The peasants in France are revolting, refusing to pay the “ecotax” their enlightened masters have designed for their betterment. This new green levy on large vehicles was meant to raise money for infrastructure repairs, but recent protests—including road blockades made out of cauliflower—have forced the French government to suspend its implementation. The FT reports: Prime Minister Jean-Marc […]

Springfield, Illinois, is the HQ of America’s pension mess, presiding over the worst state-level debt and pension crisis in the country and now home to its own municipal pension woes. The WSJ reports on what happens to the most basic city services when a public employee pension fund gets buried under increasing benefits each year […]

The New York Times ran a really important article on Egypt this morning that makes a few things very clear:First, the military is moving to re-establish the old regime in Egypt, including the systematic use of economic incentives to hold civilian and military elites in place. Called “corruption” by those not included, it is really […]

The application period for Georgia Tech’s MOOC-based computer science master’s program has just closed, and the results are stellar. More than 2,350 applications were received for the program’s first year, nearly double the number of applicants to the school’s more traditional computer science master’s program. Clearly, the fears that nobody would be interested in a MOOC-based […]

There’s a way for older Americans to solve their health care problems and live well on a tight budget: retire abroad. The Lynches are a retiree couple profiled by the WSJ who moved to Granada, Nicaragua, by way of Costa Rica largely to get a better deal on  health care. They were 62 at the time and decided to […]

You know you’re a screwup when you can’t even check into prison properly. Leave it to former Congressman and current convicted felon Jesse Jackson Jr., who arrived at prison on Monday only to be turned away—he had mistakenly shown up too early. He is now in custody at a federal prison in North Carolina, and […]

Europe’s austerity drive has been focused on the wrong kind of debt. According to new research from the IMF, private debt (debt held by households or corporations) is a greater menace to growth than is government debt. While the Eurozone has been trying to reduce high levels of public debt, most notably in the South, […]

Don’t look now, but the Republican governor of an electorally important state is making a name for himself with a vocal defense of the poor and the safety net they depend on. The NYT reports on Governor John R. Kasich of Ohio: “I’m concerned about the fact there seems to be a war on the […]

MOOCs have a number of advantages: they’re cheaper, they’re open to everyone, and they allow students to arrange their studies around busy schedules. But almost none offer credit, and without that MOOCs are worth far less than equivalent college courses, even if students learn exactly the same things. Until colleges are convinced the programs are […]

In the eyes of many members of the Muslim Brotherhood, as Reuters reports in an special investigation, the usra, the foundation of the Brotherhood’s organization, is failing. Usras are small groups of Muslim Brothers, usually about seven, with a leader. The group meets frequently and the leader can become very important and influential among the other […]