Socializing may improve mental function

But only if it’s friendly chat…competitive conversations don’t result in the same improvement. (I don’t think Words With Friends counts either…) They found that engaging in brief (10 minute) conversations in which participants were simply instructed to get to know another person resulted in boosts to their subsequent performance on an array of common cognitive… Continue reading Socializing may improve mental function

The liberal backlash that isn’t

with the release of a new Washington Post/ABC News poll – conducted late last week and over the weekend, as the supposed liberal backlash against the deal was at its peak – that shows Obama’s approval rating with liberal Democrats sitting at 87 percent. That’s essentially where it’s been all year; it represents a statistically… Continue reading The liberal backlash that isn’t

Orwell and the Financial Crisis

Barry Ritholtz catches AEI purging mention of deregulation from Peter Wallison’s bio. Wallison is co-director of AEI’s financial deregulation project; but he’s also one of the Gang of Four demanding that the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission not so much as mention deregulation in its report. From Orwell and the Financial Crisis – NYTimes.com We have… Continue reading Orwell and the Financial Crisis

Tyler Cowen on The Inequality That Matters

Does growing wealth and income inequality in the United States presage the downfall of the American republic? Will we evolve into a new Gilded Age plutocracy, irrevocably split between the competing interests of rich and poor? Or is growing inequality a mere bump in the road, a statistical blip along the path to greater wealth… Continue reading Tyler Cowen on The Inequality That Matters

Ken Cuccinelli, How to get ahead as a Republican in 2010

Ken Cuccinelli has called homosexuality “intrinsically wrong,” sought to alter the 14th Amendment in order to strip the children of undocumented immigrants of their citizenship, questioned the science of climate change, and dabbled in birtherism. He is, in other words, a near-perfect embodiment of the passions that animate the base of the Republican Party in… Continue reading Ken Cuccinelli, How to get ahead as a Republican in 2010

Post-Meltdown, Banks Still Rule Derivatives Trade

In theory, this group exists to safeguard the integrity of the multitrillion-dollar market. In practice, it also defends the dominance of the big banks. The banks in this group, which is affiliated with a new derivatives clearinghouse, have fought to block other banks from entering the market, and they are also trying to thwart efforts… Continue reading Post-Meltdown, Banks Still Rule Derivatives Trade

On Nixon Tapes, Disparaging Remarks About Ethnic Groups

Richard M. Nixon made disparaging remarks about Jews, blacks, Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans in a series of extended conversations with top aides and his personal secretary, recorded in the Oval Office 16 months before he resigned as president. From On Nixon Tapes, Disparaging Remarks About Ethnic Groups – NYTimes.com That’s our Nixon.

Hive-minds and Kleptocrats

Stross is a spectacularly good contemporary science-fiction author, brimming with ideas, who also has a stimulating blog, where his latest entry asks why things are so messed up. His proposed answer is that we’ve been invaded by alien organisms — namely, corporations: Corporations do not share our priorities. They are hive organisms constructed out of… Continue reading Hive-minds and Kleptocrats