Why we look good and they look bad

How Harvard students perceive rednecks: The neural basis for prejudice

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prepare for reality

The blessing and curse of wealth is that it isolates people from reality. The rich can travel around the world and think they’ve experienced more than anyone else, but they’re only Flying Fools, flitting from one protected environment to another. They live on the pyramid scheme of capitalism, but the pyramid is crumbling.
How Bad Can [...]

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entitlement of the rich: Condoleezza Rice

From here:
On a shopping trip in Palo Alto, Calif., Rice asked a white salesclerk to “see the better earrings.” Instead of obliging, the clerk pulled out costume jewelry. Rice flipped out: “Let’s get one thing straight. … You’re behind the counter because you have to work for $6 an hour. I’m on this side asking [...]

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If the USA were a village of 100 people

I love the State of the Village Report and the many versions it inspired, including If the World Were a Village of 100 People. Humans grasp small numbers better than large ones, so I took a similar look at the United States of America.
If the USA were a village of 100 people, its people would [...]

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toward a fair system of economic inequality

Robert Reich wrote:
Lower-income people spend a larger portion of whatever extra income they get than those with higher incomes (in economic jargon, lower-income people have a higher marginal propensity to consume). So every dollar of a tax cut aimed at lower-income Americans packs a bigger stimulative punch than a dollar of tax cut aimed at [...]

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today’s even better rich guy

Too Much says that multimillionaire Claude Rosenberg:
…looked at the giving of Americans who made over $1 million a year. In 1991, these Americans contributed, on average, a modest $87,000 a year. They could have upped their contributions to charity by ten times, Rosenberg noted, and still ended the year with a higher net worth than [...]

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What should we do?

As a poor person in a rich country, I’m very aware of my wealth: two dollars for a small cappuccino is a treat for me, but it’s a day’s living expense for half of the world. But what can I do personally to help others?
Philosopher (I love that title!) Peter Singer looks at this question [...]

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two kinds of activism

Activists can be divided into the selfish and the selfless. Selfish activists help those who they believe are like them. Selfless activists believe everyone is like them.
In folk tales and religious stories, characters who begin as selfish activists (the Robin Hood who was born a peasant, the Jesus who was only sent to the Jews) [...]

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Ask A Commie! #1: “Equal, unequal, huh?”

ndkid asks,
One of the greatest problems I tend to have in wrapping my head around the concepts of communism, social justice, et al: the definition of “equality”. It’s a term that gets bandied about in what are patently unscientific ways.Directly pertinent versions of my problem that I’m hoping you can help me with: given “From [...]

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read this rant

The mysteries of wealth creation. It starts:
The world makes no sense. More wealth is produced every year than each preceding year. More goods exist on the planet now than ever before. Bewildering new technologies such as iPhones and Newtons, along with the most advanced medicines, the most sophisticated forms of transport, cheaper and cheaper forms [...]

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