Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
Saturday, June 27, 2009
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PDF Here are the top five most popular articles that ran at Reason.com from May 24-31. Read 'em once again or for the first time.
Sonia Sotomayor on Gun Rights and Racial Preferences: Why libertarians-and everyone who believes in limited government-should worry about Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Damon W. Root (5/26)
California's Silent Big Spenders: Political class refuses to explain why the state requires hysterical spending growth Matt Welch (5/28)
Is the Abortion Debate Changing?: Understanding the latest opinion poll results David Harsanyi (5/27)
Nostalgianomics: Liberal economists pine for days no liberal should want to revisit. Brink Lindsey (5/26)
What Norm Coleman & Al Franken Have Taught America: The Senate is carrying more dead weight than an Uruguayan rugby team Nick Gillespie (5/29)
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Wb News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Boston News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: News Article]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: News Headlines]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Kenosha News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
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posted by 71353 @ 5:38 PM,
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THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE AMERICAN WORKER.
PrintEmailPDF What's the administration's specific aim in bailing out GM? I'll give you my theory later.
For now, though, some background. First and most broadly, it doesn't make sense for America to try to maintain or enlarge manufacturing as a portion of the economy. Even if the U.S. were to seal its borders and bar any manufactured goods from coming in from abroad -- something I don't recommend -- we'd still be losing manufacturing jobs. That's mainly because of technology.
When we think of manufacturing jobs, we tend to imagine old-time assembly lines populated by millions of blue-collar workers who had well-paying jobs with good benefits. But that picture no longer describes most manufacturing. I recently toured a U.S. factory containing two employees and 400 computerized robots. The two live people sat in front of computer screens and instructed the robots. In a few years this factory won't have a single employee on site, except for an occasional visiting technician who repairs and upgrades the robots.
Factory jobs are vanishing all over the world. Even China is losing them. The Chinese are doing more manufacturing than ever, but they're also becoming far more efficient at it. They've shuttered most of the old state-run factories. Their new factories are chock full of automated and computerized machines. As a result, they don't need as many manufacturing workers as before.
Economists at Alliance Capital Management took a look at employment trends in 20 large economies and found that between 1995 and 2002 -- before the asset bubble and subsequent bust -- 22 million manufacturing jobs disappeared. The U.S. wasn't even the biggest loser. We lost about 11 percent of our manufacturing jobs in that period, but the Japanese lost 16 percent of theirs. Even developing nations lost factory jobs: Brazil suffered a 20 percent decline, and China had a 15 percent drop.
What happened to manufacturing? In two words, higher productivity. As productivity rises, employment falls because fewer people are needed. In this, manufacturing is following the same trend as agriculture. A century ago, almost 30 percent of adult Americans worked on a farm. Nowadays, fewer than 5 percent do. That doesn't mean the U.S. failed at agriculture. Quite the opposite. American agriculture is a huge success story. America can generate far larger crops than a century ago with far fewer people. New technologies, more efficient machines, new methods of fertilizing, better systems of crop rotation, and efficiencies of large scale have all made farming much more productive.
Manufacturing is analogous. In America and elsewhere around the world, it's a success. Since 1995, even as manufacturing employment has dropped around the world, global industrial output has risen more than 30 percent.
More after the jump.
--Robert Reich
THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE AMERICAN WORKER.
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE AMERICAN WORKER.
[Source: Market News]
THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE AMERICAN WORKER.
[Source: News Leader]
THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE AMERICAN WORKER.
[Source: Rome News]
posted by 71353 @ 4:58 PM,
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Is Brian Austin Green Moving to One Tree Hill?
PrintEmailPDF 
Does Brian Austin Green look like a "Clayton" to you?
Well, maybe they can change the character's name, because the alum of Beverly Hills 90210 and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is in talks to join the CW's One Tree Hill in the series regular?role of ...
Other Links From TVGuide.com
Is Brian Austin Green Moving to One Tree Hill?
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Is Brian Austin Green Moving to One Tree Hill?
[Source: Valley News]
Is Brian Austin Green Moving to One Tree Hill?
[Source: Channels News]
posted by 71353 @ 4:29 PM,
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Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
PrintEmailPDF What do you make of this story? Either Robert Gibbs misspoke in raising this Queen business, or someone in the Obama White House was supposed to handle this chore and didn't get around to it. Weird.
I think it's pretty clear at this point that Obama has some kind of thing about poor Gordon Brown. He doesn't really like the guy. Maybe it's just that Brown is very unpopular, and Obama is suspicious that Brown would try to bask in Obama's refracted glow. But that wouldn't explain non-watchable DVDs.
The more chilling possibility, of course, is that it isn't really about Brown and that Obama just doesn't like England that much. Could this be possible?
When Barack and I were growing up -- we're about the same age -- Britain was the coolest thing going. The Beatles, the Stones, everything that came after -- I would have killed to have a British accent when I was young. I doubt he was immune to this. Usually these emotional impulses, the ones that get implanted into your DNA when you're very young. But maybe he was immune to it. Strange.
Hence, the contest: Since Obama gave Brown DVDs about America, what DVDs about Britain would you suggest he see in order that he get a better, fuller, more nuanced picture of your great nation? I don't necessarily mean patriotic or happy-talk movies, just great movies that are very British. My list: This Happy Breed; Brief Encounter; The Entertainer; The Four Feathers; A Hard Day's Night; Last Orders (very underappreciated); Look Back in Anger; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; something by Hitchcock, and something by Powell and Pressburger, though I'm not sure what.
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Nascar News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Mma News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Home News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Mexico News]
posted by 71353 @ 3:39 PM,
,
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
PrintEmailPDF What do you make of this story? Either Robert Gibbs misspoke in raising this Queen business, or someone in the Obama White House was supposed to handle this chore and didn't get around to it. Weird.
I think it's pretty clear at this point that Obama has some kind of thing about poor Gordon Brown. He doesn't really like the guy. Maybe it's just that Brown is very unpopular, and Obama is suspicious that Brown would try to bask in Obama's refracted glow. But that wouldn't explain non-watchable DVDs.
The more chilling possibility, of course, is that it isn't really about Brown and that Obama just doesn't like England that much. Could this be possible?
When Barack and I were growing up -- we're about the same age -- Britain was the coolest thing going. The Beatles, the Stones, everything that came after -- I would have killed to have a British accent when I was young. I doubt he was immune to this. Usually these emotional impulses, the ones that get implanted into your DNA when you're very young. But maybe he was immune to it. Strange.
Hence, the contest: Since Obama gave Brown DVDs about America, what DVDs about Britain would you suggest he see in order that he get a better, fuller, more nuanced picture of your great nation? I don't necessarily mean patriotic or happy-talk movies, just great movies that are very British. My list: This Happy Breed; Brief Encounter; The Entertainer; The Four Feathers; A Hard Day's Night; Last Orders (very underappreciated); Look Back in Anger; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; something by Hitchcock, and something by Powell and Pressburger, though I'm not sure what.
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Nascar News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Nascar News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Mexico News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Advertising News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: The Daily News]
Queen Elizabeth's D-Day anniversary snub, and a Tomasky blog contest
[Source: Boston News]
posted by 71353 @ 3:28 PM,
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Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
PrintEmailPDF Sonia Sotomayor, Pres. Obama's pick for the SCOTUS, heads to the Hill tomorrow for meetings with members. Per the WH, here is her busy itinerary:
Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Min. Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: Salem News]
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: Broadcasting News]
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: News Station]
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: The Daily News]
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: Nascar News]
Sotomayor's Cap. Hill Tour
[Source: Advertising News]
posted by 71353 @ 2:21 PM,
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