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OnTheOutside

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May 17

The Debt Limit fight is a Coup

We’ve been hearing about the debt limit for months, but familiarity makes it sound sort of normal. That is spectacularly wrong. We all know it would be a disaster for this country to foreclose on its debt. That would not only have massive economic impact, beyond that it would undermine…

Democracy

1 min read

Democracy

1 min read


Apr 9

Democracy is Not Natural

There is a fundamental misunderstanding of democracy that undermines much domestic and foreign policy. One way to put it is that democracy is seen as a kind of natural way for societies to organize themselves. What could be more normal than a bunch of people getting together for mutual benefit…

4 min read

4 min read


Mar 19

Bach as Dramatist

The ideas here are based on a small amount of data and are undoubtedly well-known in some form to many people. However they don’t show up in the usual discussions of Bach, and they certainly don’t seem to have influenced performances on recordings. I’m been playing some pretty basic Bach-three-part…

Bach

3 min read

Bach

3 min read


Dec 23, 2022

We Can’t Afford That

Heather McGhee begins her book The Sum of Us with the question “Why can’t we have nice things?” …

Education

3 min read

Education

3 min read


Oct 21, 2022

A Message for Democrats Now

It has become clear from all polls that the key issue for voters in this midterm election is inflation. That’s a difficult issue for Democrats, so we have tried to make it something else: January 6, the Supreme Court, etc. The time has come to realize that all of that…

Inflation

3 min read

Inflation

3 min read


Oct 20, 2022

A Reality Check for Climate Change

There’s an important article about climate change in the latest IEEE Spectrum. It’s only two pages long, but there is much to think about. It is high time to recognize the reality of what we’re fighting. The article points out that a reasonable estimate for the cost of the energy…

Climate Change

3 min read

Climate Change

3 min read


Oct 15, 2022

The Depression of the 2020's

We’re not paying enough attention. This midterm election hides a real danger of Depression. We’re stumbling into exactly what happened in the 1930's. The Great Depression of the 1930’s occurred when the financial authorities of the day responded to a sudden downturn with the opposite of what was needed. A…

Economic Policy

2 min read

Economic Policy

2 min read


Oct 13, 2022

Some Reality for the Midterms

I’m tired of arguments over whether Republicans or Democrats are better managers of the economy. The situation for the midterms is starker than that. In this election cycle we are parallel to 2014, a mid-term election with an open Presidential election to follow. What did the Republican Party do with…

Midterms

1 min read

Midterms

1 min read


Sep 18, 2022

Education-Student Loan Debt and the Rest

The public discussion of Biden’s student loan plan seems to be about some other country-certainly not this one. Much of the discussion takes the point of view that Biden’s plan is a wildly-expensive and unnecessary change, since post-secondary education is functioning the way it always has. …

Education

5 min read

Education-Student Loan Debt and the Rest
Education-Student Loan Debt and the Rest
Education

5 min read


Sep 16, 2022

Propagandists for Power

This note is occasioned by John McWhorter’s piece in the NY Times, basically praising Clarence Thomas as a thinker who has been too easily dismissed. While I agree with Mr. McWhorter on some subjects, I think he is very wrong on this one. …

Supreme Court

2 min read

Supreme Court

2 min read

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OnTheOutside

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