The Goals of Occupy Wall Street

I have become increasingly annoyed by the rhetorical line that the goals of Occupy Wall Street are unclear. Mainstream media outlets have been pushing this line from the beginning and many regular people have picked it up as their position. What these media outlets really mean is that protesters at occupations have not written up… Continue reading The Goals of Occupy Wall Street

What is good for the economy?

I am always impressed by the way common words and phrases prevent substantive discussion of important issues. The phrase that is currently getting on my nerves is “good for the economy.” What exactly is good for the economy? The economy is after all an abstraction, a way that we describe systems of production and distribution… Continue reading What is good for the economy?

Changing my blogging style

So far I have been mainly trying to produce pieces that are consistent with the usual newspaper and magazine styles of opinion writing. I have decided that this style has too much downside and almost no upside. It takes a significant amount of time to stylize it in that manner. Unless you are really interested… Continue reading Changing my blogging style

On the Education Reform Movement

The Education Reform Movement is hot. Donors have lavished money on projects like Teach For America, including $49 million from the Walton Family Foundation and a $100 million endowment from four other philanthropists. Media outlets and publishers have almost unanimously provided positive coverage and angles for those in the movement, the most notable instance being… Continue reading On the Education Reform Movement