Monthly Archives: February, 2012

Gideon Rachman writes in the Financial Times that the west should avoid getting involved militarily in Syria (The Case for Staying Out of Syria). Intervention often makes the situation worse. The advocates of intervention are moral absolutes, whereas those who favor non-involvement are moral relativists. The latter, by weighing one evil against another, inevitably sound [...]

The New York Times has a front-page story about Barack Obama’s approach to the deficit, which concludes by saying he thinks there is a good chance for a compromise along the lines of Bowles-Simpson after the fall election. The Times article (Obama’s Deficit Dilemma) claims the president has adopted the panel’s ideas, while seeming not [...]

The auto industry bailout will undoubtedly be an important issue in the fall election, as it already is in the Republican primaries. Barack Obama says it has been a success and his Republican opponent, whoever he is, will be on the other side of the argument.
The New York Times writes editorially (A Million Jobs) that [...]

When we elect people to high office the quality we should look for is good judgment. That is more important than ideology. Ideology often interferes with good judgment, because key aspects of reality tend to be ignored. A pragmatic ideologist is better than a pure ideologue.
An ideologist behaves like a train, and a pragmatic is [...]

The Financial Times comments editorially on rising oil prices (America’s Rising Petrol Prices), and attacks Republicans for promising to cut back prices. It should be obvious, says FT, that this is not possible in the short run.
The FT goes on to say that “Mr. Obama is almost as prone to infantilise the issue as his [...]

The pundits have mostly ignored the last portion of Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, when he compared American society with the military. Obama said this:
“You know, one of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of [...]

Although the New York Times editorial writers have not yet commented on the lead story last weekend about nearly half of all Americans being dependent on government programs there are four letters from readers today on the topic. And, a few days ago Paul Krugman wrote that Americans who claim to be conservatives are not [...]

Some people theorize that Barack Obama wants America to have a dialogue about condoms to distract us from focusing on the lack of jobs.
This might not be entirely accurate because the controversy about Catholics paying for contraceptives was inevitable, since Obamacare requires that all insurance plans must include birth control coverage. It seems a stretch [...]

Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times that many people in America who claim they are conservatives are hypocrites, because they rely on government checks and still vote for Republican candidates (Moochers Against Welfare). He supports his conclusion by referring to the Times report on the safety net, which said that nearly half of [...]

In theory, it should be possible to disagree with people without resorting to personal attacks. After all, most people inherit their beliefs. If you happened to be born in Finland you are not likely to become a Buddhist. As we mature our beliefs are usually modified by experience, but since we live in different environments [...]