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: […]
Read more...This Administration is not merely incapable of learning, but seems insistent on doing the wrong thing with a vehemence. The invasion of Iraq was a violation of international law (the fig leaf of UN Resolution 1441 in the run up to the invasion has not impressed the experts), an attack on a country that posed […]
Read more...The popular image of universities dominated by left-wing, granola-head faculty who endeavor to corrupt youth with political correctness and relentless questioning of authority is hopelessly out of date. In fact, as article by Michael Gould-Wartofsky in the current Nation, “Repress U.” tells us, higher education has become active in not merely discouraging radical thought, but […]
Read more...Many in the security and public policy arena implicitly and often explicitly argue that greater security requires that we give up some, or a lot, of our privacy. Yes, it is necessary and a good thing that we have to take off our shoes to board an airplane. In Ars Technica, Jon Stokes says that […]
Read more...If there was any pretense that this country was anything other than a plutocracy, today’s Supreme Court decision should have dispelled that illusion. Banks and other vendors, meaning folks like auditors, now can operate more confidently in serving corporations at the expense of investors thanks to today’s ruling. To give you an idea of how […]
Read more...Ooh, I am ill. The Financial Times seems to have scooped this story (I don’t see it on Bloomberg). In keeping with Greenspan’s tutelage at the knee of Ayn Rand, he has exercised his right not to be constrained by propriety or other rules that govern little men and has gone and sold himself to […]
Read more...I call your attention to this Wall Street Journal story, “Countrywide Draws Ire of Judges,” for three reasons. First is Countrywide schadenfreude. I freely admit to having what may be called a bias. I have read and been told enough about Countrywide to be persuaded that it is a corrupt organization, even if it manages […]
Read more...Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has the reputation of having a sharp mind (and occasionally sharp tongue) and it shows in this Financial Times comment piece. The article makes a two pronged attack against the rightward economic drift of the last 30 years, noting that deregulation has not been the panacea […]
Read more...Why is it that no one in America seems able to say what Willem Buiter, a professor at the London School of Economics, sets forth at his blog at the Financial Times, namely, that we Americans are far too timid in dealing with right wing extremists? Does being liberal in America mean you can’t point […]
Read more...