A More Human Economy: The Jobless Future and the Medium Chill
I’m not sure if this is just serendipity at work, but just after I wrote my piece on the ‘human economy’ I stumbled on a couple other pieces that tie into what I’m trying...
Author: Erik Kain
Unleashing the power of capitalism on talk radio
I have the unfortunate tendency to sometimes listen to rightwing radio while I drive. On morning news shows and during the afternoon bouts of Sean Hannity I subject myself to, I often hear the...
The fact that I’m a beer snob is beside the point
So, it’s interesting to me that so many libertarian-minded people, when they look at beer sales in America, say “People drink Budweiser because people like Budweiser!” and fail to take into account the laws...
Caption Contest
Photo via Matt Welch. Apparently this happened during a commercial break after a heated exchange between the two.
There Will Be Blood
Ladies and gentlemen, the next Republican nominee for President of the United States of America! I can’t help but think we get the leaders we deserve. Oh hey look, ma, I’m quoted in the...
The Republican Debate
I only caught the end of the debate, but that was enough. It was enough to remind me that the Republican Party boils down to three things: tax cuts, “What Would Reagan Do?” and...
Craft Beer and the Human Economy
Tom Philpott observes that not all alcohol regulations need necessarily be a bad thing: It’s true that Carter’s move on behalf of home brewers helped push along the craft-brew revolution, as did the state-by-state...
The Rise and Fall of the Republican Party
I read Michael Lofgren’s excellent piece on the many failings of the Republican Party over the long weekend. It’s not exactly anything new so much as it is all put very well. Lofgren is a...
Heating Up
“Neither Governor Perry nor the bulk of Texas’ citizens may be interested in climate change, but climate change is interested in them.” ~ Matt Yglesias, commenting on the massive drought and terrible wildfires ravaging...
The Magician King Open Thread
I’m going to have more to say about this, but for now anyone who has read the book should chime in with initial thoughts, impressions, etc. in the comments below.
The Jobless ‘Recovery’
It’s worth reading Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery’s article at Mother Jones on the ‘great speed-up’. The looming possibility of a double-dip recession notwithstanding, the economic recovery so far has been decidedly lopsided. While corporate profits are up, the American workforce fared...
Tom Van Dyke joins ‘Notes from Babel’
Tom Van Dyke will be blogging with Tim Kowal at League sub-blog Notes from Babel. Please welcome him here.
Optimism Inc.
Me: Not to sound like too much of an optimist – because resource depletion does keep me up nights, too – but I do think innovation and green technology and new ways of crafting...
Kevin Drum’s Jobs Plan
Kevin Drum wants a $1 trillion infrastructure investment to kick-start the economy. I think that even if you take the stimulus argument out of the picture – infrastructure investment is slow and not exactly...
We Need Countercyclical Spending, Not Counterintuitive Spending Cuts
Matt Yglesias points out once again that since we can borrow money at basically negative real interest rates, we should do it. We should do it to stimulate the economy, put money into infrastructure...
Peak Growth?
David Roberts has an excellent conversation with…well he’s got voices in his head (Smith and Daly) having an internal dialogue over a very important question: Can we keep growing the economy in light of...
And now for something completely different
‘Shampoo’ by Elvis Perkins It’s not exactly Bach or whatever, but damn I love the music being made these days…
Our monument won’t be a hole in the ground
Conor Friedersdorf posts this video of radical conservative Bryan Fischer: Conor writes: In the clip above, Bryan Fisher of the American Family Association reminds us that until very recently, many U.S. jurisdictions imposed unconscionable...
Climate Change is Real, and it’s Heating Up
Despite what many GOP contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination say, the Earth really is heating up, and the costs of global warming may be drastically higher than previous estimates suggested. Meanwhile, investigators in...
Unions and Corporations
So I support unions, even government unions, because in the system we have there is no reason not to support unions. We accept all sorts of economic distortions. Corporations are legal entities, sanctioned by...
