- NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN VIRGINIA NEEDS REFORM: RECOMMENDATIONS TO GOVERNOR TERRY McAULIFFE [original letter 2013; revised March, 4, 2023]VIRGINIA’S DILEMMA Two major Virginia natural resource action proposals received national attention in recent years: offshore oil and gas drilling, and a proposal for uranium […]
- Infrastructure then and now: why our projects are so complex, delayed, and expensiveConsider the Chrysler Building on Manhattan’s east side. With 77 floors and standing 1047 feet high, it was the world’s tallest building when it was […]
- LIFE AND TIMES IN THE MOST POSITIVE DECADE IN UNITED STATES HISTORYReport for the 65th reunion of the Harvard class of 1952, with comparative and historical notes
- The U.S. Imbalance in ManufacturingThe U.S. has a long tradition for entrepreneurialism and breakthroughs in business and industry. It was the manufacturing powerhouse of the world into the 1960s.
- From Leader to Laggard in EnvironmentHow conflict over environmental regulations led to U.S. polarization and political paralysis A 2020 poll on voter views about climate change by the Pew Trust […]
- A Look At American Television News – And Other NewsAs a policy researcher, I spend work time digging into the background and history of special political issues. I get mainstream media news from The […]
- Election Of the U.S. President By Direct Vote?A recent essay (Ergül 2021) suggests that states could choose electors in a way that would effectively assure election of the U.S. President by direct […]
- Is The Police Chief’s Role in the Floyd Case Underrated?Minneapolis Police Department Chief, Medaria Arradondo, has gotten neutral or favorable treatment in the media. This may be in part because he was the first […]
- The Coronavirus signals need for reform of U.S. policies for approval of vaccines and advanced curesI sent a message similar to this essay to Robyn Dixon, author of an article on Russian science and vaccine development in the Washington Post […]
- Patronage Policies And Federal Agencies’ PerformanceIntroduction The administration of President Donald Trump culminated in partisan antagonism of an intensity not seen since the Civil War. The president’s appointees in federal […]
- America’s Paradox: Low Taxes on Corporations — and Higher Taxes on the Execs Who Run Them Could Stimulate U.S. ManufacturingU.S. progressives call for higher corporate and personal taxes. Conservatives want no tax increases. Given that the Biden “green” plan at its core requires a […]
- DONALD TRUMP’s “IGNORANCE”Donald Trump’s lack of regard for truth during his presidential tenure, with (more than 20,000 documented lies and prevarications (Kessler et al, 2020), and behaviors […]
- IT’S A CRAZY COUNTRYU.S. leftists have deep suspicion about anything related to market methods; U.S. conservatives have little trust in government. The Europeans don’t have the U.S.’s manic […]
- Wealth And Taxes From Aristotle To TodayAmerican billionaires are unlikely to appreciate Aristotle’s observations about wealthy people (On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse Book 2, Chapter 16. Transl. by George A. Kennedy, […]
- When NPR shut down its user comment line in 2016 it missed a major opportunitySummary NPR’s comment line was obviously troubled when it was shut down in 2016. But there had been no guidelines for contributions to it. Nor […]
- The real story under the controversy over offshore drillingOn January 4 2018 Interior Secretary Zinke announced a plan to open up 90% of the U.S.’s offshore Exclusive Economic Zone, equivalent to more than […]
- Confederate Monuments, Road Signs, And School Names: Don’t Put Them Out Of Sight And MindWhy I’m writing about this subject. Current actions to remove Confederate statues and change the names of schools are in the news in Virginia. I […]
- A premature goodbye to Gwen Ifill, stellar journalistI was shocked beyond words to lose Gwen Ifill so early, so prematurely at 61. Quite aside from being a pioneering African American Gwen was […]
- Trump’s audacious campaign and Achilles heelsIn spite of Donald Trump’s lead in the Republican primary campaign, until December 2015 there was wide scepticism that he would survive. His bombastic speechmaking, […]
- TRUMP CARDSWhy Donald Trump leads Republican candidates in spite of breaking all the rules Trump confounds the political experts The conventional wisdom of political columnists up […]
- Ernest Manheim’s Encounter With Jomo Kenyatta at the London School of EconomicsOn March 8, 2013 results of the presidential election in Kenya gave Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the famed first President of independent Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, a […]
- Seymour Martin Lipset and American ExceptionalismIf everything else about him is forgotten, the noted American sociologist, Seymour Lipset (1922-2006) will surely be remembered for coining the term, “American Exceptionalism” through […]
- The U.S. has entered a 21st Century “Gilded Age”. Can earlier history offer insights on reform?The “Gilded Age” from 1870 to ~1890 was a time of rampant public and private corruption. Congressional seats could be bought and sold. “Robber Barons” […]
- Natural Resource Management Reform: Recommendations To Governor Terry McAuliffeEMining of a major uranium deposit in Virginia has multiple positive potentials for the state and the nation. But it has little chance for approval under Virginia’s outdated and inadequate natural resource management structures.
- A 19th Century French Observer Sheds Light On America’s Unstable PoliticsAlexis De Tocqueville arrived in the United States in 1831. The French nobleman, superbly educated and with Enlightenment ideals, came with a companion to study democracy […]
- A Review of Trade Books That Warned of the 2008 Real Estate and Financial MeltdownOn October 23, 2008 former Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, arguably the most respected financial expert in the U.S., testified grim-faced in a Congressional hearing that the banking crash had taken him by surprise:
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