Category Archives: Business

Blue vs. Red State Inequality

Today, David Brooks published an intriguing opinion editorial about the difference between Blue and Red State inequality. Brooks’ definitions of Blue and Red State inequality are necessarily fuzzy. You might be able to evaluate the issue from a quantitative standpoint, … Continue reading

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Posted in Business, Education, Finance and Economics, Leadership, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

ROARR’s Guiding Principles (Part II): Small, but Not Minimal, Government Is Best

In Part I of this series, I argued that a fundamental reason our government is broken is the political selection process favoring ideological warriors over pragmatic problem solvers. I introduced my “Funnel of Futility” theory: as ideology becomes increasingly important in one’s decision-making … Continue reading

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Posted in Blogging, Business, Clean Energy, Clean Tech, Climate Change, Defense, Education, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, Food Security, Healthcare, International Security, Leadership, Mathematics, Media, Peak Oil, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Taxes, Technology, Writing | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

ROARR’s Guiding Principles (Part I): Data-Driven Decision-Making Produces Pragmatic Public Policy

Since starting this blog almost ten months ago, I intended to post this site’s guiding principles. Yet ten months into this experiment, I still haven’t done so. So without further ado, here is the first of seven principles that embody the philosophies underlying Reflections … Continue reading

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Posted in Blogging, Business, Clean Energy, Clean Tech, Climate Change, Defense, Education, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, Food Security, Healthcare, International Security, Leadership, Mathematics, Media, Peak Oil, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Taxes, Technology, Writing | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Americans Distrust Government, Disapprove of Congress

A recent New York Times/CBS News poll shows that 89 percent of Americans surveyed distrust government to do the right thing, and that 84 percent disapprove of Congress. Interestingly, only 46 percent disapprove of President Obama’s job performance, a potential … Continue reading

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Posted in Business, Media, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Taxes, Unions | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Political Orientation Poll

It’s been nearly ten months since I started this blog, and I wanted to get a sense for what type of audience I have. My hypothesis is that most readers are in the moderate range (both liberal and conservative), but … Continue reading

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Posted in Blogging, Business, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Cost per Job in DOE’s Loan Program Qualifies for One-Percent Status

As of today, October 22, 2011, the cost per job created (or saved) from the Department of Energy’s Federal Loan Guarantee Program is $554,217.61 (i.e., $35.9B in federal loan guarantees divided by 64,776 jobs). The most famous of these loan guarantees was the … Continue reading

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Posted in Business, California, Clean Energy, Clean Tech, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics, Taxes | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Occupy Wall Street Theme Song

My precocious 9-year old daughter came up with the idea for this song sung to the tune of the Fraggle Rock theme song. Then, my wife and I ran with it. Enjoy! Protest your cares away Work is for some … Continue reading

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Posted in Business, Humor, Media, Music, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Texas, Unions | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who Are the One Percent?

As the Occupiers are busy sharpening their pitchforks for their next reenactment of Children of the Corn, I thought it might be instructive to share a nice little tool from the Wall Street Journal. The tool allows you to enter … Continue reading

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Posted in Blogging, Business, Finance and Economics, Humor, Media, Politics, Socialism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Who Are the Occupiers?

Aaron Rutkoff at the Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday summarizing a scientific poll of the protestors. The results are relatively unsurprising as they reveal that the plurality of the protestors are young and supportive of left-wing causes. They are also disproportionately un- or … Continue reading

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Posted in Blogging, Business, Finance and Economics, Humor, Media, Politics, Socialism | Tagged , , , , , , | 26 Comments

“Real World”: Tea Party?

Well, no, actually. That would be calling attention to a conservative movement, and MTV likely wouldn’t want to have any part in legitimizing that. But if you support what appears to be an anarcho-Marxist movement that still has no concrete … Continue reading

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Posted in Blogging, Business, Finance and Economics, Humor, Media, Politics, Socialism | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments