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Meta
Category Archives: Politics
Bush vs. Obama: Unemployment (October 2011 Jobs Data)
Update: Click here for the most recent jobs statistics. On the first Friday of every month, I update the unemployment numbers so that I can compare the unemployment rate under President George W. Bush with the unemployment rate under President Obama at that … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics
Tagged Bush vs. Obama, President Bush, President Obama, Unemployment
30 Comments
Profiles in Incompetence: Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland
Sometimes the decisions and actions of a single individual can lead to disaster. It does not happen often, because most good leaders surround themselves with people who help them compensate for their blind spots. Mayor Jean Quan is not one of those … Continue reading
Posted in Business, California, Crime, Finance and Economics, Leadership, Media, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Taxes, Unions
Tagged An Open Letter to the Citizens of Oakland from the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, Frank Ogawa Plaza, Incompetence, Mayor Jean Quan, Oakland Police Officer's Association, Port of Oakland
6 Comments
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
The Selfish Generation
Earlier this month, AARP released the video above, which typifies every stereotype many members of my generation hold about Baby Boomers. Namely that they lived it up in the sixties, led extremely comfortable and self-indulgent lives built on the backs of the … Continue reading
Posted in Finance and Economics, Healthcare, Media, Policy, Politics, Social Security, Socialism, Taxes
Tagged AARP, Baby Boomers
10 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
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 Democrats, Reflections of a Rational Republican, Republicans, ROARR
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
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 Democrats, Reflections of a Rational Republican, Republicans, ROARR
12 Comments
How Will Occupy Wall Street End?
Commentators have engaged in a great deal of speculation about how they believe the Occupy Wall Street movement will evolve over time. Will it end violently like it did in Oakland? Will it become an enduring movement that forever changes … Continue reading
Posted in California, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Socialism, Taxes
Tagged America, Democrats, Oakland, Occupy Wall Street, OWS, Polls
17 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
Posted in Business, Media, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Taxes, Unions
Tagged Decision 2012, Democrats, Jobs, Jobs Bill, Polls, President Obama, Republicans
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
Posted in Blogging, Business, Politics
Tagged Conservatives, Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, Republicans
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
Reflections of a Rational Republican 