Bandidagem Ivy League Style

O mito de que pessoas inteligentes, principalmente se são membros das escolas de elite, como a Ivy League, são necessariamente honestas cai por terra no documentário de Charles Ferguson, Inside Job. Ele mostra que acadêmicos que detém o poder de monopólio do conhecimento e por isso figuram nos principais postos da economia, seja nos bancos de Wall Street, ou no FED, abusam do poder e de sua posição de prestígio para obter rendas vendendo sua ignorância como se fosse conhecimento.
The most shocking new allegations –heretofore mentioned by no one– suggests that some parts of academia – namely Columbia University Business School and Harvard University were not being fore square in disclosing conflicts some of their members have about well-paid private sector consulting gigs. R. Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers,(now Dean Columbia School of Business) appears hesitant about revealing his outside sources of income and their dollar level. And he gets irritated and angry at his inquisitor, charging the filmaker with beng his prosecutor.

In an email to me today,(full text below) Hubbard writes; “All of my outside activities are fully disclosed (indeed, Mr. Ferguson obtained them from my own materials!), and they are reviewed and approved by the University on an annual basis.”

Frederick Mishkin, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, appears to be a weak uninformed twerp caught in his dishonor. And he knows it. Mishkin had the audience guffawing when he claimed that the reason he left the Federal Reserve Board in September, 2008– at the height of the crisis, was in order to return to Columbia to write a textbook. No matter that his was he third vacant seat at the central bank during the worst crisis in its history. He hummed and hawed inconsequentially about not revealing his fee from the Iceland Chamber of Commerce for a very wrong puff promotion of the Icelandic economy– which totally collapsed. His innate weakness of character is written into his chiseled face.

Likewise, Prof. John Campbell, the British twit, who chairs Harvard’s economics department, looked like a frightened deer, also unable address any question put to him., particularly about his department’s ability to earn outside income. He seemed to suggest Harvard had no policy about this sensitive issue. My friend Martin Feldstein, was a tad too smug in refusing to identify his financial clients. Harvard will have to contend with this moral vacuum soon, I would guess. The film also shows former Harvard President Summers making $20 million as a consultant to a hedge fund– while earning a $135,000 fee for one talk at Goldman Sachs.
[H.T. badger]