Manipulating Self-Determination
Puerto Rico might become a state without wanting to
On the Newsstand:Wealth
Do Harvard Students Try to Pass for Poor?
James McAuley asks today in the Harvard Crimson: “What is it with Harvard students and pretending to be poor?” James is a polite guy, so he doesn’t name names. He cites “the more well-moneyed of our peers,” he cites “many affluent students,” he cites “wealthy individuals” and “wealthy peers” and “wealthy Harvard undergraduates.” And he cites people with specific phony ... Read More
Paterson’s Problems
The NYT’s expose on Governor David Paterson is riveting and ultimately damning. This is the kind of journalism we need more of. Maybe individual pieces of evidence suggesting Gov. Paterson is a narcissist and a flake wouldn’t hold up in court, but the preponderance of the evidence is conclusive on that score. To sum up: He can’t be reached during ... Read More
Scott Brown Endorses Health Care Reform
Coakley’s loss was a lot of things — but a repudiation of Obama’s health care reform it was not. Massachusetts is an odd state to be signing the death sentence for Obama’s health care reform because Massachusetts actually enjoys a universal health care program that’s very similar to the one in congress today. And Scott Brown’s an odd angel of ... Read More
Letter from the Editor
On Jan. 17, 1925 President Calvin Coolidge remarked that the “business of the American people is business.” Pundits and politicians invoke this often-cited dictum to confirm that we live in a land of capitalism and free markets, and to remind us that while America is an ideal place to do many things, it is first and foremost a place of ... Read More
The Problem with Bankers’ Pay
Exorbitant compensation threatens the stability of the banking system
Wall Street, Rhodes Scholars, and the Soul of the University
Last Saturday the 2010 Rhodes scholars were announced and a full five Harvard students were among them (along with two Yale students and one Princeton student…but, really, who’s counting?) On the same day, Elliot Gerson, the American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, published an op-ed in the Washington Post, pointing out that more and more Rhodes scholars are pursuing careers ... Read More
Conservative Revolutionaries
How the European right wing have become unlikely innovators in the worldwide financial crisis The economic crisis the world is currently experiencing has been the worst since the Great Depression. In such a period, nothing could be easier than pointing out market failures and the inefficiencies of deregulated capitalism. Indeed, it should be the perfect setting for an increase in ... Read More
Georgian Reflections
The EU has faulted both sides in the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict for violations of international law. Russia, unsurprisingly, broke international law by its invasion of Georgia and its attacks on Georgian civilian infrastructure. Though if that’s against international law, color me confused as to nations are supposed to fight wars and if any of them have ever done so. The ... Read More
Questions for George Will
George Will worked himself into quite a lather today about a law review article by some visiting assistant law professor at Duke that argues that the principle of free speech might be subordinated to governmental interests in combating corruption and the distorting influences of wealth on the political process. No surprises here: Will is a leading opponent of campaign finance ... Read More
It’s Not All ‘Gentrification’
The connection between economic diversity and urban renewal Urban areas have a tendency to build upon themselves. Perhaps as long as cities have existed, they have been in the process of being ‘renewed.’ In modern urban America, the issue of renewal is intricately intertwined with the concept of gentrification, whereby the demographics of a neighborhood shift to favor wealthier individuals. ... Read More
