Top Countries in Global Competitiveness: article, slideshow An observation – a number of the small countries with outsize rankings are noted as having high taxes. So high taxes need not harm – and when the tax revenues are used effectively, may benefit – competitiveness (at least as measured by this group). On a more speculative [...]
Category Archives: Politics
What makes for “Global Competitiveness”?
16-Jun-09Video from our local Registrar of Voters
22-May-09In Orange County (California) the process of collecting the vote is managed by the Orange County Registrar of Voters. Only after this latest election (last Tuesday) did I find that the OCROV has a channel on YouTube While the above video is only slightly interesting, of note is the guy in the suit – Neal [...]
Another take on the class system
20-May-09Reading about the British class system, was surprised at one aspect. Pretty much anyone who reaches a notable level of achievement can get knighted. The class system in Britain – across generations – is not static. We have an unresolved problem. At the start of life and career, we want rough equality of opportunity. But [...]
Where does “capital” come from?
06-Apr-09A question for which I do not have an answer…. Where does “capital” come from? Or more precisely – by portion, and in the present day, where does “capital” come from? Is the bulk of capital currently hunting for a place to invest, from: Baby-boomers saving for retirement. Trust fund kiddies – or more exactly [...]
Subcutaneous fat, and global resurgance
09-Mar-09Watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s mis-adventures – this time in Vietnam – and what strikes me as most meaningful is the presence of subcutaneous fat. This single observation, even amid the current economic mess, makes me oddly hopeful. Vietnam – as an after-effect of the American war there – suffered a measure of neglect. [...]
Professional Journalism is Evil
02-Mar-09Some folk worry about the impact of the web on print publications. Newspapers and magazines are dying, and readers shifting to the web are to blame. Professors of Journalism complain that amateurs on the web are displacing well-educated professional journalists. I also was a little concerned, as I too had in my mind the notion [...]
Can a modern country have a monarch?
28-Feb-09Can a modern country have a monarch? As an American I am inclined to think the entire notion absurd, and quaint. On the other hand, from my slowly accumulating readings and reflections on state and society – there is a place for exceptional individuals in the state. The founders of this country carefully divided governance [...]
KCRW – Jewish Public Radio?
05-Feb-09Earlier I had noticed an apparent over-representation of Jewish issues in NPR coverage. What I heard over the air on Monday pretty much removes all doubt. KCRW, a local NPR affiliate, is holding a fund drive. Nothing unusual in that, up until a particular story ran on NPR: Abuse Scandal Plagues Hasidic Jews In Brooklyn [...]