A New York Times/CBS poll found Americans the most dissatisfied they have been about their country’s direction since 1992. And two things are particularly noteworthy about the survey. First is the unhappiness was as universal as you ever see in a large-scale study, cutting across party, gender, age, and geographic lines. The second is that […]
Read more...How dare the CEO of Wal-Mart, the company that makes such a studied practice of paying workers so badly that taxpayers subsidize its prices, say he and big business should influence health care policy? The US has the most costly healthcare in the world while failing to produce materially better results than countries with varying […]
Read more...Louis Uchitelle, in “Unsold Homes Tie Down Would-Be Transplants,” points out that being unable to sell a house can keep people from taking jobs that require them to move. That problem is obviously now more acute given the moribund state of the housing market in many parts of the county. However, Uchitelle implies that the […]
Read more...As readers may infer, this blog is not big on religion as a topic; it is way too fraught. Merely talking about money gets some people riled up. But whether you are religious, “spiritual” as Americans like to say, or a firm atheist, Willem Buiter’s post on sanctity (really, sanctimoniousness) is instructive. Buiter is Anglican, […]
Read more...Steve Waldman is on a roll. He has an excellent piece today arguing that despite contemporary notions otherwise, capitalism and character (meaning moral fiber) have not and need not be contradictory. Although Waldman makes a good case, the barriers to the return of character in commerce are more profound than he lets on. A colleague […]
Read more...Joseph Stiglitz gives the high point of the findings of his new book, The Three Trillion Dollar War, in a comment today in the Guardian. I wish Stiglitz has gone on at more length about the horrific corruption and featherbedding in the Iraq contracting process. All the traditional rules were thrown out the window. This […]
Read more...We have the specter of two CEOs, each heading a firm that is a leader in its businesses and a debt powerhouse, making close to polar opposite statements about the prospects for the credit markets. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chief, said today that the credit crisis was half to two thirds through its course. While there […]
Read more...Jeffrey Sachs, in an article for Project Syndicate (hat tip Mark Thoma), argues that private sector efforts alone won’t yield sufficient progress in achieving needed progress on the environmental and anti-poverty fronts. Part of this, of course, is the classic problem of externalities: carbon emissions are free to the perps, but impose costs on everyone. […]
Read more...Friendship is not yet an endangered species, but it is on the wane. Studies in the US and France both found that people are spending less time with friends, neighbors, and relatives. The amount of hours worked, not surprisingly, seems to have to do something with this pattern, since a reduction in the workweek in […]
Read more...Our colleague Susan Webber’s article, “The Dark Side of Optimism” is the cover story in the current issue of The Conference Board Review. It discusses the deep roots of optimism and how it can undermine critical thinking and accurate risk assessment. Her piece is wide-ranging, looking at psychological research, cognitive biases, cultural icons, military history, […]
Read more...John Kay in the Financial Times offers a theory as to how seemingly intelligent people could design and peddle products that would come back to haunt them via massive writedowns and badly dented reputations: it’s the conformity, stupid. A lot of readers would probably differ; incentives like performance pressure and annual bonus schemes would seem […]
Read more...A very good Project Syndicate article by Thomas Palley highlights the way a shift in US policy priorities circa the early 1980s has lead to a lasting change in the foundation of economic growth in the US. Prior to that, the emphasis was on increasing incomes of workers and being wary of trade deficits. As […]
Read more...While one data point does not constitute a trend, a first page article in today’s New York Times, “Creators of Credit Crisis Revel in Las Vegas,” may signal a shift in popular sentiment. Normally, “how the mighty are fallen” stories are exercises in shadenfreude. But this one, on the annual convention of the American Securitization […]
Read more...While the New York Times gives plenty of caveats, its story,”Economy Fitful, Americans Start to Pay as They Go,” says the American love affair with debt has gone sour: But now the freewheeling days of credit and risk may have run their course — at least for a while and perhaps much longer — as […]
Read more...A simply great piece, “The Autumn of the Multitaskers” by Walter Kirn in the Atlantic. As someone who nearly died while multitasking, Kirm is particularly well positioned to discuss the considerable downside and dubious benefits of our modern way of attempting to process inputs. It’s an informative and often funny read. A few representative paragraphs: […]
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