I’ve recently been part of a few discussions about the pros and cons of fracking. It’s a huge issue in my hometown; citizens there recently had a ballot item that would have banned fracking, and they voted it down. Fracking creates jobs. And it pollutes groundwater. It’s not sustainable. But do you know what an… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Political Discourse
Edward Snowden and whistleblowers in the modern world
Edward Snowden has been revealed as the man who informed the Guardian about the NSA’s telecommunications surveillance program. He’ll end up getting into a heap of trouble, too, but I am glad that he did it. In the olden days, reporters found out information and protected their sources. And if someone was angry about what… [Read More]
Felix Salmon, Thomas Friedman, and 401(k) plans
Last week, Thomas Friedman wrote a breathy column for the New York Times about how it’s a 401(k) world. The idea being that just as we have responsibility for our own retirement funds – which is good for some people – we have responsibility for more of our careers – which is also good for… [Read More]
Money Smart Week: Money, careers, and literature
This semester, I’m teaching a class at UIC on business, finance, and American culture. It’s a lot of fun to teach, and (I think) the students get a lot out of it. The class has started making their final presentations, and the first batch was really good. Three of the books assigned are The Jungle,… [Read More]
Income inequality in the U.S.
I spent a lot of time last week pulling up charts on income inequality in the U.S. to use in class.This chart is from the Congressional Budget Office and shows the difference in income distribution between 1979 and 2007. It doesn’t look good, and that was before the recession. The interesting thing is that there… [Read More]
