American colleges and universities are the envy of the world. The American higher education system is an important driver of the economy. There are those who sneer at the educated. They only expose their insecurity. In JD Vance, Donald Trump has chosen a running mate who has publicly stated that he sees colleges and universities […]
The US economy appears to be emerging from the recent recession (pace the Fed interest rate decisions). There’s a general consensus that that recession was largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent supply chain disruptions. What lessons might be learned on how to maximally blunt the impact of future pandemics while minimizing negative economic […]
There’s a lot of attention being paid these days to EVs and solar power, but there are plenty of other ways to decarbonize human activity. Public transportation is one. I’m certainly no stranger to public transportation. I didn’t have a car in college, so when I visited my grandmother in Johnstown or my sister in […]
Today is the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb. I grew up in Oak Ridge, TN, a city that was founded in secret for the purpose of enriching uranium for atomic bombs. The Hiroshima bomb was a uranium fission atomic bomb. The idea of immolating thousands of civilians was not novel at that point. See, […]
The advent of CAR-T and CRISPR technologies are set to revolutionize cancer and genetic disease therapies, respectively. But with great hope comes great costs. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 100,000 people in the US have sickle cell disease, making it the most prevalent inherited blood disorder. Remarkably, the new gene […]
Everybody knows that California is a “high-tax” state, right? Well, yes and no. Depends on where you are on the food chain. If your household is the top 1%, then California tax rates are 2nd highest, while Texas and Florida are 43rd and 50th, respectively. OTOH, if your household income is in the second quintile […]
On 1 July, I retired from my 37-year faculty gig. Among other things, this meant shifting from private insurance to Medicare. I haven’t yet used my Medicare coverage, but my wife, who retired two years ago as a faculty at a different university, has had no difficulties with her transition to Medicare. So far. The […]
While I do check in from time to time at 538, it turns out that Truth Social share prices are a useful metric for Trump’s popularity, at least where it matters: “The value of Trump’s stake in the corporate owner of Truth Social has dropped by $900 million since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the […]
Dementia is becoming a growing societal burden throughout the world, especially in the industrialized world where increase longevity results in larger numbers of people experiencing dementia. So far, advances in medical treatments to mitigate this burden have been modest, at best. There are known genetic risk factors for Alzheimers and frontotemporal lobe dementia. I’ve had […]
The “baby boom” began in 1946 and ended in 1964. I’m a boomer. In fact, I was born in the mathematical center of the baby boom. I was 14 when Woodstock happened. Boomers have been credited (or blamed) for the tumultuous ‘60s of civil rights and hippie fame. But that’s anachronistic. Here’s Louis Man and […]