I do feel a sense of despair here. Ever since the crisis began, some of us have been trying to get across the point that you have to be very careful with your historical precedents, that things work very differently when you have a synchronized severe financial crisis, with interest rates near zero everywhere. And… Continue reading Oy, Canada – Paul Krugman Blog
Evolution – Eschaton
Evolution We don’t torture. Enhanced interrogation is not torture. A few bad apples tortured. Expert interrogators tortured. The president ordered torture and he’d do it again. From Eschaton by Atrios Nothing more needs to be said.
Down The Memory Hole
Basically, US postwar economic history falls into two parts: an era of high taxes on the rich and extensive regulation, during which living standards experienced extraordinary growth; and an era of low taxes on the rich and deregulation, during which living standards for most Americans rose fitfully at best. From Down The Memory Hole –… Continue reading Down The Memory Hole
The Principles of Rand Paul
No ideology survives the collision with real-world politics perfectly intact. General principles have to bend to accommodate the complexities of history, and justice is sometimes better served by compromise than by zealous intellectual consistency. This was all that Rand Paul needed to admit, after his victory in Kentuckys Republican Senate primary, when NPR and Rachel… Continue reading The Principles of Rand Paul
Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles
The decade-plus long vacctivist scare that followed resulted in vaccination rates dropping significantly in the UK, which is followed by a spike in measles cases. Though I’m sure Wakefield’s supporters will claim these two things are just a coincidence. Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles – Daddy Types Great blog post on the… Continue reading Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles
The Beauty of Diversity, and Sea Slugs
In the Philippines, Terry Gosliner of the California Academy of Sciences prepares for a week of diving to study nudibranchs, or sea slugs. … one of the few places in the western Pacific where you can say that the reefs are in better shape now than they used to be. That is in large measure… Continue reading The Beauty of Diversity, and Sea Slugs
My Country, Tis of Me
What is most irksome about the Tea Party Patriots is their expropriation of the word patriot, with the implication that if you disagree with them, youre not a patriot, or at least youre less patriotic than they are. Without getting all ask-notty about it, I think a movement labeling itself patriotic should have some obligation… Continue reading My Country, Tis of Me
Have aliens hijacked Voyager 2 spacecraft
the spacecraft is sending back what sounds like an answer: Signals in an unknown data format! The best scientific minds have so far not been able to decipher the strange information is it a secret message? Alien expert Hartwig Hausdorf said:“It seems almost as if someone had reprogrammed or hijacked the probe thus… Continue reading Have aliens hijacked Voyager 2 spacecraft
Paul Krugman calls out Cantor on budget cuts
The real story here is that the sums involved are ludicrously trivial; eliminating everything on Cantors list would amount to a rounding error on federal spending. … The truth is that it has always been like this. Ever since Reagan, the conservative approach has been to talk about the need for smaller government, but refuse… Continue reading Paul Krugman calls out Cantor on budget cuts