Tag: npr

Abuse of national security for partisan politics is just something Republicans do

From: cnn.com last Nov 2020. “A second official tells CNN their goal is to set so many fires that it will be hard for the Biden administration to put them all out.It’s a strategy that radically breaks with past practice, could raise national security risks and will surely compound challenges for the Biden team —… Continue reading Abuse of national security for partisan politics is just something Republicans do

NPR Story on botched COVID-19 demonstrates the Single Scandal Theory of the Trump Administration

From NPR’s Fresh Air “Secretary Azar has not always given the president the worst-case scenario of what could happen. My understanding is he did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that’s partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had… Continue reading NPR Story on botched COVID-19 demonstrates the Single Scandal Theory of the Trump Administration

Rich Kid, Poor Kid: For 30 Years, Baltimore Study Tracked Who Gets Ahead

Rich Kid, Poor Kid: For 30 Years, Baltimore Study Tracked Who Gets Ahead

a study published in June suggests that the things that really make the difference — between prison and college, success and failure, sometimes even life and death — are money and family.
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They found that a child’s fate is in many ways fixed at birth — determined by family strength and the parents’ financial status. The kids who got a better start — because their parents were married and working — ended up better off. Most of the poor kids from single-parent families stayed poor.

At this point this a typical story about how poverty self perpetuates. Bad options, bad choices leading to bad results.

Then I got to this part:

The researchers found that more affluent white men in the study reported the highest frequency of drug abuse and binge drinking, yet they still had the most upward mobility.

Great options, bad choices, great results. How do you explain that?

The Carbon Tax:Economists Have A One-Page Solution To Climate Change

The Carbon Tax:Economists Have A One-Page Solution To Climate Change

This is why economists love a carbon tax: One change to the tax code and the entire economy shifts to reduce carbon emissions. No complicated regulations. No rules for what kind of gas mileage cars have to get or what specific fraction of electricity has to come from wind or solar or renewables. That’s by and large the way we do it now. Reilly says the current web of rules is a more complicated and more expensive way of getting the same outcome as a carbon tax. … Reilly says, you can reduce, say, income tax to balance out the new taxes people are paying for carbon emissions. People pay more for gas, but they get to keep more of their income. I called around and talked to a bunch of economists about this, and they said the basic idea was sound: If you give the carbon-tax money back by cutting income taxes, you can probably offset a lot of the pain.

My problem with the carbon tax, versus Cap-and-Trade is that with a carbon tax, it goes directly to consumers. Who are just as likely to vote for people who promise the cut the carbon tax without offsets as they are to vote for people who promise to cut income taxes without offsets.

Are Butterflies Two Different Animals in One? The Death And Resurrection Theory : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR

Are Butterflies Two Different Animals in One? The Death And Resurrection Theory : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR

What he’s saying is, while a moth appears to be one animal, with a wormy start and a flying finish, it’s actually two animals — two in one! We start with a baby caterpillar that lives a full life and then dies, dissolves. There’s a pause. Then a new animal, the moth, springs to life, from the same cells, reincarnated.

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Reading 21 books about the financial crisis does not sound, on its face, like a fun experience. After you talk to Lo, it sounds even worse. “After each book, I felt like I knew less,” he told me. “For an academic, that’s a pretty frustrating feeling.” What An Economist Learned From Reading 21 Books About… Continue reading Untitled

Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs

Kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be restless, impulsive, inattentive and difficult to handle. Many are treated with drugs, but a new study suggests that food may be the key. The study’s author says a very restrictive diet can significantly reduce symptoms. From Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs : NPR

What the right means when it calls NPR “liberal”

When it comes to covering and analyzing the news, the reverse of right isn’t left; it’s independent reporting that toes neither party nor ideological line. We’ve heard no NPR reporter – not a one – advocating on the air for more government spending (or less), for the right of abortion (or against it), for or… Continue reading What the right means when it calls NPR “liberal”