The 21st Century has seen the world grow dependent on the Internet. Whether it’s remotely piloting drones from half a world away or sending an e-mail to a coworker half an office away, we rely on technology at an unprecedented level. And just as warfare evolved from land based armies fighting each other in lines … Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2012
Ice Cream, Politics, and Spatial Competition
Here’s a riddle: Why does Burger King always build a new restaurant right across the street from a McDonalds? Anyone who drives past that particular street corner craving a cheeseburger can only choose to eat at one or the other. At first glance it seems like Burger King will only attract half the customers, sell … Continue reading
The Free Market Will Meet Demand. Just Look At Your Phone.
A recent article reported on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor saying the Republicans plan to repeal the entire health care law and then replace it slowly. This elicited several scathing comments claiming the party to be a failure for not having a replacement plan. However, law and policy makers should not rush to replace the … Continue reading
Higher Education and Consumerism
According to the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEF), since 2006, the average enrolment in public higher education institutions has increased by 16.9%, with some states, such as Oregon, seeing spikes in enrolment as high as 33.6%. However, these rises in enrolment have been coupled with relatively stagnant state and local higher education appropriations. In … Continue reading
The Underwhelming Tax Credit
The farther America gets into the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, the more piecemeal the law seems. At the center of it lies a complex network of methods for reducing the number of uninsured Americans, with little regard for how these methods will react with one another, and with little regard for their effect on … Continue reading
The Medicated Generation
Pay attention! This frequent order from teachers and parents is ignored and laughed at by millions of wily, off-the-walls juvenile boys across America. Anyone who has ever been in the same room with a boy aged six to twelve for more than two minutes will tell you he didn’t want to sit still, or listen, … Continue reading
Where is the problem in HealthCare Spending?
It is obvious to say that healthcare costs have been increasing over the past half century. Something needs to happen to slow the trend, to bend the cost curve back towards earth. Certain avenues may need more attention than others. This graphic breaks down where the dollars are flowing into since 1960 (adapted from data … Continue reading
You can’t live without it…It’s Electric!
Since the days of Ben Franklin flying his kite during a storm, America has played a large role in harnessing the power of electricity. In 2003 the National Academy of Engineering declared the electrification of the U.S. the “greatest engineering achievement of the twentieth century”, ahead of even the automobile or airplane. “Electrification” here refers … Continue reading
Putin, Obama, and the “Reset”
Obama’s “reset policy” with Russia and former president Dimitry Medvedev appears to have failed. The administration hoped that they could deal with Medvedev and avoid confronting the problem of Putin’s influence, but they overestimated Medvedev’s independence from Putin, and underestimated Putin’s continuing power and influence in Russian politics. The administration had hoped that Medvedev would … Continue reading
The Window of Opportunity is Closed
On Wednesday morning, The New York Times reported that the conflict in Syria is evolving into a civil war. An extension of the 2011 Arab Spring, many Syrians have been calling to depose Bashar al-Assad, the western educated Syrian dictator. This was met by violent clashes between the Syrian people and the strong military, with … Continue reading
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