Bloomberg.com: Bloomberg Columnists

U.S. Unions and the Rashomon Effect: Andrew Ferguson (Update1)
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Unless you're a knee-jerk ideologue or a paid-up party hack, following the policy debates in Washington is often like watching ``Rashomon,'' the great Akira Kurosawa movie in which witnesses give contradictory accounts of the same murder.

This happens here in Washington almost every day, whenever a law is passed, a regulation revised, or a graceless statement uttered by a statesman who has unwisely let down his guard. Within hours interest groups announce that the item in question is precisely opposite to what the interest groups on the other side say it is.

Giving contradictory accounts of the same issue is what keeps Washington interest groups in business.

For a perfect illustration of Washington's ``Rashomon Effect,'' consider the Department of Labor's new regulations on overtime pay. "

Tallahassee Democrat | 07/23/2003 | Overhauling overtime
New rules could cost workers extra pay
By T. Shawn Taylor - KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town
COMMENT
FAITH-BASED INTELLIGENCE
Issue of 2003-07-28
Posted 2003-07-21

Excerpt - It seems the President shares Ronald Reagan’s notion that “facts are stupid things."