Short Story: Afternoons with Aunt B.

I spent my eleventh summer tagging along with Aunt B. Uncle Bobby was on another of his long absences. He was in the automotive business. When I asked why he was away so much, I was told Uncle Bobby went on extended trips to deliver consignments of cars to the owner’s out of state dealerships. Continue reading Short Story: Afternoons with Aunt B.

One, two, ten, twenty five… independence fifty years on

One,
Belgrade, 1963


Two, I had no idea, at only two, but had I, I would have said “eff you.”

By ten, I knew. As I was being whisked away, I wrote you “eff you.”

By fifteen, as I was being whisked away again, I wrote you “eff you.”

At twenty five, when you made a surprise appearance when you had someone for me to fix for you but nothing for me, I told you “eff you.”

At fifty, when you sent an emissary to convince me to invalidate my very existence for you, I called you and gave you my final “eff you.”

See that face gazing back at you? It’s me, saying “eff you.”
Washington, DC, 1962

Dean Baker: GDP and the Public Sector | CEPR

Dean Baker

By Dean Baker
July 13, 2014

Lew Daly has an interesting, but unfortunately misdirected, critique of the measurement of the public sector’s contribution to GDP. He notes several areas, such as infrastructure and education spending, where the government contributes to our well-being, but which are not directly picked up in GDP as contributions from the government. While the point is true, the piece fundamentally mistakes what GDP is and also grossly understates the government’s role in the economy. Continue reading Dean Baker: GDP and the Public Sector | CEPR

Paul Krugman: The Fiscal Fizzle | NYTimes |

An Imaginary Budget and Debt Crisis

Paul Krugman

For much of the past five years readers of the political and economic news were left in little doubt that budget deficits and rising debt were the most important issue facing America. Serious people constantly issued dire warnings that the United States risked turning into another Greece any day now. President Obama appointed a special, bipartisan commission to propose solutions to the alleged fiscal crisis, and spent much of his first term trying to negotiate a Grand Bargain on the budget with Republicans.

That bargain never happened, because Republicans refused to consider any deal that raised taxes. Nonetheless, debt and deficits have faded from the news. And there’s a good reason for that disappearing act: The whole thing turns out to have been a false alarm.

Continue reading Paul Krugman: The Fiscal Fizzle | NYTimes |

Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions | The Atlantic

By Derek Thompson

In August, Science published a landmark study concluding that poverty, itself, hurts our ability to make decisions about school, finances, and life, imposing a mental burden similar to losing 13 IQ points.

It was widely seen as a counter-argument to claims that poor people are “to blame” for bad decisions and a rebuke to policies that withhold money from the poorest families unless they behave in a certain way. After all, if being poor leads to bad decision-making (as opposed to the other way around), then giving cash should alleviate the cognitive burdens of poverty, all on its own. Continue reading Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions | The Atlantic

Watch: ReMoved: A powerful movie short on foster care

From the YouTube page for the movie:

Published on Mar 11, 2014

We made ReMoved with the desire that it would be used to serve in bringing awareness, encourage, and be useful in foster parent training, and raising up foster parents. .
If you would like to use the film for any of these reasons, the answer is yes.
If you need a downloadable version, you can download it here:
vimeo.com/ondemand/removed

Originally created for the 168 Film Festival, ReMoved follows the emotional story through the eyes of a young girl taken from her home and placed into foster care. Continue reading Watch: ReMoved: A powerful movie short on foster care

CommonHealth: How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain | WBUR

Remember “Mozart Makes You Smarter”?

A 1993 study of college students showed them performing better on spatial reasoning tests after listening to a Mozart sonata. That led to claims that listening to Mozart temporarily increases IQs — and to a raft of products purporting to provide all sorts of benefits to the brain.

Continue reading CommonHealth: How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain | WBUR

Edward #Snowden urges professionals to encrypt client communications | The Guardian

 and 


The NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has urged lawyers, journalists,doctors, accountants, priests and others with a duty to protect confidentiality to upgrade security in the wake of the spy surveillance revelations. Continue reading Edward #Snowden urges professionals to encrypt client communications | The Guardian