Faith In The Economy?

Kevin Philips argues that official CPI, GDP, and Unemployment numbers are all fudged. Not a conspiracy, but just a result of desire of governments to report things as being better than they are in reality.

Airports

Its good to be back in asia and experiencing the firsthand the changes that are afoot (sorry, that was bad - I know). The two airports I just passed through - Singapore Changi and Seoul Incheon - were both equally impressive. Seems like while the US is busy spending money on bombs, oil, and health insurance - Asia is plugging away building infrastructure and making money. What will be the competitive profile in twenty years? I will just say that my 401(K) is mostly in emerging markets.

Brooks on Religion

David Brooks has a unexpected and eclectic NYT OpEd on the scientific/religious debate. Key quote:


"In their arguments with Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the faithful have been defending the existence of God. That was the easy debate. The real challenge is going to come from people who feel the existence of the sacred, but who think that particular religions are just cultural artifacts built on top of universal human traits. It’s going to come from scientists whose beliefs overlap a bit with Buddhism."

Deploy Cognitive Surplus? Yes please ...

GMO Crops Turning Farmers to Suicide

The high costs and problems associated with planting GMO cotton crops leading thousands of farmers to suicide in India. Quite alarming - I hope the Indian government takes a long hard look at the business practices of Monsanto. This wont do anything to improve the image of GMO crops ...

Update: Vanity Fair has an overview of Monsanto history and practices.

Professor John Taylor

... aka the raisin. Profile.

Hello, Flocke!

Free Trade and Rust Belt

Free trade only hastens the process - what drives out jobs is costs (union/taxes) and policies. Article.

Ouch!

Prof Jeff Miron's Rational Perspective on the Effects and Policy Implications of Drug Prohibition

Now if we can find a politician who can explain this to the broader population. Not happening in my lifetime for sure. And now studies show that more than 1% of the US population is in prison. Awesome. On the bright side California is one of the few states that has seen a decline in the number of prisoners since 1987.

Americans Switching Religions - And Becoming Unaffiliated As Well.

NYTimes reports on a new Pew Study - the number of unaffiliated/agnostic individuals is rising. You wouldnt know it from the media coverage. (Click the image to expand it)

Lessig for Congress (or President)

Is there anyone better with powerpoint than Prof Lessig? Good material if you are trying to decide between Barack and Hillary. Also, he may be running for congress - encourage him by joining this group . He will bring some sanity and rationality into the political discourse.

Japanese/Koreans - Whats the Relationship?

Jared Diamond argues that the Koreans had a much more active role in shaping Japanese society than they like to admit ...

Infographic: Suicides at Golden Gate

Another well done graphic of suicides at each pole of the golden gate bridge - Edward Tufte would approve.

A Graphic worth a Thousand Words

NYTimes has a fascinating graphic that tells the story of Superbowl XLII concisely and with brilliance. There is no substitute for watching the game, but this serves as handy a summary as a multi-thousand word tome. The only improvement I can suggest is adding two markers for the game changing plays

1) The long 3rd down reception by tight end Boss, and
2) The fabulous catch by Tyree where he caught the ball with a hand and his helmet while Rodney Harrison wrestled him in the air

(Click through to view the full image)

Bernanke's Mountain

Timely article from NYTMag about how fed chairman Ben Bernanke's handling the incoming (or underway) recession.

Be Not Afraid

Here is one campaign I can get behind - stop being afraid on my behalf. The fear of terrorism is way overblown and is making the economy inefficient (just take a look at our airports). Lets stop focusing on the very unlikely attack scenarios and instead work on making local government and security better. And lets support politicians who espouse non-interventionist foreign policies.

Traffic Simulation

I always wanted to do a project like this - would be hours of fun while driving to Tahoe.

US Today Compared to the Ottoman Empire

Niall Ferguson makes the case that the current US indebtedness is moving cash flows to Asia, and is an indicator of decline of the empire.