An Evolving Position

"On marriage, this great institution,
My views underwent evolution,
Where once I believed
That for gay folks aggrieved,
Civil unions remained the solution."

Said Obama: "I could not neglect
The wish for regard and respect,
Above and beyond,
For the family bond
From the children they love and protect."

President Barack Obama electrified the nation Wednesday with the statement that he now supports the right of same-sex couples to marry. This "evolving position", as he put it, represents a significant shift from his long-held view that the rights of same-sex couples could be addressed through civil unions, and comes at a time of upheaval on the issue. Where, on the one hand, polls show public support generally moving toward marriage equality, the President's announcement came one day after North Carolina voters ratified a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a contract between a man and a woman, and ban same-sex civil unions. Cynics may note that President Obama's public support, which he restricted to a non-federally-binding statement of his personal views, comes after heavy lobbying from the pro-marriage-equality CEOs of big banks, on whom Democrats are dependent for political contributions. Nevertheless, this is a historic first for an American President.

Mr. Blankfein's Politics

"There's belief among Washington's polity
That Wall Street's Republican - solidly,
As we bankers assent
To the GOP bent
To fight against income equality."

"But on social concerns, it appears,
We set such belief on its ears,
In our scorn for the fringe
That would tend to impinge
On the rights of our gay Muppeteers."

According to Bloomberg.com, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's gay-rights stance "shows Wall Street's dilemma": whereas the financial titans might like Republicans to regulate banking and labor unions, they'd prefer the Democrats on contraception and marital unions. Mr. Blankfein took part in the "Out on the Street" LGBT Leadership Conference on Tuesday at Bank of America's New York office. As he noted in his earlier, robust endorsement of marriage equality in New York (see the video below), Mr. Blankfein believes that such policies are "just good business," facilitating the recruitment and retention of talent around the world. On the other side, the North Carolina legislature is considering a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which Bank of America expects will make it yet harder to attract employees to its Charlotte headquarters.

Royal Wedding

Said Prince William, admiring his commoner,
"Such pageantry's cert'nly becomin' 'er,
As my bride-to-be's hot,
(Though I dare say there's not
As much as some think of my Mum in 'er)."  

Said the Chancellor of England's Exchequer:
"Young prince, have no royal home-wrecker;
For your troth, once avowed,
Brings the touristy crowd
To Big Ben and the red double-decker."  

Commerce takes a holiday in London and Limericks, as the world turns to affairs of the Heart and of State. Britain's Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton will join together in holy matrimony at 11:00 AM tomorrow in Westminster Abbey, broadcast live at 6:00 AM in New York and 3:30 PM in Mumbai. In Sydney, it's already over.

A Fruitless Market

Said a husband: "The Lord will not bless me,
Dear wife, with descendants, unless we
Make a deal with a neighbor
The fruit of his labor
To compensate with a success fee."

Many offers came in by the bunch,
And a contract was drawn up at once,
But later said Eve:
"I cannot conceive
Why it hasn't worked out in six months."

So the laws of supply and demand
May not always function as planned,
For sometimes you need,
For a deal to succeed,
More than just the Invisible Hand.    

Via Tyler Cowen's Marginal Revolution blog comes the story of a couple in Stuttgart, Germany who hit upon a commercial solution to the age-old problem of male infertility.  To compensate for the husband's shortcomings, they elected to pay a neighbor to impregnate the wife.  As with so many forms of economic stimulus however, and despite months of earnest endeavor on the part of the neighbor, the results fell short and there were unintended consequences.  You can read the entire story in a surprising source: the July 27, 1978 issue of Jet magazine.