As regular readers know, I’m teaching a class for aspiring young writers and thinkers at Bard this semester, and one of the exercises I’ve asked them to do involves using heroic couplets to write satires and expository essays. Looking at the way that writers like John Dryden and Alexander Pope were able to use the […]

The US is using less energy and emitting less carbon dioxide per dollar of GDP than ever before, according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is not a short-term trend: America will continue to become more efficient through 2040.Energy intensity, or the amount of energy we use to create one dollar […]

Detroit is officially in a “State of Fiscal Emergency,” and the state is about to take control of the city’s finances. Governor Rick Snyder will soon name an emergency manager, who may have the city file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. It would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. The manager will have broad powers, […]

More bad news for Europe: the Netherlands will be joining the ranks of countries not abiding by the EU’s target of keeping budget deficits under 3 percent of GDP. Its deficit will come in at around 3.3 percent for 2013.European leaders, however, aren’t too worried, says the Financial Times: In principle, the European budget commissioner, […]

Marissa Mayer’s decision to end Yahoo!’s telecommuting policies has kicked up a decent controversy, with many criticizing her for instituting a change they see as especially hostile to working mothers. Into the fray steps Anne-Marie Slaughter, whose recent article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” was also much discussed. Writing for The Atlantic, Slaughter defends […]

India’s Finance Minister and potential PM candidate surprised many yesterday by releasing a budget with sharp increases in government spending. Before yesterday, P. Chidambaram was a darling of foreign investors for his commitment to reforming India’s sluggish economy. But by defying expectations for an austerity budget and choosing instead to increase spending by 16 percent […]

The city of Wukan, in southeast China, burst into rebellion last year, only to see its high hopes fade away. Villagers in Wukan were furious with the local Communist Party leaders, who were selling off large parcels of communal land to developers and pocketing the proceeds. Finally fed up, in late 2011 the villagers joined together in a large protest, […]

Government regulation is stifling America’s vibrant pharmaceutical industry. A recent report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology estimates that it costs an average of $1.2 billion to win FDA approval and bring a new drug to market. Given that biopharmaceuticals account for roughly two percent of the economy, this is no […]

Last year for the first time Cuba’s government allowed a private party to sell real estate property to another private party, and now the country’s real estate market is thriving. Prices are up, and the number of houses for sale keeps growing, according to a recent article on the New America Media site.The new properties are […]

Financial markets around the world reeled when the Italians rejected the European status quo and their own political establishment in the last election.  This should not have come as such a surprise; few political establishments anywhere in the democratic world are as spectacularly rotten as Italy’s, and the European status quo is the biggest man-made […]