In 2012 we accept as received wisdom that government is unresponsive while a competitive marketplace forces private business to offer quality customer service. So when Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX) introduced his warmly received bill, The Government Customer Service Improvement Act, we considered his announcement a truism, “When taxpayers interact with a government agency, they deserve the … Read More
The New York Times reports that on August 7 a federal judge approved a settlement between the Justice Department and Morgan Stanley. Here’s the crime. In 2006 Morgan Stanley entered into a complex swap agreement with the New York electricity company KeySpan that gave it a stake in the profits of a competitor, enabling both to … Read More
On this, the 20th anniversary of the opening of the first charter school, kudzu comes to mind. In the 1930s the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) paid farmers $8 per acre to plant this Japanese vine whose deep root structure helps reduce erosion and enrich depleted soil. Farmers planted more than 1.2 million acres. Twenty years later … Read More
Karen Piper, Professor of English at the University of Missouri in Columbia informs us of a factor behind the spring uprising in Egypt the mass media missed: the privatization of water. The American media focused mainly on internal corruption and oppression. They did not report on the role of the international superpowers in influencing the Mubarak … Read More
Nowhere is the phrase American Exceptionalism more appropriately used than when describing our debate over health care. Outside the bubble that is the United States health care is viewed as a right, recognition that sickness and injury can strike anyone despite their best efforts and an acknowledgement of a basic obligation civilized societies have to its … Read More
If chutzpah is killing your parents then throwing yourself on the mercy of the court because you’re an orphan then Peter Orszag is the poster child for chutzpah. In his recent article in Bloomberg News he insists the best fix for the post office is to take it private. Where does the chutzpah come from? Orszag … Read More
“Texas judge rules atmosphere, air is a public trust”, reads the headline in the Boston Globe. A tiny breakthrough but with big potential consequences. And as we continue to suffer from one of the most extended heat waves in US history, as major crops wither and fires rage in a dozen states, we need all the … Read More
Every June the Campaign for America’s Future hosts the well-attended and content-rich Take Back America Conference in Washington, D.C. This year Van Jones, one of the most dynamic speakers in America, with a list of accomplishments long enough that I’ll simply refer you to Wikipedia, delivered an inspiring Keynote Address in which he offered his perspective … Read More
A new video, released on June 15th by the Canadian Union for Public Employees proves you can communicate a big idea–the privatization of municipal services–by looking at the issue through the eyes of school children. The 5 minute video, made by Winnipeg artists Sean and Christian Procter, uses a light touch and animated figures to convey … Read More
