Archive for the ‘World Affairs’ Category

Five Things We Must Do To Inspire The Next Generation About Sustainability And The Environment

December 17, 2020 | Climate Change

Etienne Deffarges: Five Things We Must Do To Inspire The Next Generation About Sustainability And The Environment, Interview with Authority Magazine Penny Bauder Dec 5 · 2020 Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about how …

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Should Our Government Use Wellbeing Statistics?

August 21, 2019 | Wellbeing Indicators

Should our government use wellbeing indicators? “Our Gross National Product…counts air pollution and cigarette advertising…special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars …

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What Does Climate Change Mean in the U.S., Particularly for Minorities and…Coal Country?

October 21, 2018 | Climate Change

The recent UN climate change report wake-up call The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued on Sunday October 7 an urgent call to action to governments all around the world: In its report, the IPCC stated that major changes are needed within the next decade to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degree …

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The California Resistance: Make the Planet Great Again

October 10, 2018 | California

The real resistance is to protect our only planet Right after Labor Day, with most of the country coming together in memorial tribute to John McCain, the U.S. political environment reached fever pitch with the publication of an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times, claiming that members of the Trump administration were working together …

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The ten-year anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis

October 3, 2018 | Regulating Wall Street

A primer on Dodd-Frank, through a simple Q&A   Why was Dodd Frank passed?   The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed by Congress, and signed by president Obama on July 21st, 2010, to stabilize our banking and financial system, and prevent a repeat of the disastrous 2008 financial crisis, which …

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Is Universal Health Care Socialism?

September 11, 2018 | Health Care

Is Universal Health Care Socialism?  The November midterms elections are approaching, and one of the major topics is health care. Democrats are campaigning on retaining Obamacare, in many cases advocating that we move towards universal health care. That would be pure socialism, retort Republicans, who would rather repeal the Affordable Care Act as they attempted …

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Letter published in August 31 Financial Times, in response to the 8/29/18 FT article, “Nordic lessons for today’s socialists.”

Voters want decisive change towards a fairer type of capitalism (Letter published in the 8/31/18 edition of the Financial Times)   I liked Martin Sandbu’s article, “Nordic lessons for today’s socialists” (August 29), and its compelling description of the Nordic model. I agree with him when he mentions Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and …

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Enjoying a Book Tour

August 18, 2018 | Book

Enjoying a Book Tour   Before writing my book I envisioned a book tour as a series of stops in bookstores across many cities…Well, I have enjoyed a couple of such stops, and even a book party at a restaurant, courtesy of neighbors who are also dear friends. Mostly, though, it has been written commentary, …

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The World Cup Is Over, Bravo Les Bleus!

July 24, 2018 | Sports

The World Cup Is Over, Bravo Les Bleus! The 2018 World Cup is over, with a fitting final for this great tournament: France 4 x 2 Croatia had more goals in regulation time than any final since 1958 (Brazil 5 x 2 Sweden). Mbappé scored Les Bleus’ fourth goal, the French team’s young sensation being …

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Is Complexity in Healthcare Killing Us?

May 17, 2018 | Healthcare

We spend almost $10,000 per year per capita in healthcare, about twice as much as the average developed economy. However, we get little for what we spend: in terms of major health outcomes, such as infant mortality or life expectancy, we rank below most other developed nations. Why? Among other reasons, complexity explains why we …

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