Myths take root as belief only after constant repetition over years. In the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s we believed that government could solve many problems, often with the help of the private sector. Anti-tax sentiment was low, and school districts had no problem raising taxes if need be to support quality public schools. In the […]
There’s no question that Parade, the largest circulation publication in the United States, is going to put July 4th front and center in an issue stuffed into newspapers for Independence Day delivery and use it as a platform for mouthing the most depoliticized platitudes about honoring our country. But what Parade did this year is […]
I didn’t see it coming, but now that it’s here, it makes perfect sense. I’m talking about the new vampire craze that has invaded popular fiction and movies, especially but not only for teenagers and young adults. The vampire—that human creature who stays alive by sucking the blood of other humans—is the perfect image for […]
In an article titled “War on Public Workers” in this week’s Nation, Amy Traub connects a lot of recent blips on the news media screen to draw a picture of what she accurately calls a new class war against government employees. Traub does an excellent job of citing some of the usual suspects such as […]
Thomas Friedman hit the nail directly on the head yesterday in his regular New York Times column, when he wrote: “…when taking America surging deeper into war in Afghanistan, President Obama has to be able to answer the most simple questions at a gut level: Do our interests merit such an escalation and do I […]
Two articles in yesterday’s New York Times reveal how attempts to “game the system” have corrupted both college and the process of getting into college. On page one of The New York Times, Catherine Rampell tells us of 10 law schools which recently have uniformly added additional points to every student’s grade point average. For […]
I think virtually everyone outside the Joe Barton family would agree that Tony Hayward has failed as the operational leader of BP during the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. From the media reports, it seems as if “Wayward Hayward” eats three square meals of “fillet of foot” every day. Watching Mr. BP […]
I made a slight factual error in yesterday’s blog. I said that Sweden has a more equitable distribution of wealth than both the UK and the United States. I should have checked it out first on Professor G. William Domhoff’s website, WhoRulesAmerica.net. In a recently updated article titled “Wealth, Income, and Power,” that’s on his […]
When BP Chairperson Carl-Henric Svanberg earlier this week used the term “small people” to describe, I think, the average person without wealth, social standing or political connections, he was most certainly misspeaking. We can’t look into his mind, but there is no doubt that whatever his true feelings are, as the titular head of a […]
Yesterday I think I pretty much demolished the ideas that less government is always better and that the private sector can always do things better than government can. Today, I want to tackle the companion idea that lower taxes are always better. We currently have historically lower taxes and historically higher debt than at any […]