Trade Law Review

"Open trade is not just an economic opportunity; it is a moral imperative"

 - George W. Bush (2001)

Has open trade enhanced global security? Robert Zoellick makes some interesting points in his case for open trade, see here. 

The history of US trade agreements traces back to the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act of 1930, but was impacted in 1934 by the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, signed by President Roosevelt. This gave the president authority to lower tariffs with the incentive for reciprocity. These tariff concessions were also adjusted later by the Trade Reform Act of 1974 by Nixon, and the Trade and Tariff Act, among many others...

Euro Woes

UBS posted a gloomy report on the future utility of the euro. I bookmarked it to read later, but you can check out the ZeroHedge review here. The article is titled "Bring Out Your Dead - UBS Quantifies Costs Of Euro Break Up, Warns Of Collapse Of Banking System And Civil War." The report seems somewhat vindicated by the Swiss National Bank decision to structure its currency relative to the suffering euro. 

this paragraph is about to get picked apart...

Plaintiffs assert claims for aiding and abetting violations of the law of nations against defendants—all of which are corporations—under the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS"), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, a statute enacted by the first Congress as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789. We hold, under the precedents of the Supreme Court and our own Court over the past three decades, that in ATS suits alleging violations of customary international law, the scope of liability—who is liable for what—is determined by customary international law itself.  Because customary international law consists of only those norms that are specific, universal, and obligatory in the relations of States inter se, and because no corporation has ever been subject to any form of liability (whether civil or criminal) under the customary international law of human rights, we hold that corporate liability is not a discernable—much less universally recognized—norm of customary international law that we may apply pursuant to the ATS.  Accordingly, plaintiffs' ATS claims must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 

 Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 621 F.3d 111 (2d Cir. 2010),

word of the week

epigrammatic

adjective

1.  of or like an epigram;  terse and ingenious in expression.

2.  containing or favoring the use of epigrams.

ep·i·gram

1.  any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely expressed.

2.  epigrammatic  expression: Oscar Wilde had a genius for epigram.

3.  a short, often satirical poem dealing concisely with a single subject and usually ending with a witty or ingenious turn of thought.

The Real Keynesian Economics

Today I was considering that famous quote from John Maynard Keynes. He essentially complains that economists are always concerned with the long run effect of economic principles. Keynes then reminds us that "in the long run, we're all dead." Go look up the quote yourself; I don't trust my own memory very well.

This is the condition of fallen mankind. Without God, our long-term prospects are pretty grim. Despite our varied, insignificant, short-term success, in the long-run it all goes to zero. It turns out that for us the long-run is drastically significant.

Perhaps Keynes had been reading Ecclesiastes. If so, he would have been impressed with verse 11 in chapter 3. It says that there is something within man that longs for something eternal. And the proper interpretation of Eccl. 3:11 is found in 2 Cor 4:18. This is the eternal character of our Christian life:

"We do not regard the things which are seen but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Selah.

Sent from my iPhone

foods for thought

What kind of lunch can you prepare for 2 dollars? That's the name of the game this week. Tonight I tossed a Stouffer's frozen lasagna in the oven; it was huge. And also heated up a can of corn on the stove. That's my lunch for tomorrow. It's all part of a renewed endeavor/experiment with preparing food in bulk and then parsing it out throughout the week(s). The lasagna ($12) claims to serve twelve, but I'll be happy with 10 servings. That's lasagna M-F for two weeks!

It's not the best lasagna ever, which was documented back in 2008, but it should do the trick...

Photo of the Week

This just came in today. My personal copy of the tax code, all 15lbs of it. Below is the textbook for business law.

study spot of the week

the annex of the law school library

how to choose between studying and serving

Well there's not much to say, except that these paragraphs really supplied me today. One week into grad school; it's already pretty rigorous. There's a lot more pressure than I expected. So this afternoon I dropped into the sofa and was considering how to allocate my time between recruiting events, classes, meetings, etc. But I was reminded of this chapter, and reading it again it was very helpful to me. There was something like Isaiah 40 taking place. Anyway, I don't usually post large block quotes, but I couldn't let this one escape. Please enjoy...

All Music Considered

It's pretty obvious that this blog is similar to the book of Psalms, which captured many of the "natural sentiments" of the psalmists. And that may just be a flattering way of saying, well, I'm really stuck on this new song by R.E.M. (They're from Athens). A preview was featured by NPR's All Things Considered. As Bob Boilen would say, take a listen...