Excellent readings from the last few weeks
Bad Education - Malcolm Harris, n+1 mag
An excellent primer on student debt and why this up to $800 billion bail-out will hit the US federal balance sheet pretty soon. Not necessarily lots of new information, just an overall excellent piece.
Russia’s Crime of the Century - Jamison Firestone, Foreign Policy
It’s cliché to say that organized crime is the Russian state, but this story about a lawyer tortured and killed for uncovering blatant theft of hundreds of millions of dollars by Russian Interior Ministry officials makes you wonder just how much the Russian people put up with. This is sickening.
The “Pedophile’s Paradise” - Brandon Kiley, The Strangler
What does the Catholic Church do with pedophile priests who have abused kids again and again? Apparently, ship them all to Alaska and let them unwrath hell on unsuspecting kids. I don’t get why people still donate. Their money directly goes to shutting up abused kids by paying out huge settlements.
Euro vs. Invasion of the Zombie Banks - Tyler Cowen, New York Times
Why do we so often postpone admitting that short-run patches simply aren’t going to work? Or: When will Europe’s politicians finally face reality?
Design for Working - Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
Excellent thoughts derived from reading Jane Jacobs about how ideas flow and how a functioning, modern workplace should look like.
What Aren’t They Thinking? - Robin Hanson, Overcoming Bias
Robin Hanson is the king of meta-observations. ‘Nuff said.
