Our own original Angry Bear speaking to the Middle East in 2004: Emperor Hadrian Webb’s claims in the first two paragraphs quoted in the previous post remind me of this quote, provided by commenter Megamike: “Beyond the Euphrates began for us the land of mirage and danger, the sands where one helplessly sank, and the […]
Lead story at CNN was this: Washington (CNN) — An internal Veterans Affairs audit released Monday said tens of thousands of newly returning veterans wait at least 90 days for medical care, while even more who signed up in the VA system over the past 10 years never got an immediate appointment they requested. I […]
‘Food desert’ is not a common idea on people’s minds, but we also tend to say “Let them eat cake” when it comes to obesity. Michael Pollan suggests: Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. “Always […]
Religious ethics rarely enter into mainstream economic theory, but they are topics that [economics professor cum Eric Cantor slayer David] Brat, who describes himself in his writing as a Calvinist, has turned to repeatedly. In a 2011 article, “God and Advanced Mammon — Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?” published in a journal of […]
(Dan here) Ceres has published a recent report on growing corn for ethanol costs-relating to water use, where corn is grown, and why. The report includes the impact on global food prices. David Zetland at Aguanomics points us to a growing concern about the increasing use of natural gas (and fracking). Is natural gas the next […]
Quick take on how things are shaking out in House Leadership including Committees: Paul Ryan: from Budget to Ways and Means Tom Price: to Budget Jeb Hensarling: to Financial Services Hal Rogers: maintains House Appropriations Let’s just say that none of those guys seems like champions of the New Deal or likely members of any […]
Mark Thoma at MoneyWatch points to : Why income redistribution doesn’t hurt growth, by Mark Thoma: Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” documents the increase in inequality in recent decades, and it has rekindled an old debate about the effects of income redistribution on economic growth. Until recently, most economists believed there’s a trade-off between […]
Republicans said the bill wouldn’t have done anything to lower education costs or reduce borrowing, and they accused Democrats of playing politics by highlighting an issue that was bound to fail. — Senate Republicans block student loan bill, Erica Werner, Associated Press, today The bill, written and sponsored by Elizabeth Warren, would allowed borrowers, including those […]
Novice Tea-bagger Representative candidate Dave Brat just handed Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor a defeat in the Virginia GOP primary. A $200,000 campaign fund challenging a 6-digit campaign fund. Apparently, Cantor was not backwards, conservative enough for the 7th District Tea-baggers. “‘There needs to be a change,’ said Joe Mullins, who voted in Chesterfield […]
Also via the New York Times comes an article on NSA versus the internet giants like Google. I haven’t a clue (other than skepticism and ‘how does that work?’) as to what it actually means. Just down the road from Google’s main campus here, engineers for the company are accelerating what has become the newest […]