Moment of Truth in Iraq by Michael Yon My rating: 3 of 5 stars A good compilation of Mr. Yon’s blog posts plus some original material from the relevant period of his war reporting in Iraq. The story is worthy,…
Political Destiny
Demographics is destiny. — Arthur Kemp The political destiny of the U.S. for the next 25 years is sealed. Here’s how: In the United States, the proportion of the population aged >65 years is projected to increase from 12.4% in…
U.S. states compared to countries’ GDP and Population
This is an interesting graphic from The Economist magazine. It compares U.S. states’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population to their closest match among the countries of the world. [swfobj src=”http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/media/2011InfoG/Interactive/US_equivalents_7/main.swf” width=”595″ height=”630″ align=”none” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always”]
Complexity, its burdens and its risks
I read a good article on the radical re-making of the advertising market today: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/151/mayhem-on-madison-avenue.html The article referenced a classic post by Clay Shirky that I’d read before, but was worth revisiting: http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/04/the-collapse-of-complex-business-models/ Clay, in turn, referenced a book by Joseph…
Facing the Future
I compiled my thoughts on the primary challenges the United States faces in the coming decade, and ways to overcome them, here: http://www.hackneys.com/docs/facingthefuture.pdf The primary focus in this collection is on domestic challenges, although some geopolitical issues are addressed. .
Intro to Geopolitics – Public Opinion
Following is a good overview of a current geopolitical situation from Stratfor, a public domain intelligence analysis firm. If you are interested in the particular issue and region at hand, Israel / Palestinians / rising Turkey / etc., you will probably find it…
Elia Kazan’s America
As part of our effort to reintegrate into American society and its culture, we’re spending part of our summer in the air conditioned retreat of the Paramount, a faithfully restored theater originally built in 1915 to host vaudeville as…
What We Can Afford
During America’s brief tenure atop the world’s pecking order between the end of WWII and the beginning of the current era, the country enjoyed an unprecedented run of prosperity and abundance. The country was so successful while producing copious wealth…
A Perfect Storm
“…our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are … testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so…
Buying Boxes
In the post Show Me Your Budget, I addressed the U.S. federal budget via an illustration that used proportionally sized boxes to reflect spending priorities. What I didn’t cover was how we pay for those boxes, both the overall box…