Category Archives: Politics

IS THERE HOPE FOR A BETTER NOMINATION PROCESS?

IS THERE HOPE FOR A BETTER NOMINATION PROCESS? Almost five years ago, I began a series of posts here, all of which expressed a hope for a better presidential nomination process. I had a quote from Michael Barone which summarized … Continue reading

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HOW CAN LOG ROLLING BE UNWOUND? (COMMENT).

HOW CAN LOG ROLLING BE UNWOUND? (COMMENT). I posted several times about looking at the budget negotiations as a chicken game and Dick Weisfelder commented here about how the negotiations turned out. A 12 person super committee was appointed to … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics | 1 Comment

WAS OUR FAMILY MIDDLE BROW?

WAS OUR FAMILY MIDDLE BROW? Looking at the Life article now, I come to the same conclusion that Elmer and I must have reached when we first encountered it. Our family was on the dividing line between Lower Middle Brow … Continue reading

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ROQUEFORT CHEESE—HIGH BROW, MIDDLE BROW OR LOW BROW?

ROQUEFORT CHEESE—HIGH BROW, MIDDLE BROW OR LOW BROW? The Clement Greenberg/ Dwight Macdonald break down of culture into Mass Culture and High Culture led to a famous set of articles by Russell Lynes which look now like a direct parody … Continue reading

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“THE ANSWER CANNOT TOTALLY BE ANSWERED.”

“THE ANSWER CANNOT TOTALLY BE ANSWERED.” I have chosen a different caption from this post on the You Knew What I Meant website, but the caption of the post is quite wonderful: “He was at the wrong place at the … Continue reading

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WHEN AUCTIONS WERE LAUGHABLE.

WHEN AUCTIONS WERE LAUGHABLE. L. Gordon Crovitz had an article in the Wall Street Journal (July 18) which describes some of the proposals for the federal government to use auctions of bandwidth rights to increase its revenues and to free … Continue reading

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THE LADY OR THE TIGER?—AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION.

THE LADY OR THE TIGER?—AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION. Francis Stockton wrote a famous story at the end of the nineteenth century—The Lady or the Tiger? My father told us the story a couple times at the dinner table. The story presents … Continue reading

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SIMPLE AND COMPLEX CHICKEN GAMES (COMMENT).

SIMPLE AND COMPLEX CHICKEN GAMES (COMMENT). Dick Weisfelder in his comment points out that in a real life game of chicken, there are more possible outcomes than that one player wins and the other loses. Think of the “chicken game” … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, History, Politics | 2 Comments

ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE POLARIZATION OF POLITICS.

ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE POLARIZATION OF POLITICS. This article by William Galston gives an explanation I had never thought of for the polarization of the political parties in recent years. I have thought the chief explanation is greatly improved gerrymandering. … Continue reading

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BRIGHT LINES IN NEGOTIATIONS.

BRIGHT LINES IN NEGOTIATIONS. Kids, I posted several times on the debt ceiling negotiations before it was resolved, and in this post I cited Thomas Schelling’s THE STRATEGY OF CONFLICT for its discussion of the game of “chicken.” Chicken is … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics | 5 Comments