So argued economist Ed Leamer in a piece I wrote that the Reporter ran last week: “I see a lot of kids who are really struggling, and it’s very troubling to me,” he said. “I think we’re looking at an abused generation. A lot of kids are graduating from college with a huge amount ofContinue reading “The Millenials: An abused generation?”
Category Archives: thinking out loud
Cheever on writing as sport
From an interview with his daughter in Newsweek late in his wondrous career: Writing is not at all a competitive sport. I don't think of myself as being less that Saul Bellow or more than Herbert Gold. The essence of literature is always the singularity of the writer. h/t: Al Filreis
Why American problems are easily solved
Those concerned about climate change, from scientists to journalists to politicians, have a plethora of theories why the United States, almost alone among the nations of the developed world, seems resistant to acting to avoid the worst of the consequences. Update: A handful of possibilities are discussed this week in The Economist, which doesn't provideContinue reading “Why American problems are easily solved”
Scary graph of the week: Employment falls off a cliff
No wonder these times feel hard… via The Vantage Point
Severe weather in 2010: food price inflation in 2011
As I've said before, it's just not fair that Paul Krugman is not only the best lefty writing about the economy, he's also the lefty best able to write about the consequences of global warming.
From today's column, a taste…more below the virtual fold.
While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning.
David Brower sees a UFO
Gotta love an autobiography in which a man will confess to everything he's ever seen, even if it makes him sound a little crazy. Here's David Brower, in his delightful autobiography For Earth's Sake (l990): When I was eight, walking home one day [in Berkeley], I happened to look up at the sky and sawContinue reading “David Brower sees a UFO”
American Have-Nots: Too poor to afford Hollywood?
The collapse in revenue generated by the entertainment business has analysts thinking deeply: The anemic economy…is widening the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, making it tougher for some consumers to justify paying for cable or tossing a new DVD into the shopping cart. "Right now it is a tale of two cities," [Craig]Continue reading “American Have-Nots: Too poor to afford Hollywood?”
How to reduce greenhouse gas levels
Research brings forward two possibilities from the past: Kill a lot of people: Over the course of the century and a half run of the Mongol Empire, about 22 percent of the world's total land area had been conquered and an estimated 40 million people were slaughtered by the horse-driven, bow-wielding hordes. Depopulation over suchContinue reading “How to reduce greenhouse gas levels”
Why humor matters in a speech: 2011 SOTU edition
NPR, one of the biggest news outlets in the nation, asked 4000 listeners to respond to the 2011 State of the Union address. Here's what they got back, in word cloud version: The discussion: "Why is "salmon" so big? As The Two-Way explains, NPR's Facebook followers were referring to one of the night's humorous momentsContinue reading “Why humor matters in a speech: 2011 SOTU edition”
The gospel of the cult of Mac
Since it's Sunday, it's worth bringing back a gorgeous little essay recently posted by Andrew Crouch. He takes seriously an idea easy to deride — that Steve Jobs offers a desperate world a faith: the cult of the Mac. Of Apple. As Crouch says: As remarkable as Steve Jobs is in countless ways—as a designer, anContinue reading “The gospel of the cult of Mac”
Kit Stolz 