Seems there is a movement afoot to do the economy one better. There will be a conference Beyond GDP held in Brussels in November. GDP is the best-recognised measure of economic performance in the world, often used as a generic indicator of progress. However, the relationship between economic growth as measured by GDP and other […]
The slow arm of the law in relation to the grand scale of privitization of government bureaucracy stands in sharp contrast to rules about wiretapping and such. Some of this is understandable, but I have seen no proposals. If this is to be the practice, are’nt we a little slow? As recently as Oct. 3, […]
WebMD carried this warning about certain foods. Oct. 10, 2007 — Check your freezer for Banquet or generic store-brand turkey or chicken not-ready-to-eat pot pies with “P-9” printed on the side of the package. If you have any those pot pie products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says to throw them out or don’t […]
Continuing from my last posting, I stated the World Bank has seen the light. It has put out a report: Where is the Wealth of Nations? Reason Online has an interview with the prime author Kirk Hamilton. Oil, soil, copper, and forests are forms of wealth. So are factories, houses, and roads. But according to […]
American Prospect has published an article by Robert Kuttner on parallels between 1929 and 2007. In researching the book, I devoted a lot of effort to reviewing the abuses of the 1920s, the effort in the 1930s to create a financial system that would prevent repetition of those abuses, and the steady dismantling of the […]
On September 28th Bill Moyers’ guest was John Bogle. You can see the interview or read the transcript from here. The setup for the interview is about private equity firms and he mentions the Sunday NY Times front page article: At Many Homes, More Profit and Less Nursing. His introduction of Mr. Bogle is: It’s […]
Just a little break from the usual. Did you know you can pay your taxes easier in Iraq than in the US? I stumbled across this today. It is the World Bank page on Doing Business. It ranks 178 countries on 10 topics. You can resort the order depending on 3 different settings. When you […]
National Council of Teachers of Englishgives awards for double-speak, an Orwell, just like an Oscar only better. The NCTE Public Language Award Committee is now seeking nominations for this year’s Doublespeak Award, which is given to a glaring example of deceptive language by a public spokesperson. The words must originate from an American. While I […]
I have read that American Conservative magazine published by Pat Buchanan will release this issue Oct. 8 on General Patraeus. Whether or not it actually is published this way, this is just an alert for readers to watch what happens in the media when General Patraeus is named with no respect. Sort of a random […]
OMB Watch has posted a notice on something we rarely think about, and take for granted. The Raw Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 2452), introduced by Reps. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) on May 23, requires sewage treatment facilities to notify the public, public health officials and any other downstream “affected entities” when […]