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Submitted by David on Mon, 2011-12-19 12:46
The Great Oasis: Can a wall of trees stop the Sahara from spreading?
"Since the mid-nineteen-sixties, Israel has forested tens of thousands of acres of the Negev Desert" - I wonder how much responsibility this holds for the decline of water sources like the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan "River"
They Call It the Reverse Gender Gap
I'd say that article seems to be a little confused about who's averse to a status gap in marriage. On one hand you've got "Some of these women had learned the hard way that when they went to bars, they were better off lying about what they did — saying that they were a cosmetologist or music teacher rather than a software consultant or lawyer," suggesting that men have a problem with high-status women. On the other hand, the article seems also to suggest that women aren't particularly happy with the idea either: "What is to come out of this new world? 'I think women are going to have to abandon the traditional 50-50 everything-must-be-equal feminist mind-set ... and learn to value husbands and partners who are becoming more domesticated and supportive.'" Does one gender have a problem with it? Do both? What's the future of feminism? It certainly doesn't seem to making women happy.
‘Store Bought’ Spoils the Potluck Spirit
"But among all debacles, nothing is quite as depressing as the modern bake sale, where amid the veritable celebration of poundcakes and misshapen cookies are the inevitable Ziploc bags filled with Oreos or perfectly formed bakery-bought treats." I tend to agree where bake sales are concerned - you might as well just grab something else. Potlucks I'm not as particular about. The article does note that "income does seem to be the underpinning of the problem. ... Lower-income parents, especially first-generation immigrants, often turn up at school parties with the best-tasting homemade treats" - perhaps this is partially masking dual-income-families vs. single-income-families-with-a-stay-at-home-moms?
The Book of Jobs
"Because the rich have always been able to save a significant percentage of their income, putting them in the positive column, an average rate of close to zero means that everyone else must be in negative numbers. (Here’s the reality: in the years leading up to the recession, according to research done by my Columbia University colleague Bruce Greenwald, the bottom 80 percent of the American population had been spending around 110 percent of its income.)" Is he correct in his analysis? "Forget monetary policy. Re-examining the cause of the Great Depression—the revolution in agriculture that threw millions out of work—the author argues that the U.S. is now facing and must manage a similar shift in the “real” economy, from industry to service, or risk a tragic replay of 80 years ago." Is a service economy sustainable?

Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2011-12-19 16:16

Your article on the Reverse Gender Gap was very misleading. While it is true that single women are often more educated, they only get paid comparable rates to men as long as they are single and young. By focusing on a very tiny percentage of the population, the article made it seem as if all women had that experience. This is not so. The majority of women continue to make significantly less than men for the same level of work in skill requirement and hours.
see: http://www.leftycartoons.com/the-gender-wage-gap-explained/

David

Tue, 2011-12-20 18:03

A comic strip (with no sources supplied) isn't exactly the most convincing case. You also need to account for men generally working longer, more flexible hours (and thereby also building experience more rapidly) while in more hazardous conditions (> 90% of workplace deaths are male) with fewer leaves of absence in which knowledge/experience can stagnate (maternity leave, etc).

And then there are the studies suggesting that that if you add up hours working on both paid and unpaid tasks that men and women seem to wind up working a similar number of hours. Are they paid hours or not - I really don't care. (There is no daycare fairy that brings free daycare for one and all). Pay for that through intact families with a stay-at-home parents, intact families with dual incomes or child support - it costs real money that has to get paid somehow.