Weekend Notes

Over the weekend I finished Niall Ferguson's The Ascent of Money, an  economic history that examines the role of financial innovation as a prime mover in world events from 14th century Medici family in Florence, Italy to present (I picked it up on the "buy 1, get 1 half price" table at Borders).  Given all that has happened in this area of human activity recently, it's worth reading, although it doesn't quite live up to the hype.  Apparently the book was written as a companion to a PBS documentary of the same name. 

As might be expected it's more anecdotal than comprehensive history. The picture Ferguson paints is a world where financial innovation (banking, bonds, insurance, etc.) alternates with financial crisis; yet, somehow, the arrow of progress remains pointed in the forward direction, a testament, I suppose, to capitalism's "creative destruction."

Ferguson addresses the current economic crisis, but I sense he wishes his book could have waited until the crisis played itself out (or maybe that's just another book).  One factoid from his afterword that passed the 24 hour test (that is, I remember it 24 hours later): without the expansion of household debt associated with home equity loans, the real growth rate during the Bush presidency would have been about 1% per year.  A 1% growth rate doesn't create enough jobs to accomodate the number of Americans entering the workforce every year.

Switching gears...I found myself sitting in my driveway Sunday afternoon listening to the story of Adrian Schoolcraft vs the NYPD on This American Life (aired 9/10/2010)/].  Schoolcraft was a New York policeman who found himself at odds with his supervisors over their goal to improve the precinct's crime stats by making more busts--justified or not--and reclassifying crimes.

There are two stories here.  One is the perverse effect of the NYPD's use of the COMPSTAT program to track crime.  Originally a tool to help the NYPD assign resources (with apparent success cutting crime), it morphed into a method for evaluating the performance of precinct commanders--no improvement in crime stats, no promotion.  Precinct commanders responded by giving their police officers (illegal) arrest quotas.  An almost identical practice was woven into the storyline of HBO's Baltimore police drama, The Wire.

[Note: this should be a cautionary tale for those who advocate using achievement test scores to evaluate teacher performance.]

...which leads to the human interest story. Adrian Schoolcraft, a footsoldier in his precinct, chose not to cooperate.  He did this partly for moral reasons, i.e., it's wrong to wrongfully arrest an American, and partly because it undercut his ability to do good policing.  If he harassed the local citizens with petty arrests to puff up his crime stats, then he was unlikely to win their cooperation when it came to a serious crime. 

What makes this story unique, and also makes for great radio, is that Schoolcraft secretly recorded everything that took place in his precinct as this story unfolded, up to and including the moment when his precinct commander and a dozen cops arrive at Schoolcraft's apartment, after which he finds himself involuntarily committed to a pysch ward.

Lastly...Slate Magazine republished a remarkable story from 2002.  It concerns the actions of David Karnes, a former US Marine staff sergeant, on the September 11, 2001 ("An Unlikely Hero," published 9/10/2002).  Briefly, and I recommend that you read the original story, Karnes heard the news about the World Trade Center while working in his Connecticut office.  He went home, put on his Marine uniform, which he kept pressed & ready, and then drove into Manhattan in his convertible Porsche 911.  Apparently impressed by his uniform (or maybe the car), the police let him through the barriers around the WTC.  Karnes spotted another Marine, Sergeant Thomas, near the burning pile of debris that was Building 7, the 47-story building next to the twin towers.  Authorities had ordered rescue workers off the pile which they deemed too unstable.  Nevertheless Karnes and Thomas began their own search & rescue mission and eventually located two Port Authority cops buried 20 feet under the debris.

A reporter (whose name I forget) imbedded with a U.S. Marine unit in Fallujah, Iraq some years ago observed that when gunfire erupted nearby, he dove for cover, while the young Marines he traveled with piveted in one motion and sprinted towards the developing firefight.  Whether it's training, self-selection, or institutional culture...these Marines, including the aforementioned Sergeant sKarnes and Thomas, are wired differently than most of us.  I'm glad they're on our side.  Buy a Marine a drink the next time the occasion arises. Semper Fi.