Recent Blog Posts
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The Times' Rorshach Geithner Story
Apr 27 20099:04am EDT -
Sinking Animal Spirits
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Counter-cyclical Urban Policy
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Be Your Own Counterfeiter
Apr 26 20099:04am EDT -
Being Tim Geithner
Apr 25 200912:04pm EDT -
Notes From a Press Conference Naif
Apr 25 20099:04am EDT -
What Good is the News?
Apr 25 20098:04am EDT -
Stressful Enough
Apr 24 20092:04pm EDT -
Not Regretting the Pound
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Introducing the New Ford Squeeze
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Non-Economic Questions of the Day
Apr 24 20099:04am EDT -
The Stress Test Blind Alley
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Happy Hour
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Recovery Without Rebalancing
Apr 23 20096:04pm EDT -
The Shape of Your Recession
Apr 23 20095:04pm EDT
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When Lawyers Deadpan
I'm a fan of lawyers with a sense of humor. In the New Yorker this week, civil-rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith says that such a thing can even be a necessity:
“If you take everything that the government does in earnest,” he said, “you’ll slit your wrists. When you’re dealing with an absurd system, you’ve got to point out the absurdities.”
Stafford Smith, of course, literally deals in life-and-death situations. The Delaware lawsuit between Chris Flowers and Sallie Mae doesn't rise to that level of importance. But it's still refreshing to see that the lawyers there are keeping things in perspective. Gregory Corcoran has some of the color from the latest hearing, but he doesn't include my favorite quotes of the day, which came after Flowers graciously agreed to let Sallie Mae seek a different buyer.
"We're happy to waive the covenants," Mr. Wolinsky told the court. "They can shop [the company]. God bless 'em. They are waived here and now."
"Obviously, we're thrilled," said Stephen Susman, attorney for Sallie Mae, after the Flowers group agreed to drop their control rights.
It's rare that you can just smell the sarcasm rising off the page like that in a news story; props to the (anonymous) journalist for not belaboring the point.
