I agree with Ginny that Howard seems to like the system and admits we
need fundamental boundaries.  He just thinks we have gone beyond
fundamentals currently to unduly shrink free space. While I agree with
his example about running during recess in Broward county schools, he
needs to recognize that our system also is inherently experimental.  We
try new regulation in response to events.  At any given time, we will
have some pretty silly regulations that will probably be ignored or
repealed in the near future.
This is an interesting argument to make at this point in history and to
tie it into the Obama campaign.  Worldcom, Enron, etc are still in
recent memory and proved we didn't have enough fundamental regulation in
accounting fraud and of course odds are the Obama administration will
take further action to regulate mortgage derivatives and similar
instruments acknowledged to be a major contributors to our current
recession.  A major theme of the Bush administration was that business
needs ample free space to able to make money and growth the economy, but
I think most Americans feel business has had too much free space of
late.     

Ross D. Petty
Professor of Marketing Law
Zwerling Family Term Chair
Babson College
Babson Park, MA 02457
(781) 239-5529


-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Virginia G Maurer
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 11:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Heads Up!

I understood Howard's final point about the need for law to deliberately
carve out "free space" within which individuals have moral and legal
autonomy. Reasonable people will disagree about what falls within it but
the idea is nothing new to the American soul.
 
I clearly do not experience or perceive the world as what he describes
it to be. I do not feel the feelings he attributes to us all. I feel an
enormous sense of personal freedom and do not feel imposed upon when
asked to conduct myself in a manner respectful of the rights and dignity
of others. So is he employing a straw man argument, or is his
description of reality accurate? What resides within the free space that
he justifies advancing on the basis of his description of reality?
 
Rick is right that this could provokes a highly useful classroom
discussion. 
 
Ginny

________________________________

From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk on behalf of
Richard L. Coffinberger
Sent: Mon 1/26/2009 11:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Heads Up!



Those of you with acess to the Wall St. Journal may want to read "How
Modern Law Makes Us Powerless" by Phillip K. Howard; could stir an
interesting debate for our students.
Rick