Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not Inevitable | NYTimes

By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

AN insidious trend has developed over this past third of a century. A country that experienced shared growth after World War II began to tear apart, so much so that when the Great Recession hit in late 2007, one could no longer ignore the fissures that had come to define the American economic landscape. How did this “shining city on a hill” become the advanced country with the greatest level of inequality?

One stream of the extraordinary discussion set in motion by Thomas Piketty’s timely, important book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has settled on the idea that violent extremes of wealth and income are inherent to capitalism. In this scheme, we should view the decades after World War II — a period of rapidly falling inequality — as an aberration.

This is actually a superficial reading of Mr. Piketty’s work, which provides an institutional context for understanding the deepening of inequality over time. Unfortunately, that part of his analysis received somewhat less attention than the more fatalistic-seeming aspects. Continue reading Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not Inevitable | NYTimes

Gail Collins: The Abortion Wars Rage On – NYTimes.com

Gail Collins

Let’s talk personhood, people.

Personhood is an anti-abortion movement that holds that life begins at conception, giving fertilized eggs all the rights of a human being. It might make it impossible to kidnap them for in-vitro fertilization. It could outlaw some forms of contraception.

Senator Rand Paul claims every fertilized egg is protected by the 14th Amendment. Many current Senate candidates are personhood supporters, including Cory Gardner, who is running a very close race in Colorado against Mark Udall. Continue reading Gail Collins: The Abortion Wars Rage On – NYTimes.com

Where Are the Hardest Places to Live in the U.S. | NYTimes

To use the interactive features of this map, you must follow the link to the New York Times article at the bottom of this post.

 

By Alan Flippen

Annie Lowrey writes in the Times Magazine this week about the troubles of Clay County, Ky., which by several measures is the hardest place in America to live.

The Upshot came to this conclusion by looking at six data points for each county in the United States: education (percentage of residents with at least a bachelor’s degree), median household income, unemployment rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity. We then averaged each county’s relative rank in these categories to create an overall ranking. Continue reading Where Are the Hardest Places to Live in the U.S. | NYTimes

My Takeaway from SCOTUS’ Buffer Zones Decision

By Rima Regas

Various pundits, by now, have weighed in on today’s Supreme Court decision striking down Massachusetts’ buffer zone law for abortion clinics. To be sure, I don’t disagree that this decision will make it much harder for already vulnerable women to get the care they seek. To be sure, this is a blow to women. There is no doubt, were we talking about a buffer zone at clinics where men receive erectile dysfunction treatment, not only would buffer zones be just dandy, but walls would be mandated, for extra protection and privacy.

This unanimous decision implies that when there is a choice between women’s right to privacy or the right of a stranger to tell you about their beliefs, whether you are interested in hearing them or not, you have no right to choose to avoid it. Continue reading My Takeaway from SCOTUS’ Buffer Zones Decision

So Much for Obamacare Not Working – NYTimes

Paul Krugman

Have you been following the news about Obamacare? The Affordable Care Act has receded from the front page, but information about how it’s going keeps coming in — and almost all the news is good. Indeed, health reform has been on a roll ever since March, when it became clear that enrollment would surpass expectations despite the teething problems of the federal website.

What’s interesting about this success story is that it has been accompanied at every step by cries of impending disaster. At this point, by my reckoning, the enemies of health reform are 0 for 6. That is, they made at least six distinct predictions about how Obamacare would fail — every one of which turned out to be wrong. Continue reading So Much for Obamacare Not Working – NYTimes

How VNS Therapy for Epilepsy Works| Cyberonics

There are Epilepsy patients for whom medications are not an option. For those patients, alternatives to pharmaceuticals include the Ketogenic Diet. A subset of those for whom the Ketogenic diet offers at least some measurable relief, the addition of a VNS implant can mean effective control of epileptic seizures.


How #VNS Therapy works

VNS is short for vagus nerve stimulation — that is, stimulation of the nerve responsible for relaying messages between the brain and certain parts of the body. Continue reading How VNS Therapy for Epilepsy Works| Cyberonics

More than three quarters of conservatives say the poor “have it easy” | Washington Post

By Christopher Ingraham

The Pew Research Center is out with part two of its huge survey of American politics. The first part, released a couple weeks ago, focused on political polarization. For this round, Pew’s researchers have created a political typology which “sorts voters into cohesive groups based on their attitudes and values.” There’s plenty to say about this – and you can see where you fall in Pew’s typology quiz here! – but for now I want to focus on the chart above, particularly the left half. Continue reading More than three quarters of conservatives say the poor “have it easy” | Washington Post

Gail Collins: Mississippi Goes for the Money | NYTimes

Gail Collins

How Did Brett Favre Help Thad Cochran in His Senate Race?

Mississippi has sent us a message. I believe it boils down to: We Want Our Stuff.

Big election night! As you no doubt have heard, Senator Thad Cochran, a Republican who specializes in sending billions of dollars in federal pork back into his state, defeated a Tea Party challenger who ran against government spending. Continue reading Gail Collins: Mississippi Goes for the Money | NYTimes