Article: In recession, one road led back home

In recession, one road led back home
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/21/AR2009112102372_pf.html

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: The jobs jam

The jobs jam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/21/AR2009112101939_pf.html

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: The White House’s war with Fox News : The New Yorker

The White House's war with Fox News : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/11/02/091102taco_talk_menand?printable=true

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll

From The New York Times:

Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and a
suspected player in the opium trade, has gotten payments from the
C.I.A. for eight years, American officials said.

http://s.nyt.com/u/WPR

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Peter L. Baldwin
http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: A Drop in the Wrong Bucket

From The New York Times:

ECONOMIC SCENE: A Drop in the Wrong Bucket

The president has proposed sending a $250 check to every Social
Security recipient, but some economists recoil.

http://s.nyt.com/u/WPd

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Peter L. Baldwin
http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: WashingtonPost

One of the better editorials on the subject I've read in a while:

WashingtonPost
http://mobile.washingtonpost.com//rss.jsp?rssid=809977&item=+http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fwp-syndication%2farticle%2f2009%2f10%2f23%2fAR2009102303457_mobile.xml+&cid=585&spf=1

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: The Magic of Michelle

Disclosure: I've had a crush on Michelle since forever. She IS the
coolest...

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: The Magic of Michelle

This is America. We respect fearlessness, regardless of what we feel
about the person who embodies it. With Michelle Obama, we have it both
ways.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/opinion/24blow.html

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Peter L. Baldwin
http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: Everyman’s Financial Meltdown

From The New York Times:

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR: Everyman's Financial Meltdown

The stock market crash of 1929, which started 80 years ago this week,
possessed clear-cut villains, a riveting story line and plenty of
abuses for reformers to correct.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/opinion/23chernow.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: Capitalism and financial crashes : The New Yorker

Capitalism and financial crashes : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/05/091005fa_fact_cassidy?printable=true

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: Economist.com

Economist.com
http://www.economist.com/opinion/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14644393

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: Economist.com

Economist.com
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14649058

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: Has Conceptual Art Jumped the Shark Tank?

From The New York Times:

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR: Has Conceptual Art Jumped the Shark Tank?

To see why works of conceptual art have an inherent investment risk,
we must look back at the whole history of art, including art's most
ancient prehistory.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/opinion/16dutton.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Article: David Letterman and blackmail : The New Yorker

David Letterman and blackmail : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/10/19/091019ta_talk_widdicombe?printable=true

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Peter L. Baldwin

http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

There is a faith in loving fiercely
the one who is rightfully yours,
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are
worthy of in this world.

Years ago in the Hebrides
I remember an old man
who walked every morning
on the grey stones
to the shore of the baying seals,

who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,

and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water
calling to them,

and how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly,
so Biblically,
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love,

so that when we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and confirms
our courage, and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don't

because finally
after all the struggle
and all the years,
you don't want to any more,
you've simply had enough
of drowning
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness,
however fluid and however
dangerous, to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.

NYTimes: Guinea Seethes as a Captain Rules at Gunpoint

From The New York Times:

Guinea Seethes as a Captain Rules at Gunpoint

Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara gave some people hope when he seized power
in December. But that optimism is now gone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/world/africa/03guinea.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: The Next Culture War

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: The Next Culture War

The United States needs a revival of economic self-restraint to
restore its financial values and make it a producer economy again, not
a consumer economy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/opinion/29brooks.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

NYTimes: Over 150 Protesters Killed in Guinea

From The New York Times:

Over 150 Protesters Killed in Guinea

Security forces opened fire on thousands of opponents of the ruling
military junta gathered at a stadium in the capital for a protest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/world/africa/30guinea.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin http://peterbaldwin.blogspot.com

Washington Sketch: Clinton Joins Gingrich at Event for Lott -- No Joke

Dana Milbank - Washington Sketch: Clinton Joins Gingrich at Event for Lott -- No Joke - washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/16/AR2009091603209.html

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Peter L. Baldwin 

www.peterbaldwin.info

Health care and the public’s resistance to change : The New Yorker

Health care and the public's resistance to change : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2009/08/31/090831ta_talk_surowiecki?printable=true

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Peter L. Baldwin 

www.peterbaldwin.info

Low Signal-to-Noise Ratio

“Keep government out of Medicare!”

Lots of us have posted articles, editorials, and analyses discussing the health-care debate. Clearly, it is something about which many people have passionately-held beliefs. Lost in all the noise, in my view, are the underlying principles that gird this debate, so I think it is time to return to first principles.

Behind all the talk of a “public option”, “death panels” (puhleeze), etc., is a fundamental fracture point that seems to cleave us all. Either you believe that health care is a fundamental right, or you don’t. For those of you who don’t believe in the existence of this right, our conversation is over. There is nothing to debate. But if basic health care is not a right belonging to every American citizen, why stop there? Why should Americans have a right to expect clean water? As this article describes, we have been failing to take care of each other in this regard as well. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

For those of you who still hold this pithy-yet-simplistic view that the government that governs least governs best, come visit me in the country where I am currently living. Everywhere you look, you will see consequences of this myopic view: children playing in standing water contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria (and worse), grinding poverty and ignorance (the phrase doesn’t do justice to the reality), infant-mortality rates as high as two out of five, life-expectancies as low as 45 years, weak legal structures, randomly-enforced laws, minimal access to credit…the list goes on. Now, I am not saying that government is the answer to all these problems, but if you want to see what a total absence of a Social Contract looks like, my door is always open. (Oh, wait, that’s right—it’s not, because here people don’t give a shit about each other, and will steal anything that isn’t nailed down. I’ll make sure the guard lets you in.)

For those that do believe that access to affordable health-care should be a right accorded to all Americans, the debate shifts to a more interesting plane: how to get there from here?

To the ideologues, I say, please, take the scales from your eyes, and see the world as it really is, as it really works. Think about what it means to be human, to be an American citizen. I too have read all the great works of economists; I have profound respect for the invisible hand (though as this book review points out, even Adam Smith saw the need for regulation.). Free markets are powerful information-generators.

However, they are not always (or maybe even ever) perfect. Economics as a field is recognizing this fact as it re-examines the Efficient Market Hypothesis and the whole notion of the individual as rational actor. There are simply too many exceptions to this rule (the asymmetry of gain and loss, to cite but one example) to make it useful for every situation. Hence the rise of behavioral economics.
Returning to the health-care so-called debate (which currently is really nothing more than shouting past each other), I would like to remind those opposed to Obama’s efforts a few things:

The President is not mandating “socialized medicine” with the so-called public option. For those who are privately insured, they are absolutely free to keep the policies they have. For those of us (myself included) who cannot afford health care, there will now be an option. Are you cross-subsidizing me? You bet—thanks a lot. I know you care. As a childless adult, I cross-subsidize some of your behaviors too, like helping to educate your children. (No, really; it’s my pleasure. I recognize that I have in interest in ensuring that your kids aren’t ignorant. Believe me, with the absolutely staggering ignorance I see every day here, even among the intelligent and somewhat-educated, it is not hard to make the calculus: spending on education versus the cost of ignorance. It is also, as I see it, my duty as a citizen to help pay for the education of those who cannot afford to do so on their own. Again, “non-zero-sumness”, as the author Robert Wright called it.)

The idea is that private insurers will have to compete against a public option. (You’re not afraid of a little competition, are you? And from the government, of all entities? ) If the private insurers are doing such a bang-up job, consumers will make their choice and go this route; at the limit, everyone will chose a private option.

A friend recently posted an editorial from Forbes magazine regarding the health-care debate on his Facebook page. One quote in particular struck me:

…Obama promised Americans would get eternal health care "security and stability." To deliver that, he would of course ban insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions--tantamount to forcing fire insurance companies to write coverage on a burning building.

…except that it is not. We are talking about human beings here, not buildings. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, fellow citizens.

So please, let’s talk about what it means to be a citizen. I have given up my right to punch you in the nose whenever I feel like it in order that you too abrogate that right. There are many other ways in which the Social Contract manifests itself—let’s not forget that. And, again, if you need a reminder, come visit anytime.

The Body Count at Home

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: The Body Count at Home

About as many people who were killed on 9/11 die every two months
because of our failure to provide universal insurance — and yet many
members of Congress want us to do nothing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13kristof.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

The Body Count at Home

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: The Body Count at Home

About as many people who were killed on 9/11 die every two months
because of our failure to provide universal insurance — and yet many
members of Congress want us to do nothing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13kristof.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Good Sense in Tennessee

From The New York Times:

EDITORIAL: Good Sense in Tennessee

Politicians who have routinely supported the N.R.A.'s cause should
listen closely to citizens in Tennessee, who have chosen to disinvite
guns into public parks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13sun4.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Let’s Get Fundamental

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: Let's Get Fundamental

President Obama has drifted away from tackling the real problem with
health care: perverse incentives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/opinion/04brooks.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Oh My God- Come ON people.

From The New York Times:

Some Parents Oppose Obama School Speech

Conservative parents have accused the president of trying to
indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

NYTimes: How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?

From The New York Times:

How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?

The Great Recession was the result not only of lax regulation in
Washington and reckless risk-taking on Wall Street but also of faulty
theorizing in academia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Health Care

In short, it's a good bet that our existing dysfunctional health
system knocks off far more people than an army of "death panels"
could — even if they existed, worked 24/7 and got around in a fleet
of black helicopters.

So, for those of you inclined to believe the worst about President
Obama, think it through. Suppose he is indeed a secret, foreign-born
Muslim agent who is scheming to undermine American family values while
killing off as many grandmothers as possible.

If all that were true, why on earth would he be trying so hard to
reform our health care system? We already know how to prod families
into divorce and take a life unnecessarily every 30 minutes — all we
need to do is reject reform and stick with exactly what we have.

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

"To the Taliban, winning is, in fact, not losing," he said. "They feel that over time, they will ultimately outlast the international community's attempt to stabilize Afghanistan. It's really a game of will to them."

"To the Taliban, winning is, in fact, not losing," he said. "They feel
that over time, they will ultimately outlast the international
community's attempt to stabilize Afghanistan. It's really a game of
will to them."

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Utah Gets Tough With Texting Drivers

He pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent homicide, but his record will be cleared if he fulfills the sentence imposed by the judge. It included 30 days in jail, 200 hours of community service, and a requirement that he read "Les Misérables" to learn, like the book's character Jean Valjean, how to make a contribution to society.

“It was like being in a prison inside a jail inside another jail. Everybody will try to catch you. You have no friend.”

"It was like being in a prison inside a jail inside another jail.
Everybody will try to catch you. You have no friend."

-- Marc Aubriere, a French security adviser who was held hostage in
Somalia for more than a month but escaped after his captors somehow
overlooked an unlocked bolt. Aubriere and a colleague — who is still
in captivity, being held by a separate radical Islamist group — had
come to Somalia on behalf of the French government to help train the
security forces of Somalia's fledgling government. But the two were
snatched from a Mogadishu hotel on July 14 by rogue security forces
who had defected to the insurgency. For many people in Somalia, his
yarn was too much to believe, with doubters contending that Aubriere
made up the story after being released for cash. The most unlikely
part of his midnight escape, they argued, was the five-hour odyssey
through the bullet-riddled maze of central Mogadishu, where hundreds
of thousands of people live in the ruins of a city that has been
relentlessly strafed and bombed throughout 18 years of civil war.
Mogadishu is one of the world's most dangerous cities and has a
history of kidnappings of foreigners, mainly aid workers and
journalists. Amanda Lindhout, a young Canadian journalist, has now
been held hostage in Somalia for a full year, but hostages have
normally been released for substantial ransom payments after days or
weeks in captivity. Somali kidnappers on Aug. 12 released six foreign
hostages, four European aid workers and their two Kenyan pilots, after
eight months of captivity. Action Against Hunger is one of a few aid
groups that have continued working in the country. "As most of the
NGOs working in Somalia, most of these programs are running in rebel
controlled territory, so there are no expatriates currently in
Somalia," said spokesperson Sylvain Trottier. "They just make some
quick visits from time to time."

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

NYTimes: Truck-Stop Girls

From The New York Times:

LIVES: Truck-Stop Girls

Dark realities off the highway in Swaziland.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23lives-t.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

NYTimes: Why We Need Health Care Reform

From The New York Times:

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR: Why We Need Health Care Reform

In the end, health care reform isn't about politics and fear. It's
about changing a system that often works better for the health-
insurance companies than it does for millions of Americans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16obama.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

NYTimes: Staving Off a Spiral Toward Oblivion

From The New York Times:

PROTOTYPE: Staving Off a Spiral Toward Oblivion

Consumer acceptance of new technologies takes time — and that can be
valuable in helping old-technology companies survive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/business/09proto.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

NYTimes: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

From The New York Times:

Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

A growing number of policy makers say that the world's rising
temperatures, surging seas and melting glaciers are a direct threat to
the national interest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Playing with my iPhone

090622-N-7780S-014 GULF OF ALASKA (June 22, 2009) An Air Force F-22 Raptor executes a supersonic flyby over the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). John C. Stennis is participating in Northern Edge 2009, a joint exercise focusing on detecting and tracking units at sea, in the air and on land. (U.S. Navy photo by Sonar Technician (Surface) 1st Class Ronald Dejarnett/Released)

Peter L. Baldwin 

www.peterbaldwin.info

Iago:
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.

Peter L. Baldwin 

www.peterbaldwin.info