Comments (8)

1. I’d really like to know how the case against the two nurses in Texas goes & how it finally resolves.

   posted by Jim Gillen on 2-8-2010 at 9:51 am

2. The nurses case is truly disturbing. The general public has no idea at all as to what goes on in hospitals, and how doctors are given preferential treatment even when they blatantly malpractice or harrass workers. An M.D. behind one’s name does not mean one is infallible. Ask Michael Jackson’s family.

   posted by Texas Registered Nurse on 2-8-2010 at 10:54 am

3. I think that the Squirrel v. Penguin clip balances the economics and gigantic hologram articles nicely. My brain needed a break.

   posted by KEO on 2-8-2010 at 2:21 pm

4. Economic Inequality…

   The inequality Bowles speaks of does not exist, not in the United States. Sure there are large gaps between the rich and the poor, but blaming difficulties in upward mobility in the last forty years on the “free market”, doesn’t jive.

   It is specifically the free market that gives one the best odds of upward mobility.

   Bowles says that even if you have a masters or a doctorate, you won’t amount to anything:

   “Being willing to sit in a boring classroom for 12 years, and then sign up for four more years and then sign up for three or more years after that—well, that’s a pretty good measure of your willingness to essentially do what you’re told,” Bowles says.

   No Mr. Bowles, that a pretty darn good measure of your willingness to work your tail off and become a wealthy, productive, positive member of our society!

   I don’t believe for a second he knows anything about running a business; I can also assure you he would boldly identify himself as a progressive, not a liberal.

   The more government expands, the more liberty contracts!

   posted by graham on 2-8-2010 at 3:10 pm

5. I read the stories about the nurses too, and it is ridiculous. It reads like a tv show. I can’t believe that this is even an issue. The nurses should be 100% covered by the whistle-blower protection based on the article. The sheriff shouldn’t have even been involved in the investigation against the doctor if he wasn’t able to keep neutral face about it. It basically is suggested that, in the opinion of the sheriff, the doctor can do no wrong. I am interested to see how this ends.

   posted by Shash on 2-8-2010 at 3:11 pm

6. Samuel Bowles has proven to be an economic ignoramus. If I were you I would avoid posting such rubbish in the future, Miss Cellania.

   Nearly every point made could be addressed and demolished. Here are a couple:

   “Many economists don’t study things empirically—that is, by looking at things in the real, physical world.

   Instead, they stay safely within the land of theory.

   Theoryland may be the only place the “equality-efficiency trade-off” really works. Just to prove it wrong, Bowles

   charts the concept on a whiteboard at SFI.”

   Most economists, actually, do study things empirically, but they’re also phony economists, like Bowles.
   Human action is purposeful behavior. Man acts to substitute a more satisfactory state of affairs for a less satisfactory. Economics is an a priori science. It is a branch of praxeology, the study of human action.
   No economic theorem is sound if it is not firmly fastened upon this rationale by an incontestable chain of reasoning. A statement asserted without such a fastening is arbitrary and floats in the air. It is impossible to deal with a distinct segment of economics if one does not enclose it in a thorough system of action. From the irrefutable foundation of the classification of human action praxeology and economics go step by step by means of discursive logic.

   The empirical sciences begin from singular events and advance from the unique and individual to the more universal. Their analysis is contingent on specialization. They can take measures concerning fragments without observing the whole field. An economist can never be a specialist. In investigating any issue an economist must always look upon the entire system.

   “That’s almost certainly false,” Bowles tells SFR. “Prior to about 20 years ago, most economists thought that inequality just greased the wheels of progress. Overwhelmingly now, people who study it empirically think that it’s sand in the wheels.”

   Bowles is absolutely incorrect. More inequality is a result of having “sand in the wheels”, not in and of itself the sand. It is intruiging how real wages for the poorer income earners have been plummeting since the 70s, which is an era known for exorbitant welfare and government spending. Bowles is operating from faulty premises, and thus is advocating faulty assumptions.

   posted by Karen on 2-8-2010 at 4:25 pm

7. Most Americans are willing and WANT to work for what they get. Few people enjoy handouts. I am one of many college grads who can’t get my foot in the door because baby boomers won’t leave. I’m tired of people assuming we don’t want to work hard and just want things handed to us. Apparently the only way to get ahead in America is to manipulate and steal from the poor. (Or just never retire because you need to pay for your 3 cars, mansion and boat)

   Being forced to give banks money to save them, so they can make us pay MORE to get our own money BACK is completely retarded!

   I will never own a home. I will never have children. I’m 30 and I haven’t even started my career (despite years of trying). You should all know that I am not the only one going down this path.

   posted by tw on 2-8-2010 at 8:35 pm

8. The video of Vancouver was so amazingly beautiful. At the beginning i loved how the clouds looked like waves. It was so pretty. And the song went so well with it.

   ReCaptcha: Sledded Resentment

   posted by tess on 2-8-2010 at 8:51 pm

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