Jimmy Carter’s body has been interned after a century of energetic engagement on the earth’s surface. But his legacy remains debated as observed in legions of overviews on his legacy published this past week. Some see him as an idealist lacking humanity’s foibles nonetheless necessary to properly govern people less earnest than himself. Many on More
Apparently unbeknownst to my Republican friends, the effort to cut ‘government waste’ has a long, bipartisan, history in the US. While Republicans point to Ronald Reagan as the original budget chide, the Federal budget deficit doubled under Reagan (graph below). It was Democrat Bill Clinton who last ‘balanced the budget,’ a feat that was rapidly followed by a deep and lasting recession. And Joe Biden dedicated his career to cutting Social Security, Medicare and Veteran’s benefits. More
Beyond Mike Davis’s provocative title to his classic essay, “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn,” is the thesis that resources and attention are disproportionately allocated to save the rich and their property at the expense of the poor. While this is historically the case in Los Angeles, the raging fires here are far worse than even the great Mike Davis could have foreseen. More
The Telegraph recently reported that ahead of President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month, thousands of Haitian immigrants have already left or are planning to leave Springfield, Ohio. The Haitian community has been living in fear for months, and their flight could reverse some of the economic and social gains that the rust belt town has won by virtue of its immigrant community’s hard work and cultural contributions. What is happening in Springfield could be a harbinger in similar places once Trump occupies the Oval Office. More
