Jim Manis on Most Anything

Jim Manis can formulate an opinion about a good many things, including those about which he has little knowledge. (And some dude named "Lazlo.") Visit The MagicFactory.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

What You Should Be Reading:

Harold Meyerson's opinion in today's Washington Post. Meyerson has mined data from University of California economist Emmanuel Saez illustrating what's happened to the economy over the past twenty years. Following the Reagan recessions in the 1980s and early 1990s, "45 percent of the nation's income growth" went to the top 1 percent of the population. Following the dot-com bust, "65 percent of the income growth went to the top 1 percent." And this time 93 percent has gone to that same top 1 percent.

This is the trickle that Reagan dreamed of. Like a river dammed, the flow is steadily drying up.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

It's Hard To Kill Off Evil:

Seventy-one-year-old draft dodger Dick Cheney finally got a heart, according to an aid. The man behind the lies that were used to justify the deaths of thousands in Iraq and the near bankruptcy of the U.S. economy received a heart transplant. It's certain arms manufacturers everywhere are cheering. (See The Washington Post story.)

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Good News:  Exporting of IT Jobs to Slow

Analysts predict that by 2022 IT jobs will have reached a stasis in terms of outsourcing. That is, the situation will have stabilized.

Unfortunately, this has no bearing on low end, nontechnical jobs,in other words the kinds of work high school dropouts seek. At this point, nearly one out of four students who enter high school never finish. (See the TechRepublic story.)

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Saturday, March 17, 2012



Do Americans Still Read?

Since Ronald Reagan was first elected in 1980, literacy has fallen off a cliff. It's difficult to imagine anyone reading a book in public nowadays, despite Amazon's success. But evidently New Yorkers still do it, at least when they ride the subway.

This photo comes from Underground New York Public Library.

Maybe it's just a way to gain some privacy in an overcrowded world, but keep in mind that New York City is one of the healthiest places on earth to live. Hard to believe? Life expectancy is higher in New York than Miami. Maybe all the sick New Yorkers moved south, skewing the figures?

What I'm reading now:

  • Roddy Doyle's book of short Irish fiction, Bullfighting;
  • Ann Packer's novella and short story collection, Swim Back to Me;
  • Matt Taibbi's excoriation of Wall Street and American politics, Griftopia.

Remember, reading lengthens life and staves off memory loss, just ask my 90-year-old mother.