An outstanding comparative analysis of the dollar "cost" of US Wars, "then and now". Apologies to [either Dirksen or Rockefeller], but certainly, once we have a trillion here, and a trillion there, "pretty soon, you're talking real money" ! We know these numbers are staggering. Recently [late 2015], Bank of America Merrill Lynch [ BoAML ] produced analysis showing that: The…
This 3D Map Visualizes the U.S. Economy in a New Way The team at howmuch.net built a map to provide a 3D visualization of the GDP growth by US metropolitan areas. The higher the cone rising out of the map, the greater the GDP growth in that area. GDP growth increased 2.3% in 2014 as compared with 1.9% growth in 2013. The industry with…
The Secret Startup That Saved the Worst Website in America-The Atlantic The Atlantic's Robinson Meyer has an excellent piece on Loren Yu, Kevin Wang, Rohan Bhobe and the Marketplace Lite team [MPL], working as a startup within the US Government to "retrieve" the first iteration of a bloated and apparently unfit-for-purpose roll-out of the Healthcare.gov online environment. This is a complimentary…
Those interested in evidence-based-planning or frankly, any form of rationale decision-making, will find much to interest them in the work of Nate Silver. The Business Insider reports: With Obama being declared the winner by the networks, it looks possible that Nate Silver's map will be perfect, all 50 states called correctly. Not certain yet, but really, an epic followup to 2008.…
Those in Australia interested in the debate about education, equity and long-term social mobility within societies would benefit from reviewing the latest from the Sutton Trust. It is interesting to place the work of the Gonksi Review in the context of this discussion. My thoughts on Gonski can also be found here. A very soggy Gonski [as predicted] Current [and somewhat…
In the most recent quarterly report [August 2011] on Household Debt and Credit by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York it reports [amongst many other things] that for the student loans will exceed $100 billion dollars and all outstanding balances will exceed $1 trillion dollars. Staggering numbers. Links: Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit [PDF]
One can't help but wonder if the the lack of agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties over the proposed extension of the US debt ceiling is anything more than grand political theatre, although this time it appears to be a different ball-game with the growing role and influence of the "tea-party" members. Perhaps more telling is the role of…
Schools That Transform. - Andrew Leigh David Brooks reports on some surprisingly large impacts from a randomised trial of New York “Harlem Children’s Zone” schools. The effects are so big that I find it hard to imagine they’re readily replicable, but it’s tantalizing stuff. The fight against poverty produces great programs but disappointing results. You go visit an inner-city school, job-training program…