Politics

Today's State of the Union address offers President Obama the opportunity to talk with Americans about what our nation really needs. As we shift from a manufacturing to a knowledge and service economy, what we urgently need for both individual and national economic success is what economists call high-quality human capital. This requires investing in our most important American asset: our people. In economic terms, this translates into reversing the downward trend of U.S. international competitiveness. In human terms, it translates into ending enormous suffering.  Read more >

The U.S. healthcare system is broken. Lissa Rankin is a doctor, and yet, because she was diagnosed with high blood pressure in her twenties, and because her husband accidentally cut two fingers off his left hand with a table saw, they're now completely uninsurable under a traditional family health insurance program. This piece summarizes everything Lissa thinks is wrong with the healthcare system in the U.S. -- as well as what can be done do to fix it.  Read more >

"Trickle-down economics" and "the trickle-down theory" are terms that refer to the policy of providing across the board tax cuts or benefits to businesses and the wealthy, such as tax breaks, in the belief that this will indirectly benefit the broad population. The term has been attributed to humorist Will Rogers, who said during the Great Depression that "money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy."  Read more >

Late last week, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill banning the sale and possession of shark fins, thus insuring that California will play a central role in lowering the demand for sharks. Bill AB 376 has invoked praise from environmentalists and condemnation from Chinese-American communities which serve Shark Fin Soup at weddings and other cultural celebrations in a centuries-old tradition.  Read more >

$8 for a dozen eggs? When I saw Jane Black’s post in The Atlantic I could not believe that anyone would pay that price. As I mulled it over I realized that I wasn’t even sure why these eggs were superior to normal eggs. And after re-reading the article I’m not sure they are. Or at least, I’m not sure they’re any healthier than the best organic cage-free eggs from the grocery store (under $3 a dozen at my store). The difference is that these oval wonders hail from a small local farm that is not caught up in the industrial food mill. This means, for one thing, no government subsidies, making it hard for the small environmentally-aware farmers to compete with the big guys by offering comparable prices.  Read more >