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Keeping you up-to-date on the latest by Manhattan Institute Scholars
January 15, 2010



Walter B. Wriston Fellowship

The Manhattan Institute is pleased to announce that Kathy Wriston has funded a fellowship program for young scholars in the name of her late husband, Walter B. Wriston, former Chairman of Citicorp and a long-time valued member of the Institute's Board of Trustees. The first Walter B. Wriston fellowship will be granted to Josh Barro, who focuses on state and local fiscal policy and has recently co-authored "Blueprint for a Better Budget" with E.J. McMahon. Prior to joining the Institute, Josh served as a Staff Economist at the Tax Foundation, where he wrote the 2009 State Business Tax Climate Index and the 2009 "Tax Freedom Day" report. The support of young fellows is an essential investment in the future of the Institute and in its impact on the world of ideas. The Institute is deeply grateful to Ms. Wriston for her thoughtful dedication and support.

New Issue of City Journal!

The 2010 City Journal winter issue is in the mail to subscribers. Read Heather Mac Donald's gripping essay, "Chicago's Real Crime Story," which investigates why decades of community organizing haven't stemmed the city's youth violence. And listen to City Journal editor Brian Anderson read this issue's "In Prospect."



Chicago's Real Crime Story

Heather Mac Donald, City Journal, Winter 2010
Barack Obama has exploited his youthful stint as a Chicago community organizer at every stage of his political career. As someone who had worked for grassroots "change," he said, he was a different kind of politician, one who could translate people's hopes into reality. The media lapped up this conceit, presenting Obama's organizing experience as a meaningful qualification for the Oval Office. . .This past September, a cell-phone video of Chicago students beating a fellow teen to death coursed over the airwaves and across the Internet. None of the news outlets that had admiringly reported on Obama's community-organizing efforts mentioned that the beating involved students from the very South Side neighborhoods where the president had once worked. Obama's connection to the area was suddenly lost in the mists of time. . .
Heather Mac Donald discusses her article.


RADIO




Heather Mac Donald on WGN's "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg"

On Monday, January 18, 2010, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and City Journal contributing editor Heather Mac Donald will be on WGN's "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg" for the entire 2 hour program to discuss her City Journal article. The show starts at 10 PM ET.

A Prescient Warning: The New New Left

Steven Malanga on WOR's "The John Gambling Show"

On Tuesday, January 19, 2010, Steven Malanga, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and City Journal senior editor, will be on WOR's "The John Gambling Show" to discuss the expanding power of public sector unions and the healthcare Cadillac tax exemption deal. Listen live at 6:40am EST.



Steven Malanga on KXL's "The Lars Larson Show"

On Monday, January 18, 2010, Steven Malanga, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and City Journal senior editor, will be on KXL's "The Lars Larson Show" to discuss the expanding power of public sector unions and the healthcare Cadillac tax exemption deal. Listen live at 8:30pm EST.

Haiti's Tragic History

Haiti's Apocalypse

Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Online, January 15, 2010
The news from Haiti is always terrible; when there is no Haitian news, it does not so much suggest that the news is good as that the long, slow catastrophe that is Haitian history is merely continuing as usual. But this week's apocalyptic earthquake makes Haiti's recent past seem almost like a golden age. . .

Saving Capitalism




ONLINE INTERVIEW




My chat with Nicole Gelinas, part one

James Pethokoukis, Reuters, January 14, 2010
I recently sent a few email questions to Nicole Gelinas, author of the phenomenal must-read, must-own After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street and Washington. Her answers were so thorough and valuable that I could not bring myself to cut them much. So I am running a question or two a day for the next several days.

Q: What do you think about the Obama approach to financial reform as displayed in the House version of the bill, starting with Too Big To Fail?
NG: . . .the bill would enshrine into law for the future all of the random things that Washington has done over the past two years, from the government-engineered Bear, Stearns rescue to the AIG bailout. . .


REVIEW




Publisher's Picks: Top Books of 2009

David DesRosiers, RealClearMarkets.com, January 9, 2010
Gelinas' book [After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street and Washington]is a standout in the barrage of recent tomes exploring the many reasons behind the financial meltdown. She manages to identify the root cause of the crisis - "Too Big To Fail" - and offers smart solutions to prevent another collapse. The best part? She pulls it off in fewer than 200 pages. Highly recommended.

Taxing Banks Won't Fix Wall Street
ARTICLES




'We want our money back and we're going to get it'

Nicole Gelinas, NRO The Corner, January 14, 2010
"Getting our money back" from the bailed-out banks, as President Obama promised today, misses the point. The "money" is but a fraction of the price the nation has paid for Washington's failure to ensure that nominally private financial companies could fail in an orderly fashion. . .



Why O's 'bank tax' won't fix Wall St.

Nicole Gelinas, New York Post, January 14, 2010
(This article is also _link_ed on RealClearMarkets.com, 01-14-10)
Today, President Obama will announce plans to levy a big fee on "too big to fail" financial firms. The fees, as much as $120 billion, seem designed to attract a crucial support _base_: New York's delegation in Congress. But a tax on finance won't fix Wall Street