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The stock markets. Whether you invest or not, the workings of the stock market almost certainly touch your life. Either through your retirement fund, your mutual fund or just because you work for a place that invests (or is invested in)—the reach of the securities markets is expanding, like an ever growing tidal wave. This book discusses what happens when that wave hits the shore. Specifically, this book argues that, given the mounting deluge from misplaced regulation, fast-paced technology, and dominant financial players, the current US regulatory structure is woefully inadequate to hold back the tide. Using vivid imagery and plain language, Karen Kunz and Jena Martin take the problems involved in regulating the complex world of securities head on. Examining everything from the rise of technology and the role of hedge funds to our bloated agency system, Kunz and Martin argue that the current structure is doomed to fail and, when it does, the consequences will be disastrous. Sending out a call to action, the authors also offer a bold vision for how to fix the mess we've made—not by tinkering around the edges—but instead by building a whole new structure, one that can withstand the next storm that is sure to come.

The stock markets. Whether you invest or not, the workings of the stock market almost certainly touch your life. Either through your retirement fund, your mutual fund or just because you work for a place that invests (or is invested in)-the reach of the securities markets is expanding, like an ever growing tidal wave. This book discusses what happens when that wave hits the shore. Specifically, this book argues that, given the mounting deluge from misplaced regulation, fast-paced technology, and dominant financial players, the current US regulatory structure is woefully inadequate to hold back the tide. Using vivid imagery and plain language, Karen Kunz and Jena Martin take the problems involved in regulating the complex world of securities head on. Examining everything from the rise of technology and the role of hedge funds to our bloated agency system, Kunz and Martin argue that the current structure is doomed to fail and, when it does, the consequences will be disastrous. Sending out a call to action, the authors also offer a bold vision for how to fix the mess we've made-not by tinkering around the edges-but instead by building a whole new structure, one that can withstand the next storm that is sure to come.

The six manuscripts offered in this special issue expound on the questions asked and ideas put forth in Create the Fix and the participatory frameworks offered by Govloop and the IMCA. Some manuscripts are derived directly from symposium participants. We begin with a short essay by Jon Stehle, one of the panelists in the morning session, and C. Patrick Washington, who attended the event, both of whom are members of AABPA’s board of directors. They consider the importance of the symposium, both in the types of questions asked and the nature of the organizers. They argue that the idea of participatory budgeting is fundamental; we should be asking questions like those underpinning the symposium more frequently and hold our politicians and bureaucrats to account for answers. They view the students’ drive to looking for ways to expand citizen involvement and demand that government become more innovative in their development of ways ways to educate and engage the public as a positive portent of things to come.

A seismic shift is taking place in the United States securities markets. The fault lines have been present for quite some time; however, it is only now, in the last few years that the ramifications of these displacements have been felt. The traditional approach to investing has gone from a focus on investing – namely examining companies to determine whether they will be a good long-term investment – to examining the markets as a whole. Nowhere is this shift more apparent than in the rise and increasing prevalence of quantitative trading models. As a result, there is now a disconnect between the markets themselves and the companies that are traded on the markets. Oftentimes, what a company does or does not do matters very little to whether that company’s stock should be bought or sold. Instead, whether that company’s stock is a good “buy” amounts more to how that stock is doing and how the market is behaving. This shift has broad implications for retail and institutional investor behavior, regulatory structures and the role of government in oversight and, if unchecked, the global economy at large. The ever-changing advances in computer technology have fostered a new breed of trading that is much more reliant on quantitative mathematics than on corporate analysis. This article explores algorithmic trading and assesses the impact of its dominance on regulation of the securities markets and their stability in the global economy.

Women have made great strides in the past 100 years. As the iconic cigarette commercial told us almost 50 years ago, \"You've come a long way, baby!\" Yet women are still underrepresented in the highest leadership ranks, including state and federal office. Before being asked to \"lean in\" or share valuable insights, a small group of very capable women were leaders long before those two words were seen in the same sentence. One such remarkable woman, Helen Holt, was a \"servant-leader\" throughout her illustrious and inspiring career as a member of West Virginia's House of Delegates, then as secretary of state (1957–58), and later as a presidential appointee charged with developing the nation's nursing home system. Holt's work in state and federal government, her appointment by seven U.S. presidents to develop and implement the national nursing home program that is still in use today, and her leadership in civic and nonprofit organizations have made her an inspiration to countless women and men.

Earmarks have long been the subject of controversy, touted by pundits and politicians on one hand as the means for bringing home the bacon and on the other as pork-barrel spending. In relation to federal spending, the amount of annual earmarked dollars is insignificant; at its zenith in FY 2005 earmarked spending comprised only 6 percent of the year’s total appropriations. Yet preliminary research indicates that earmarks are an increasingly important source of funding for essential state services, such as infrastructure, social services, and economic development. Especially in times of fiscal stress, earmarks save state governments hundreds of millions of dollars in agency program funds and intergovernmental transfers. This study examines the congressional earmarks contained in appropriations legislation for FY 2000 through 2009 to assess trends in categorical distributions across and within the states during the period. The data illustrate a shift in allocations over the decade, from infrastructure, community development and environmental priorities to social and emergency services, higher education and energy needs.

This dissertation examines the methods employed by local, state and federal governments to finance public works, with particular emphasis on understanding the use of federal earmarks and Illinois member initiatives as funding mechanisms. Through the evaluation of capital budgeting theory and traditional methods available to finance public works, and the analysis of government spending on infrastructure maintenance and development, this study provides an initial assessment of the use of earmarks to fund infrastructure needs. An archival review of public documents is supplemented by the development of federal and Illinois appropriations and earmarked spending data. In addition, a case study of capital budgeting and the use of federal earmarks and state member initiatives in Illinois demonstrate the fiscal and political practicalities of funding capital expenditures. The perspectives of government and elected officials and executives from professional associations and research organizations, obtained my means of a survey instrument and personal interviews, supplement the document and data analysis. The argument is often made that the cost of earmarks in relation to total appropriations spending is negligible, and that the amount of earmarked funding provided for public works is equally inconsequential in relation to funding provided through state and federal infrastructure programs. Consequently little is contained in present literature about the use of earmarks by as a funding option for infrastructure needs despite the fact that the use of federal and state earmarked funds for capital projects has increased considerably over the past decade. This study examines this growing practice as all levels of government face the fiscal challenges brought about by deteriorating public faculties.