The market for collectibles is booming. Be it luxury race cars, paintings, stamps, coins, vintage wines or classic guitars, wealthy people are willing to pay a lot more money than they used to for possessions imbued with special value by society or certain elite groups in society. And why not? They have more money to […]
The Wall Street Journal has launched a campaign to convince the American people that increased government aid, especially under Obama, has caused the incredible rise in the cost of going to college. In the same day, the false notion that increased government support of education is the real cause of the rise in tuition appeared […]
Eduardo Porter usually gives a reasoned argument on economic problems and it usually leads to a left-leaning solution such as raising taxes on the wealthy or more government investment. He generally approaches the myths of mainstream and conservative economic writers with a clear head. It was therefore surprising to read Porter on the front page […]
Read More… from Left-leaning economic columnist Eduardo Porter swallows nuclear power Kool-Aid
Defenders of National Security Agency (NSA) wholesale spying on Americans have asserted that it was and is legal, thanks to the Patriot Act. But it turns out that all too often the NSA has broken the law—2,776 times over a one-year period, according to an internal audit leaked by the former NSA contractor and American […]
Read More… from Legal defense for NSA spying falls to new revelations of illegal spying
The powers that be in Egypt seem to have the same view of democracy as those in the United States have: it’s fine as long as we get our way. In the United States, they pass laws that make it harder for people to vote in hopes of offloading minorities, the poor and students from […]
Read More… from Controlling the electorate in Egypt and the United States
Everywhere we turn nowadays we see mass culture infantilizing adults. Here are some other examples of infantilization of American adults, by which I mean adults in late 20th century and early 21st century America behaving like children and enjoying the entertainments of their childhood: Disney’s EPCOT Center, a theme park for adults, opened in 1982 […]
Two new American heroes have emerged in the fight for civil liberties and they’re both companies that do the same thing. The managements of Lavabit and Silent Circle, two secure email services, have decided to close their respective firms rather than hand over the emails of their users to the National Security Agency (NSA). The […]
A sudden flash of light, followed by a gigantic ever-expanding mushroom cloud. Within minutes the explosion destroys virtually everything and everyone within a mile radius, including innocent children. A black rain of soot and oil descends on the region. Those who survive have severe burns and other injuries. A silent atmospheric poison leads to tens […]
Read More… from August 6 – the day that should live in infamy in U.S. history
The New York Times article on electrical utilities lobbying against government support of solar powered electricity didn’t surprise me. It did disappoint me, though. You would think that given what electrical utility executives know about shortages of fossil fuels and global warming, instead of trying to scuttle solar they would develop products and services for […]
Do Americans want a “Big Brother” figure involved in their intimate relationships? That’s what eharmony.com, one of the largest dating sites in the world, seems to be saying in a commercial that has been airing for many months now. The imagery is a bit smarmy, because it suggests a wholesome threesome involving a man and […]
Read More… from Smarmy eHarmony commercial brings Big Brother into the bedroom