The Debate Over Net Neutrality
The argument over net neutrality is raging in Congress and the courts, but should the government change a system that might not be broken?
Post Tagged with: "Regulation"
HPR Podcast: Occupy
Answering questions on the Occupy movement and what it means for protest, the national dialogue, and our generation.
BP Speech: Our Storyteller in Chief?
In one hour, Obama addresses the nation about the BP Oil Spill. My question about the speech is simple: “How big will he go?” A commitment to energy sector regulation reform? Or something bigger — like a firm commitment to pass comprehensive carbon pricing by the end of the year? Is this going to be, as Joe Scarborough hopes for, [...]
Don’t blame BP
I’ve been following the BP oil spill situation with some interest, and I think that America has gotten it all wrong. The anti-corporation, anti-business sentiment is nothing new. Neither is the anti-big oil sentiment. But on closer inspection, this kind of attitude makes very little sense, and the way that the media is feeding into it (in some cases) just [...]
Will Wealth Bring Democracy to Hong Kong?
As long as Hong Kong’s economy is booming, calls for democracy will remain on the backburner
Rand Paul a Racist? I Think Not.
Sam Barr’s most recent post makes the rather shocking claim that Rand Paul, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky being vacated by the retiring Jim Bunning, is a racist, or at least that he is not a non-racist. Sam deduces this from the fact that Mr. Paul is not a “consistent libertarian,” that he “picks and [...]
Weighing In: Are Interns Slaves?
In dueling editorials, two sets of Crimson editors opined today on the federal crack-down on unpaid internships. I’m with the pro-payment crowd, but I think that both the sides made the same conceptual error by assuming that this is a straightforward case of equality versus opportunity. The majority view was that, even though stricter regulation “might result in fewer internship [...]
Will We Ever Be Ready for President Mark Warner?
That’s right. That’s Mark Warner, junior Democratic Senator from Virginia, who won an astonishing 65% of the vote in 2008 (besting Obama by 12 percent), after a highly acclaimed term of Governor from 2002-2006. That’s the same Mark Warner who was rumored to be considering a Presidential run in 2008, a favorite among the establishment elite for his mixture of [...]
A Follow-Up to the Calorie Cop Post
This is a response to Max and Cathy, which got a little long for the comments section in the original post. Max, I agree with you that government subsidies for corn and sugar are bad. However, whereas you say that “the food industry” is “majorly dysfunctional,” I would argue that federal food policy is majorly dysfunctional. Moreover, I can agree [...]
Hey Fattie, Did You Know Big Macs Were Fattening?
Consider yourself enlightened. In The Times this week: Buried deep in the health care legislation that President Obama signed on Tuesday is a new requirement that will affect any American who walks into a McDonald’s, Starbucks or Burger King. Every big restaurant chain in the nation will now be required to put calorie information on their menus and drive-through signs. Now [...]
Jobs Bill, Cloture, Kabuki
So the Senate passed a jobs bill today by a vote of 70-28. In policy terms, this isn’t big news. The CBO estimates the bill will cost some $15 billion, a fortune to you and I, but a pittance in Washington terms. In any case, the moneys allocated pale in comparison to the $500-600 billion worth of stimulus which has [...]
Ross Douthat’s Phony Moderateness
Ross Douthat says “Let’s Make a Deal” on health care reform. Analyzing some choice quotes will illustrate his faux-centrism and tendency towards false equivalence. “The Republicans are convinced they’re inches away from killing off a fundamentally misguided piece of legislation.” No, they’re convinced they’re about to kill Barack Obama’s presidency. Stopping health care reform is a secondary benefit at best. [...]
Green Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
An excellent op-ed in the Crimson today by Hemi Gandhi criticizes Harvard and its students for having a somewhat superficial commitment to green energy. The criticisms of Harvard are, on the whole, more compelling. If the Environmental Science and Public Policy is really so narrowly focused, as Gandhi says, then it’s not the students who are at fault for its [...]
The Dim Prospects for Meaningful Financial Reform
Well, the Senate just spent a year trying and failing to pass a moderate, compromised-to-hell health reform plan. Which, incidentally, if that is comprehensive reform I’m not really sure I’d like to see their “tinkering around the edges”. However, the important thing is that they managed to defuse special interest anger by buying them off with legislative goodies. Wait, that’s [...]
