The Neuroscience of Fraud

New York Magazine discusses the conflict between Ayn Rand’s childhood in Bolshevik Russia and her unforgiving views about the eminence of indiscriminate capitalism.  Newsweek points to new research from UC Davis identifying the area of the brain (the anterior cingulate cortex) responsible for justifying our conflicting beliefs.  And a Goldman executive defends income inequality as [...]

OMG! It’s the “Fall of the Republic!”

I suppose Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, Roger B. Taney, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bernie Madoff, and the Dallas Cowboys had absolultely nothing to do with it.

Educational Equality and the President’s Cabinet

Why is it that the Obama administration has spent so much energy trying to prevent lobbyists from overrunning government, but spends little time on the fact that most (more than 50%) of the Cabinet is made up of ivy leaguers?
The President is someone who genuinely cares about equal opportunity.  He is aware of class-based problems [...]

5 Reasons Why the Media Reform Effort is the Civil Rights Movement of Our Time

The original civil rights movement was initially greeted by the establishment with not very much interest at all.  ”Separate but equal” was considered the status quo and many wondered why those who wanted to outlaw segregation couldn’t find anything better to do with their time.  There are distinct parallels between that movement and the movement [...]

RIAA Kills Yet Another Music Platform

 
Techcrunch just reported that yet another online music sharing service, Mixwit, is going out of business.
In the book Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, Lawrence Lessig describes big media’s attempts to, not just increase its overall footprint, but to ensure that its content is the only content.  By essentially bribing [...]

Congress Gives Self $4,700 Per Member Annual Raise

Where are the priorities?  

We just spent $700 billion on a stimulus package that isn’t working. 
Total job losses for the year are approaching 2 million.
Wages are stagnant.
We have an actual deficit of $53 trillion.

And Congress has just given each member a $4,700 per year raise?  A RAISE??? And why aren’t we doing anything about it? [...]