Let trade alone

Trade knows best:

Trade is in its nature free, finds its own channel and best directeth its own course; and all laws to give it rules and directions, and to limit and circumscribe it, may serve the particular ends of private men, but are seldom advantageous to the public.

Private men: insiders, pols who are connected, etc. etc.

Hazardous deal-making

It’s the spirit of the thing.

Moral hazards most often occur when parties who are largely insulated from risk behave differently from the way they would normally behave if they were fully exposed to the risk. Or put another way, moral hazards generally result in risky behavior stemming from not having enough skin-in-the-game.

Too big to fail in the spirit:

A spiritual bail-out mindset can lead us to forsake obedience and the need for virtuous behavior. If we are not vigilant against the occasions of sin we can carelessly take on too much spiritual risk. Moreover, although Gods ocean of mercy is far greater than our collective scarlet sins that does not mean we can avoid the consequences of sinful behavior, both here and in the hereafter. The truth is that sin offends. It offends Jesus, often others and the very nature of our eternal soul.

And we grow old covered with our faults, as Rev. John A. “Gus” McGrail SJ told young Jesuit Latin students at Milford OH in the early ’50s.

Gummint not even to aid citizens?!!

A passel of quotes from T. Jefferson with relevance to the present state of the United States:

“I do verily believe that if the principle were to prevail of a common law being in force in the United States (which principle possesses the general government at once of all the powers of the state governments, and reduces us to a single consolidated government), it would become the most corrupt government on the earth.”

Jesuit arrested and charged in Chicago

The alleged abuse happened in Colorado when he was assigned to U. of Detroit High School in 2001. The Jesuits turned him in:

Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ron Hanavan told the Associated Press that Kurtz’s order, the Society of Jesus Chicago-Detroit Province, notified the department in June about the alleged assault, and an arrest warrant was issued on Nov. 18. Police also say this case has no connection with any Colorado church.

Kurtz was booked in the Chicago jail today on $100,000 bond.

They had no choice, of course.

==========

Quite a bit more from CBS Chicago, adding to the AP report:

The province said in a written statement Monday that in 2001, when a report of misconduct first surfaced, it reported the allegation to authorities in Michigan.

The province also has a policy under which it reports abuse allegations to authorities in the place where the conduct is said to have occurred. The province said it has been cooperating with Colorado authorities since April. It wasn’t immediately clear why the report was only made this year.

Kurtz was removed from public ministry soon after the initial allegation was received, the province said. The Jesuits said Kurtz’s activities have been restricted since then. It didn’t say where Kurtz was working at the time of his arrest.

The case has been turned over to prosecutors who will decide whether to charge Kurtz.

Super flop fends off super tax. Yay.

Larry Kudlow is not weeping over the floperoo of the super committee:

In an important sense, the whole super-committee debate from the Democratic side was about taxing the rich. They never went quite as far as President Obamas populist class-warfare rant, at least not publically. But basically this logjam was about so-called tax fairness.

Main thing: “we dodged a super tax hike and got a couple trillion dollars of lower spending. Not the worst thing in the world.”