Yeah…About That Red Meat Study…
Per capita beef consumption was higher in 1910 than it is today. There are lots of things that are "wrong" with the typical American diet. I don't think however that the media has done a good job of letting us know that we did listen to what the experts have been saying about "meat" over the last 30 years. Compare the amounts and ratios between 1970 and 2006 and tell me that people haven't been listening.
Read More
The National Balance Sheet of the United States
With all the hand wringing going on over the housing and financial crisis I decided to see if I could put some of the massive numbers being thrown about in a little bit of perspective. The math is below. As you'll see, the above numbers take into account the fall of housing prices, the stock market decline and the $4 trillion in debt that the U.S. government will take on over the first three years of the Obama Administration. I'll try to form some conclusions in a future post, but clearly, the United States isn't broke.
Read More
REN 2010: Examining Chicago Public Schools
- 84.9% of CPS students are from low-income families;
- 14.4% of CPS students are limited-English-proficient;
- 91.3% of CPS students attend school on any given day, including only 84.3% of high school students; Read More
Should the Electoral College Be Abolished?
The National Popular Vote legislation is working its way through the Iowa Legislature. The National Popular Vote compact has been enacted in Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey (50 electoral votes). Bills to join the compact are currently pending in ten additional states. If the Act passes in states that have 270 Electoral Votes, it would effectively abolish the Electoral College without the use of a constitutional amendment.
Read More
A Pictoral Walking Tour of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago
The World's Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World. The Chicago Columbian Exposition was largely designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted.
Read More
Casing the Joint
Most Recent Articles
Links for October 2012
12,199 retired California government workers receive pensions in excess of $100,000 from CalPERS. They’re all listed here. Urban Growth and Decline: The Role of Population Density at the City Core. We look...
Read MoreFiscal Austerity Does Not Work in a Liquidity Trap
Does this influence what you think about today's deficit spending?
This is not to say that the private sector should not deleverage. It has to. It is a part of the economy’s healing process and a necessary first step toward a self-sustaining economic recovery. However, deleveraging is a beast of a burden that capitalism cannot bear alone. At the macro level, deleveraging must be a managed process: for the private sector to deleverage without causing a depression, the public sector has to move in the opposite direction and re-lever by effectively viewing the balance sheets of the monetary and fiscal authorities as a consolidated whole.Read More
Federalism: Competition Among Governments
For much the same reason, competition among governments leads to better...
Read MoreClimategate
Gus or Brian, Either one of you following these hacked emails from Scientists and Climatoligists who were allegedly trying to stifle dissent in the global warming debate as well as conceal scientific data that contradicts their models? I’ve only seen a bit of it, but I’m trying to figure out what’s legit and what’s exaggeration. Pretty interesting stuff.
Read MoreIs the World Running Out of Food?
With the total number of undernourished people in the world reaching 963 million in 2008 and a projected world population of 9 billion by 2050, will the international ag industry be capable of meeting the growing demand for food? Will it be able to meet projections which predict that food availability in developing countries will need to increase almost 60% by 2030 and to double by 2050, equivalent to a 42% and 70% growth in global food production, respectively.
Read MoreWhat is the Time Frame on a Housing Recovery?
Every month new data comes out regarding Existing Home Sales and New Housing Starts. Housing sales and starts are expected to play a large role in the timing of any economic recovery. As these numbers come out month after month however its easy to get confused because they don't provide historical data other than the previous months and year's stats. Below is my best attempt at summarizing the current housing situation in the United States. Per my usual, its a lot of charts and graphs and circles and arrows. Enjoy.
Read MoreWhat is the U.S. Governments Official Position on Climate Change?
I tried to get through it, I really did. But I stopped at page 62. This morning I sat down with the A State of Knowledge Report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The Knowledge Report was recently put out by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (now the U.S. Global Change Research Program), which is sponsored by 13 federal agencies including the U.S. EPA. The Knowledge Report is the so-far definitive climate change report/study put out by the United States government.
Read MoreHealth Care Reform Open Thread
OBAMA: "You haven't seen me out there blaming the Republicans." OBAMA three minutes earlier: "I've heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to 'go for the kill.' Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about 'breaking' me." I think it's fair to say that reforming healthcare is a Democratic issue. The Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House. If the Democrats fail to pass comprehensive health care reform, can you blame the GOP for that failure? If not, shouldn't you shut up about it?
Read MoreThe Happer Letter: Re-Opening the Climate Change Debate
Tom provided us with this article from the WSJ regarding renewed debate on climate change in Australia. In order to expand upon that, I wanted to provide the text of the Happer Letter which is referenced in the article.
Read MoreObama’s Cash For Clunkers 2009 Explained
Brian, I’d be really interested to hear why someone would get the same amount of money if they trade in a truck/suv but only get a smaller increase in mpg than someone trading in a car. Any chance you can look into this? Since I don’t trust detroit or their lobby, I would guess someone in congress caved on this one so that people would trade in their older SUV for a newer one that might get a couple extra mpg. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/autos/0905/gallery.clunkers_cash/index.htmlRead More
