When I heard the seven billionth person is due to be born Monday, I thought I must have made a mistake a few years back. “Didn’t I just write a commentary on the six billionth person? Was my math wrong?” My math was not wrong. I wrote that commentary the first week of October 1999. […]
I have no desire to occupy Wall Street. Not that I think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a great idea, I just have no desire to participate. Maybe that makes me part of the problem. On the other hand, heading down to Wall Street would take me away from my day job and […]
When I was in grade school, we learned the Nazis came to power in a time of economic dislocation, the worldwide Great Depression. We learned Germany was a once-great nation in decline after the military defeat of World War I and the Nazis appealed simultaneously to the fears and the nationalism of the German people. […]
Cognitive dissonance is name given to the discomfort caused by trying to simultaneously hold two conflicting ideas. Policy dissonance might be the name applied when two conflicting ideas are the basis for government action. An example: Texas is still in the worst single-year drought in its history and the hottest summer in Texas history just […]
Along toward the end of August, I received an email from my state’s junior senator, Bernie Sanders (I). I look forward to these because a) Senator Sanders is even more PO’ed about the state of the nation than most of his constituents (although right-winger politicians can say the same) and b) he’s not beholden to […]
One Year Out
The presidential election is one year away. What are we talking about? Is Herman Cain a heinie-pincher? Was Rick Perry drunk at the podium in New Hampshire? Can Barack Obama win re-election? For the answer to number three, see questions one and two. Just like global warming, we’re getting used to this crap and we […]