Cynics will look at the Groupon IPO and see a seminal event in the history of the second tech bubble: the day the bubble floated to Main Street. Here’s how the story goes: Groupon’s business model isn’t defensible, because anyone can set up an email list with coupons; its business practices aren’t profitable, indeed they’re losing … Read more
Matt Yglesias’s critique of Harvard’s “Senior Gift” provoked an interesting debate across the Ivy-league-osphere. I responded here; Emma Saunders-Hastings, a PhD student in the philosophy department, out-classed us both at The Utopian; then Yglesias responds; and now, once more, I offer my thoughts. Here’s a copy of my response, cross-posted from The Utopian: Matt Yglesias and I … Read more
Weeks into NATO’s air campaign in Libya, Obama, Cameron, and Sarkozy have reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to ousting Qaddafi. They make no mention of introducing any ground operations, but in the grand scheme, that matters little. Indeed, air power is the essence of American power; Obama has thrown America’s symbolic weight behind the Libyan rebels. … Read more
In his latest book, Why Marx Was Right, British cultural critic and academic Terry Eagleton seeks to refute what he sees as the ten most common arguments against Karl Marx and his doctrines. In the process, he provides an introduction to Marx’s ideas that is readily accessible to readers, due in no small part to … Read more
After four long years, Lupe Fiasco has finally graced listeners with what they’ve been yearning for, and the excitement and anticipation surrounding his third album, Lasers, has been tangible. After an incredible freshman album and some good tracks on his sophomore effort, critics hope this album will fortify or end the intrigue that is Lupe … Read more
Matt Damon has put together a surprising string of box office failures over the past couple of years, and his new release The Adjustment Bureau looks like the wrong candidate to break the trend. Lacking inventiveness, intensity, or a coherent plot, The Adjustment Bureau is the first flat-out bad movie Damon has headlined in quite … Read more
The King of Limbs is an ancient oak tree hidden deep in the Savernake Forest of Wiltshire, England. It’s said to be older than England itself, and few people actually know its exact location. Those few people may include Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, who named the band’s newest album after the aging behemoth. Radiohead … Read more
The United States government is in the midst of a budget crisis. The federal government has run a deficit—it has spent more than it collected in tax revenues—in all but four fiscal years since 1969, but recent deficits have reached unsustainable levels. In 2009, the government spent $1.4 trillion more than it raised, the largest … Read more
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began this year claiming, “The United States seeks a safer, more prosperous, more democratic and more equitable world.” Her words reflect the State Department’s emphasis on cooperation and diplomacy as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. The 2011 foreign aid budget is nominally based on a “3D” approach to U.S. … Read more
When he accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1992, Bill Clinton promised “an America where we end welfare as we know it.” Clinton fulfilled his pledge four years later when Congressional legislation replaced the former welfare entitlement system with the current program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). During the late 1990s, the reformed … Read more