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I did KNPR’s State of Nevada show this morning on methamphetamine addiction. By far the most powerful speaker was a recovering meth user, whom I respect for his guts to go on the air and talk about what he has been through and continues to go through. This was the first of a two part [...]
Archive for July, 2011
July 25th, 2011
Category: Climate change
A map showing just how isolated the USA is in its do-nothing policy on climate change.
July 25th, 2011
Category: Debt ceiling
Of course I’m waiting like everyone else to discover what the President has to say tonight. But here’s a hint about what’s actually going on: I met today with a civil servant who was deeply involved in the planning for a government shut-down back when the House GOP threatened not to extend the Continuing Resolution. [...]
July 25th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
Did the ratings agencies play favorites in rating MBS bond risk? Were they more likely to grant “AAA” ratings to larger issuers of MBS bonds? Phil Strahan and his co-authors say “yes”. Here is their abstract: “We examine whether rating agencies (Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch) reward large issuers of mortgage-backed securities, who bring substantial business, [...]
July 25th, 2011
This case tests my own ambivalent views.
July 24th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
After reading this interview, I’m starting to think that Larry Summers was wrong about Professor West. If UCLA could make some senior faculty hires, I would certainly support hiring both of them.
July 24th, 2011
A small and a big thing about British actress Joanna Lumley. The small thing is how remarkably often she is referred to in the newspapers as the “lovely Joanna Lumley”. Not that she isn’t lovely, but many other lovely actresses are not referred to in this fashion with such frequency, suggesting that the human ear [...]
July 24th, 2011
Category: Drug Policy
I was recently on Nevada Public Radio with Allen St. Pierre, who is a leading marijuana legalization activist. We had similar views on the likely shape of a legal marijuana industry, namely that it would be corporate dominated, employ armies of lobbyists and fight to keep taxes and health and safety regulations as minimal as [...]
July 24th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
Tom Friedman’s piece nudged me to click on Americanselect . A little bit more political competition can’t be a bad thing? Can the Internet reduce the barriers to entry and the power of “smoke filled rooms”? Will incumbent politicians change their policy positions in response to this new competition?
July 23rd, 2011
Category: Gay marriage
His position on states’ rights with respect to marriage points to the repeal of DOMA. But would he really go there?