30 July 2006
So the problem with this blog is that while I may have things I want to link to, I don't know how to talk about it. Being paired up with a great mind like Lee's, I get a little gun-shy; we have fantastic conversations about all of this stuff, but my blogging is so geared around irreverence and one-liners, and not the kind of analysis that readers should (rightly) expect. Thus, I haven't done much of anything here, but I'd like to correct that. Anyway, here's some good stuff I've found over the past few days:
• A scathing indictment of the collapse of the Doha Round. I've been a free trader for some time now, which still leads to some contentious discussions with those on the left who think I'm categorically 'with them', so this was a good round-up of just what the Doha Round may have meant. Even if I do prefer the Moustache of Understanding's way of approaching globalization to those at the National Journal.
• Kevin Drum's belated, but worthwhile, posting on the latest 'duh' news of the Bush tax cuts. Turns out that over 20 years, the tax cuts would bring in about one-tenth of a trillion to the GDP. Or the equivalent of one mocha latte at Starbucks every week. (Hey, I was able to bring my one-liners over here!) Anyway, I've always considered the comments on this blog to be the best of any that I read, but you have to be able to pick out the gems from the usual, and heightened, troll-combat.
• A couple things from Slate: the first is a piece on the bellweathers of US economic performance, UPS & FedEx. Analyzing the margins of the two companies to determine which one is signaling the economy as a whole, Daniel Gross asks the question, but doesn't really answer it. Which leads me to the Lewis Black line of "Wh wh why even open your mouth?" The second takes the Euphemism of the Summer and applies it directly to Slate for a very enlightening look at publishing, beyond what the Times' Book Review did this morning. Publishing is facing a turning point, maybe not now, but within the next five years; Sony wants to come out with the first viable eBook reader, but if somebody can successfully put text on an iPod (cause seriously, what can't you put on that thing?), then it will happen even sooner. And I can't wait.
• New Yorker piece on Boeing v. Airbus, round I-can't-even-count-anymore. I remember reading Rick Perlstein's excellent piece on the Democrats which started with a story about Boeing & Airbus, an analysis that framed the way I looked at the modern economy afterwards. This piece is a good update, but I like James Surowiecki's take at the end about how short-term performance doesn't really lend itself to long-term analysis. Am I being contradictory to what I said about just above about Daniel Gross? Maybe. So?
• Finally, and I haven't read this yet, but the Times' magazine (which I consider to be perhaps the superior weekly in America) on a topic that I am increasing becoming passionate about. Those of you who read my blog may recall my mentioning an argment with a gentleman who thought that capitalism couldn't solve environmental problems. My response is that while, yes, capitalism does indeed cause problems, it also gives us the tools, and indeed the motivation, to solve those problems. Capitalism is simply a means to achieve ends; if we can get people to care about the environment and conserving nature and creating alternative energies by appealing to their pocketbook rather than their love of spotted owls, I'll take it. I dare say that all of us would. Posted by Outlaw Genius at
• A scathing indictment of the collapse of the Doha Round. I've been a free trader for some time now, which still leads to some contentious discussions with those on the left who think I'm categorically 'with them', so this was a good round-up of just what the Doha Round may have meant. Even if I do prefer the Moustache of Understanding's way of approaching globalization to those at the National Journal.
• Kevin Drum's belated, but worthwhile, posting on the latest 'duh' news of the Bush tax cuts. Turns out that over 20 years, the tax cuts would bring in about one-tenth of a trillion to the GDP. Or the equivalent of one mocha latte at Starbucks every week. (Hey, I was able to bring my one-liners over here!) Anyway, I've always considered the comments on this blog to be the best of any that I read, but you have to be able to pick out the gems from the usual, and heightened, troll-combat.
• A couple things from Slate: the first is a piece on the bellweathers of US economic performance, UPS & FedEx. Analyzing the margins of the two companies to determine which one is signaling the economy as a whole, Daniel Gross asks the question, but doesn't really answer it. Which leads me to the Lewis Black line of "Wh wh why even open your mouth?" The second takes the Euphemism of the Summer and applies it directly to Slate for a very enlightening look at publishing, beyond what the Times' Book Review did this morning. Publishing is facing a turning point, maybe not now, but within the next five years; Sony wants to come out with the first viable eBook reader, but if somebody can successfully put text on an iPod (cause seriously, what can't you put on that thing?), then it will happen even sooner. And I can't wait.
• New Yorker piece on Boeing v. Airbus, round I-can't-even-count-anymore. I remember reading Rick Perlstein's excellent piece on the Democrats which started with a story about Boeing & Airbus, an analysis that framed the way I looked at the modern economy afterwards. This piece is a good update, but I like James Surowiecki's take at the end about how short-term performance doesn't really lend itself to long-term analysis. Am I being contradictory to what I said about just above about Daniel Gross? Maybe. So?
• Finally, and I haven't read this yet, but the Times' magazine (which I consider to be perhaps the superior weekly in America) on a topic that I am increasing becoming passionate about. Those of you who read my blog may recall my mentioning an argment with a gentleman who thought that capitalism couldn't solve environmental problems. My response is that while, yes, capitalism does indeed cause problems, it also gives us the tools, and indeed the motivation, to solve those problems. Capitalism is simply a means to achieve ends; if we can get people to care about the environment and conserving nature and creating alternative energies by appealing to their pocketbook rather than their love of spotted owls, I'll take it. I dare say that all of us would. Posted by Outlaw Genius at
