Random links
- Death and Budgets
- "This fiscal crisis is about many things, but one of them is our inability to face death — our willingness to spend our nation into bankruptcy to extend life for a few more sickly months. The fiscal crisis is driven largely by health care costs."
- S&P warns that chance of downgrading U.S. credit rating is 50 percent
- "S&P managing director John Chambers said ... the country must implement a plan to reduce the annual budget deficit by roughly $4 trillion over 10 years, which makes the debt manageable over the long term. The White House and Congress have discussed a plan that big, but negotiations have more recently centered on a smaller deal, at $2 trillion or less."
- Israel Bans Boycotts Against the State
- Not quite sure what they were thinking - this seems like a terrible idea to me. Foreign Policy seems to be agree that this is likely to reduce the perceived legitimacy of the country as a whole rather than raise the legitimacy of settlements.
- Bycatch 22
- "As a twisted consequence of overfishing regulations, commercial fishermen have no choice but to catch sea bass, flounder, monkfish, and tuna—and throw them dead back into the sea."
- Too Many Public Works Built on Rosy Scenarios: Virginia Postrel
- "On average, urban and intercity rail projects run over budget by 45 percent, roads by 20 percent, and bridges and tunnels by 34 percent. ... Promoters of rail and toll-road projects also tend to substantially overstate future use... Rail projects attract only about half the expected passengers, on average, while ... toll roads (including road bridges and tunnels) fall 20 percent short."
- Where Sweatshops Are a Dream
- "Mr. Obama and the Democrats who favor labor standards in trade agreements mean well, for they intend to fight back at oppressive sweatshops abroad. But while it shocks Americans to hear it, the central challenge in the poorest countries is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but that they don’t exploit enough. ... Talk to these families in the dump, and a job in a sweatshop is a cherished dream" If sweatshops are better than the alternative for employees, how should you treat their products? How can the Western world remain competitive competing against them without resorting to similar conditions?
- The Myth of Inevitable Teen Rebellion
- "He sites anthropological research data on teens in 186 preindustrial societies which found that “about 60 percent had no word for ‘adolescence,’ teens spent almost all their time with adults, teens showed almost no signs of psychopathology, and antisocial behavior in young males was completely absent in more than half of these cultures and extremely mild in cultures in which it did occur.”Epstein argues that the angst we see among many teens in the U.S. today is the result of an “artificial extension of childhood” past puberty."