Big news from the FCC, America’s telecom regulator. Their feisty and energetic chair Julius Genachowski is planning to put some serious teeth back into Internet regulations. A while ago the Supreme Court shot down the primary foundation for FCC regulation of broadband technologies. One of the most visible likely casualties of unfettered ISPs pursuing unlimited profit guided […]
I wrote a couple of weeks ago that we most certainly can eliminate coal-fired power plants. Well, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), we not only can, we’re on that track now. How? The answer lies partly in the switch to natural gas. The FT quotes the EIA here: “… in 2009, the […]
In a follow-up to my previous post, Can the Congo Provide All their Children with Primary Education?, I wanted to share the following op-ed in The Huffington Post. The piece was written by Desmond Tutu and Dennis Van Roekel, who is the President of the National Education Association. Desmond Tutu spoke downheartedly on our lack […]
Previous posts this week have drawn attention to the big issue hanging over the Nuclear Nonproliferation review conference this week in New York–whether China will support stronger sanctions against Iran—and to China’s indebtedness to all those who have nonproliferation at heart. But why is it important to slow Iran’s nuclear program? Can sanctions actually work? […]
How unwieldy Europe is to manage! How difficult it is for EU institutions to act… Bruce Kasman, Chief Economist of JPM, whom I remember from my years at the New York Federal Reserve in the early 90s where he was an international economist, said this morning in a conference call that the main risk to […]
Jobs expanded in April, with the American private sector back with a vengeance. But medium-term risks abound, especially regarding very weak public finances at the federal, state and local levels due to the massive economic rescue enacted last year. Governments at every level in this country must put forward credible deficit-reduction plans, albeit cautiously, or this […]
Today’s precipitous sell-off in US Markets – the most volatile single day of trading in Wall Street history – my most recent read, After the Fall: Saving Capitalism From Wall Street & Washington, by Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute, is suddenly very relevant. Her premise is that robust financial markets support capitalism, they don’t imperil it.
Though I now reside in the Rockies, I grew up in New Jersey and get back to the area as often as possible to both visit relatives and indulge in one of my major passions; going to see musicals and plays on Broadway in neighboring New York City. A couple of years ago I had […]
While many of us are looking towards the sea, wondering how the oil mess will get cleaned up, I thought I’d direct reader attention up from sad waters. James Fallows at the Atlantic has been adding to a useful series on his blog (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) regarding the ever-improving air quality in […]
As I write this, British voters are going to the polls in what has been billed as one of the most exciting UK elections of the post-war period. Nick Clegg, member of the third-party Liberal Democrats, could overtake his mainstream rivals Gordon Brown (Labour) and David Cameron (Conservative). Regardless of the outcome, this is the […]
I’ve noticed a couple arguments recently that use the same logic to disprove a causal relationship. The first one comes from Alan Dershowitz: [J Street’s] Executive Director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has joined the off key chorus of those who falsely claim that Israel, by refusing to make peace with the Palestinians, is placing the lives of […]
My post earlier this week drew attention to the nuclear weapons assistance that Iran almost certainly obtained from China via Pakistan, and the astonishing possibility that China actually tested Pakistan’s first atomic bomb for it at Lop Nur in May 1990. First, on the general question of Chinese nuclear weapons assistance to Pakistan, there’s not […]
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