Category Archives: Uncategorized

When you ride a Ferris wheel, you might wonder about the strength of the struts or the quality of the maintenance.  You can be forgiven, like the fair-goers in a small Australian town yesterday, for not thinking a light airplane … Continue reading →

Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein puts it succinctly:  “Take one financial crisis, fold in a federal budget crisis, add in a nasty recession and mix with two decades of rapid globalization, and what you have is a recipe for the … Continue reading →

Author Barbara Ehrenreich has documented how the wealthy and their political allies claim the rich are being demonized in these difficult times — a not-surprising thing as everyone else loses ground.  But she also points out how strong the defense … Continue reading →

The good news:  The American Human Development Project, a social research organizationm, has published an analysis of recent Census Bureau data that shows that the gap between men’s and women’s wages is closing. The bad news:  It’s because men’s salaries … Continue reading →

The Washington Post reported the following: Chinese officials, their nation’s growth linked to exports to Europe and the United States, joined the criticism, arguing that the ongoing sense of crisis showed the shortcomings of western-style democracy and culture. “The issue … Continue reading →

A Baylor University survey found that people who strongly believe in an engaged God who “has a plan for me” were much more likely to agree that “the government does too much” and that “able-bodied people who are out of … Continue reading →

One of our two parties argues that Americans don’t want government services and, indeed, a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 56 percent of Americans said they wanted smaller government and fewer services. Yet, as Cornell professor Suzanne Mettler … Continue reading →

Treasury Secretary Geitner went to Europe last week to offer the Europeans “some advice on fixing Europe’s sovereign debt and banking problems” (according to the New York Times).  One specific admonition to the finance ministers was to pump money into … Continue reading →

The Associated Press has reported that Americans’ wealth declined this spring for the first time in a year, as stocks and home values fell. At the same time, corporations increased the size of their cash stockpiles. According to the Federal … Continue reading →

Various media have reported on a nationwide study that shows that tougher licensing laws for teenage drivers have reduced deadly accidents among 16- and 17-year-olds — but that it increased the fatal crash rate among 18-year-olds.  The “graduated driver license” … Continue reading →