“ She turns to the white board and draws two acronyms with an arrow between them: SLICS and SLYCS. The global economy needs to move from a SLICS (So Long as I Can Survive) mentality to a SLYCS (So Long as You Can Survive) mentality. Central banks and governments should worry less about stimulating domestic demand for domestic goods and more about stimulating demand for traded goods. Toyota workers should buy Nissan cars, and vice versa. “The U.S. has no business saying ‘buy American’; it should be saying buy non-American,” she said. “It’s this kind of a huge mental leap that is actually required if we are going to move out of this situation we’re in.” Slow food and locavores have their place, Hama says. But she’d prefer that China and Japan export shiitake mushrooms to each other. Japan can send its most delicious, most expensive ones to China, where the free-spending nouveau riche will pay big money for them, while China can mass-produce cheaper ones that can be consumed by Japan’s yen-pinching masses.
July 5, 2009
June 25, 2009
June 20, 2009
“ the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.” And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.
“ Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.” But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.
June 18, 2009
June 15, 2009
“ Last week it was business as usual, as Republican leaders nattered ad infinitum over the juvenile rivalry of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich at the party’s big Washington fund-raiser. Few if any mentioned, let alone questioned, the ominous script delivered by the actor Jon Voight with the G.O.P. imprimatur at that same event. Voight’s devout wish was to “bring an end to this false prophet Obama.
“ When President Obama speaks at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association on Monday he will need all of his persuasive powers to bring doctors into the campaign for health care reform. Doctors have been complicit in driving up health care costs. They need to become part of the solution.
June 13, 2009
“ t strikes me as intuitively obvious that in order to succeed in a white man’s world, women must learn to see both sides in ways that men do not. If that is true, it just might make them “better” judges, at least in some circumstances. I don’t know whether Judge Sotomayor was trying, albeit rather artlessly, to make some version of that argument in her speeches about the relative wisdom of Latina woman. But if I could ask her just one question at her confirmation hearing about that Berkeley speech, that would be it
June 9, 2009
“ I recently was “let go” from my job when my child hit a major medical crisis and my employer decided to replace me with someone male, younger, able to travel and work 70+ hr weeks. All because I asked to work a 40 hr week for a few weeks to be able to help (my husband, child, family) get things in order. Prior to this “problem” I was an executive who worked 60-80 hrs a week and traveled at least 2 weeks out of a month. I made my company serious $$. One problem in years and I got screwed, big time. They blamed the economy. No kidding. My family lost more than 2/3 of our income, plus the health coverage that was critical. We are facing losing our house and all that we’ve worked for in the last 20 yrs. I’ve seen male colleagues whose children have medical issues, like cancer, who are given company support and major flexibility, and even weeks of time off without penalty. But this is never extended to the mothers - who, as many have said, are seen as the main caregivers.
“ Using fake resumes for two equally qualified candidates–one childless, one a mom—the researchers found that the mother was 100% less likely to be hired when she applied for a position. Mothers were consistently ranked as less competent and less committed than non-moms. “They were also offered $11,000 a year less pay, on average, than an equally qualified childless candidate,
June 6, 2009
