mom discovered that dad had been keeping another family over on the east coast.”

F. Shit

AD Yeah and I’ve got a brother….and get this Mom wants to meet them.

F WTF

AD Dad left them money…I don’t wanna meet this brother…he’s a mechanic in New Jersey. Shit he didn’t even go to college or stuff. I’ve got nothing in common in with him.

F weird

Struck me as weird, the tone of voice that looks down on someone who didn’t go to college or
is a mechanic, it was a peculiar conversation, that’s stuck with me, there was obviously a lot
of money involved. All in all a vicarious piece of life, mind you it’s better than sitting next to some chick talking her love life, I mean do we really need to know the sordid details. Or again hearing a couple of guys just released and heading down to St Kilda for a good time, being picked up by a couple of girls on the make.

Ahh the corruption of life…’tis good

Hao Wu

The Chinese Blogger Mr Hao Wu has been freed from detention by the Chinese Government.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY

ASIC and Corporate Crime

From http://tinyurl.com/r32eb
The Age 08/07/2006

ASIC chairman Jeff Lucy believes corporate crime is a serious issue that deserves tough investigation and, if the courts deem it appropriate, serious punishment.

He said the crimes of Bullen, Ficarra, Duffy and Gray cost the bank — and effectively its shareholders — more than $300 million.

Mr Lucy said he had no doubt that jail sentences sent the message that white-collar crime would not be tolerated.

"There's a number of beneficiaries of that message," he said. "There's the defendants and their families. It also sends a message to people who might be contemplating similar actions and it sends a wider message that people can have confidence in the markets."

Dare one ask how the defendants and their families are beneficiaries?

The downside of greed is good

From http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,19679590%255E661,00.html


Judge Geoff Chettle of the Victorian County Court sentenced one of the traders, David Bullen, to an effective sentence of 44 months with a minimum of 30 months to be served before he is eligible for release on good behaviour.

Judge Chettle sentenced Vince Ficarra to 28 months with a minimum of 15 months to be served before being eligible for release on good behaviour.

Ficarra, 27, of North Fitzroy, and Bullen, 34, of Eversley near Ballarat, were found guilty in May on a string of charges related to the unauthorised trading on NAB's foreign exchange options desk, that cost the bank $326 million in 2003/04.

In sentencing Bullen, Judge Chettle told the court the two traders and the rest of their team saw themselves as "invincible".

"In the corporate culture that existed, you forgot your legal responsibilities to the bank, its management and its shareholders," Judge Chettle said.

"General deterrence must be the principal sentencing consideration for crimes such as yours."

General deterrence my foot. If general deterrence worked then burglars wouldn't be burglaring, murderers wouldn't doing away with the good citizens of the town etc etc. I've got nothing against specific deterrence after all you'd think they'd learn. But general deterrence doesn't work.