This is a strange one: Gov. Maura Healey is arguing that her recent emphasis on abortion issues is actually tied to economics, really and truly, and thus consistent with her new affordability agenda, really and truly, as the Globe reports … And here I was assuming it was tied to her likely Republican opponent Mike Minogue, whose anti-abortion stand is so pronounced that GOP rival Brian Shortsleeve says “he will never win a statewide election” because of it. …
The economy/affordability, Trump and abortion. Those are the three pillars of Healey’s campaign, in that order (on most days). … Btw: I’m aware of Healey’s favorability slippage in recent polls, but she’s still likely going to bury Minogue or anyone else the GOP throws against her.
Note: Re Healey’s determination to stay on affordability message … Never mind.
Prediction markets. Cryptocurrency. Private credit. Now ETF weirdness, as the WSJ reports. … We’re in uncharted financial territory here, well beyond collateralized debt obligations.
Update — 5.24.26 – From the NYT: “How Prediction Markets and Crypto Firms Steamrolled a Watchdog Agency.”
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, who sadly died on Tuesday, was indeed a hero who deserves enormous credit for helping save the U.S. economy from total collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. At the Globe, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (of Dodd-Frank Act fame) remembers working side-by-side with Barney, then the chair of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, during those incredibly tense times. Meanwhile, Dan Kennedy bemoans the passing of Frank amid today’s array of financial-sector worries and woes – and how “there isn’t a Barney Frank in sight.”
As for the 2008 financial crisis, I covered those historic events as a business reporter for the Boston Herald and regularly talked to Frank several times a week amid all the political and media chaos. I was always amazed that one of the then busiest and most influential men on the planet actually returned my calls, as he did for other Boston reporters, out of a sense of hometown loyalty (or at least that’s how I perceived it.) I was also always amazed at his brilliant grasp of the issues and ability to quickly summarize what was at stake and where he stood.
But Barney could also be a first-class curmudgeon – and he knew it and didn’t care. He didn’t suffer fools. I’d actually get nervous whenever he called and started off the conversation with a gruff: “It’s Barney. I’m busy. Make it quick.” And you had better be prepared to rattle off the questions quick or he’d get angry. (One Herald colleague swears Barney told him the last time they talked “I never liked you.”) But he always called back, no matter how disastrous the previous interview and no matter if you worked at the Herald. (Gee, I can’t imagine why he’d hate the Herald.) And that transparency was especially key during those dramatic autumn days in 2008.
Known for his sharp wit and legislative skills, Barney Frank will be remembered favorably for a lot of things – his timeat City Hall, the State House, and the U.S. House, as well as the fact that he was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay. But for my money, Frank, a liberal’s liberal, should be remembered most for his work during the 2008 financial crisis – and helping save our economic system from ruin.
Update II — 5.21.26 — BU’s Cornelius ‘Con’ Healey emails in a photo and note: “Besides his acerbic wit and searing intelligence, Barney was hopelessly and charmingly disheveled . . . notwithstanding the efforts of admirers trying to help him get it together . . .”
Update III — 5.23.26 — From Adam Reilly at GBH: “Sure, Barney Frank could be ‘really acerbic’ to reporters. But he was never anti-media.”
Fun stuff from Dion. …. Just a thought: A follow-up strike to the south could bag Quincy and Milton as well.
Update – I should point out that my Hub Blog tech advisor (i.e. my nephew) originally sent me the Dion link with a suggestion of further expansion: “Annex the Hub of the Universe, why not?” … I initially assumed he was referring to annexing UH — a truly provocative thought. Or was he referring to Hub Blog annexing all of Boston?
Want to see real insider trading? Check out Larry Edelman’s latest Globe piece: “Breaking bad: Ex-Goodwin Procter lawyer allegedly ran a decadelong insider-trading scheme.” … The feds say he and a pal allegedly traded on M&A info – and it involved dozens of deals. From Larry:
Local deals cited in the indictments include Amazon’s $1.7 billion bid in 2022 for iRobot, the Bedford maker of Roomba vacuums, which it later called off; Johnson & Johnson’s buyout of Cambridge-based Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $6.5 billion in 2020; and IAC’s purchase of Waltham’s Care.com, the online platform for babysitters and other caregivers, for $500 million in 2019.
The WSJ and 60 Minutes (video here) had excellent pieces over the weekend about military insiders using the new “prediction markets” to bet on future military actions by the U.S. – and how they’re giving new meaning to the phrase “war profiteering.” But my complaint is with those who describe the acts as a form of “insider trading,” buying into the farce that prediction markets are “trading in commodities” and in need of firmer regulation by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. … But Kalshi, Polymarket et gang are gambling operations – and everyone knows it except some lawyers and judges who can’t think their way out of legal-definitional corners that they’ve painted themselves into. In fact, military insiders betting on future military actions should be charged with criminal disclosure of classified information, espionage or even treason, not slapped on the wrist by the CFTC. They’re literally gambling with American lives and national security. It’s sick. …
Btw: How weird are the prediction markets? Cryptocurrency holders are now empowered to arbitrate some prediction-market “trade” disputes, such as fights over an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, as the WSJ reports. … Prediction markets and cryptocurrency combining forces. Quite a pair, huh? There’s got to be a WWE angle here somewhere. Maybe here?
Update — 5.24.26 – From the NYT: “How Prediction Markets and Crypto Firms Steamrolled a Watchdog Agency”
A while back, the hopeless history buff in me decided to buy a used copy of John Julius Norwich’s ‘Byzantium: The Early Centuries’ at a Hudson Public Library book sale, hauling it and other dusty two-buck specials back to my house, where it proceeded to sit for years on a pile of unread books in my home office. (Yes, a book pile, not a bookcase.) I can’t say I had buyer’s regret, not at $2, but I did feel a little guilty every time I walked past the book pile and there staring up at me was the mosaic portrait of Emperor Justinian on the cover of ‘Byzantium,’ as if beseeching me to give the poor book a chance. “I don’t know why I bought you,” I’d think. “I’m never going to read you. Not at 800 pages.” … But, of course, I eventually did, after one day forcing myself to read Norwich’s introduction in which he charmingly admits he was once a Byzantine Empire dolt like the rest of us and wanted to write a book spreading the word about an underappreciated period in Western history.
And it’s all there: Emperor Diocletian’s division of the Roman Empire into East and West, the rise of Constantine the Great, the First Council of Nicaea and the emergence of modern Christianity, the long and critical reign of Justinian I, the transformation of a small outpost city into a magnificent capital of an empire that lasted more than 1,100 years.
For an 800-page book published in 1988, ‘Byzantium’ is a remarkably accessible and easy read, a true “popular history” that the late Sir John Julius Norwich was apparently famous for during his long career. All these years after its publication (and then sitting on my book pile), I can definitely recommend it to others, particularly to fellow book hounds who head straight to the history/biography tables at local library book sales. I’m not sure when, or if, I’ll ever tackle the other books in his Byzantine trilogy. But it was satisfying knocking off at least one of them.
If Ed Markey and Maura Healey are doing it, you know it’s a trend (or close to a trend), i.e. Democrats downplaying climate change on the campaign trail, something that Matthew Huber (NYT) advises Dems to do in these affordability times. The Globe’s Sam Brodey has more on the magical disappearance of Markey’s Green New Deal. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Beacon’s Jordan Wolfman reports on Healey’s shift to the center on climate change/energy issues. … Re Huber’s Times piece: Gotta love his reference to the “Brahmin Left,” via the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Ah, what the heck. Might as well throw in Shirley Leung and Jon Chesto’s piece on business groups backing Seth Moulton. They’re concerned about the state’s sagging life-science sector. … Sudden passing thought: Is Markey partly reacting to Moulton’s unenrolled voter strategy?
Hub Blog 