after an extraordinary housing bubble and massive crash, Americans have basically learned nothing about the risks of homeownership.
Tag: us
Dumb Militia
this time it was a completely incompetent one, including posting online about their plans. next time, who knows.
Eatertainment
Fat, sugar, and salt are the crucial elements for “eatertainment”: Frito-Lay is trying to create “a lot of fun in your mouth”, others to “unlock the code of craveability,” or to “cram as much hedonics as you can in 1 dish.”
20% Unemployment?
The official Unemployment rate is 9.4% but digging deeper suggests that the real rate in the US may be closer to 20%.
Federal IT Dashboard
nice. which government IT projects are on schedule & on budget. can’t wait until this comes to other sleepy departments with their no-bid shenanigans.
Teacher Rubber Rooms
Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its “rubber rooms” — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.
i wonder where we would be today if the republicans had spent the last 8 years doing something useful like union bashing instead of chasing gays and starting wars.
Japanese marry older
In Japan, 47% of men and 32% of women in their early 30s were unmarried in 2005.
contrast with the us, where people get married far too young.
The Quiet Coup
The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. 1 of the most alarming is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the US, it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.
after 3rd world infrastructure, the us takes the next step: 3rd world oligarchies.
we’re watching the most pitched, highest-stakes, most determined battle between politics and finance which has been staged. I am expecting finance to win.
Federal CIO
the guy mostly seems to have clue, even though he uses twitter.
Banal Nationalism
banal nationalism isn’t “nationalism-lite,” it’s the very foundation upon which more problematic nationalisms are built.