There Oughtta Be a Law, A Rule, or Something

I read with some concern that the California Senate has passed a resolution urging companies to include more women on their boards.  Now anyone who knows me knows that I am a strong proponent of board diversity of all sorts, as well as of gender equality, so why am I concerned?

The answer is that laws and regulations mandating that companies do or disclose a particular thing are not always the best way of promoting or achieving social goals.  Sometimes they are, but I really wonder if that's the case here (and I understand that the California resolution merely "urges" and doesn't mandate anything).  As I see it, laws and rules have many infirmities, including the following:

• They invariably adopt a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't work for many companies.
• Once adopted, they become engraved in stone; they are rarely reconsidered and almost never changed or repealed in response to changed circumstances.
• They exacerbate the real problem of disclosure overload - public companies' disclosures keep getting longer and longer - without any commensurate benefit to investors generally.
• Because the laws/rules generally require greater disclosure in "official" SEC filings, companies are justifiably concerned that the disclosures could result in liability.  As a result, the disclosures are often legalistic and not particularly helpful to the very constituencies that the laws/rules seek to benefit.

There are more reasons, but this quick list may suffice.  At any rate, there are a number of pending "pushes" for laws and/or rules requiring more corporate disclosure or substantive actions relating to corporate political contributions and sustainability and other so-called "ESG" (environmental, social and governance) matters, among other things.  I'm not opposed to more disclosure or corporate social responsibility - far from it - but why must the proponents always push for a law or a rule?  Why not push for voluntary disclosure or action?  Why not work with companies and the corporate community in general to find common ground?

Lamm's Literary Lyceum

I haven't paid sufficient attention to this "feature" over the last weeks, so here goes:

• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini: He's a great storyteller, but the stories in this book are pat and predictable.
• Southern Cross the Dog by Bill Cheng: I don't get all the fuss.  There is an occasional passage that's great, but not worth the price of admission.
• The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth: The first book in this series was witty and fun.  This one, not so much; as can happen with success, the author may be taking himself a bit too seriously.  (And yes, I do enjoy this kind of thing from time to time.)
• Crazy Rich by Jerry Oppenheimer:  This purports to be a history of all the craziness in the Johnson (as in Johnson & Johnson) family.  I hated this book and regret that I enriched the author by paying for it and then impoverished my brain by reading it.  Frankly, I think the author may have some psychological issues, but if you insist upon reading it, take it out of the library and make sure there's a shower nearby once you finish it; you'll feel sullied.
• Bitter Brew by William Knoedelseder:  This is a history of the Busch family (as in Anheuser- Busch).  It is everything that Crazy Rich is not; well written, historical as well as biographical and interwoven with the company to which it relates, and a serious yet eminently readable book.  My thanks to Ann Yerger and Donna Anderson for (independently) recommending it to me.

Prima La Musica (or Lammusica)

I've also neglected this feature.  I've been listening a great deal to the operas of Richard Strauss lately, including two of my faves, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier.  The former is well represented by an old recording, conducted by Karl Böhm; it's a great recording, with Inge Borkh, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (fabulous as Orest) and a phenomenal Jean Madeira (whom I've heard about but never focused on) as Klytemnestra.  Wow.  The latter is well represented by another old recording, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, with Christa Ludwig, Gwyneth Jones (as Octavian), Lucia Popp (Sophie) and Walter Berry.  Not my favorite recording, but beautifully acted and lovingly played.

My other recomendation - and it's as strong as they come - is for the complete Mozart piano concertos with Murray Perahia.  If you have any interest in Mozart or piano concertos (concerti?) at all, go online and order this set immediately if not sooner.

I've been reviewing books and music for a while on Amazon.com, so if you're interested in my opinions, you can find my reviews there.