Tag Archives: America

What We’re Up Against, Part 2

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It’s good to be skeptical about the results of public opinion polls, especially if it’s only a single poll reporting a result.

On the other hand, if this is true, it explains a lot. Personally, I can’t believe that 18% of Democrats believe this. Maybe they’re worried about the Tea Party taking over?

From a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released today:

“Supporters and opponents of gun control have very different fundamental beliefs about the role of guns in American society. Overall, the poll finds that 29 percent of Americans think that an armed revolution in order to protect liberties might be necessary in the next few years, with another five percent unsure. However, these beliefs are conditional on party. Just 18 percent of Democrats think an armed revolution may be necessary, as opposed to 44 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of independents.”

http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2013/guncontrol/

The Jamestown Project by Karen Ordahl Kupperman

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I thought this was a book about Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. It is actually about much more than that. 

Kupperman describes the history of European exploration, trade and colonization with the Muslim world, Africa and North and South America. She puts Jamestown in its historical, cultural and political context. She quotes an amazing number of primary sources (with their original, often surprising spelling) to show what the English thought of the American Indians, what the American Indians thought of the English, what the Virginia Company wanted the Jamestown settlers to accomplish, what the Jamestown settlers wanted (and rarely got) from the Virginia Company. She explains that Jamestown was only one of many attempts to start a colony in America, that the Indians were quite familiar with Europeans before the Jamestown settlers arrived, and that Captain John Smith had a very interesting life before he met Pocahontas.

Most of the colonists died from disease and starvation. Some were killed by the Indians and some preferred living with the Indians. Kupperman argues that Jamestown eventually proved to be a success because it showed that colonies would only prosper if the colonists had personal incentives to succeed, for example, the prospect of owning their own land. The powerful people who put money into the colonies wanted to find a quick route to China, or gold and silver, or to convert the Indians to Christianity. The people who made the colonies succeed had simpler goals.  (4/29/11)

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

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According to 1491, as many as 90 million people lived in the Western Hemisphere before the arrival of Columbus. The vast majority of these people died from diseases brought from Europe by the various explorers, traders and conquerors who visited North, Central and South America starting in 1492.

Taking into account recent research, Mann argues that Indian societies were larger, older, more complex and more technologically sophisticated than previously believed. They also had much more effect on the environment, building major cities and transforming much of the countryside for agricultural purposes (even the Amazon basin). The Indians of the Western Hemisphere did not “live lightly on the land”.

In fact, according to Mann, the New World that European settlers eventually encountered, with its dense forests, huge herds of bison and vast flocks of passenger pigeons, was a recent development. The catastrophic effects of disease on Indian populations resulted in certain parts of nature running wild, certain species experiencing explosive growth after the Indians could no longer manage their environment, as they had done for thousands of years before Columbus.  (3/15/11)

What We’re Up Against Regarding Guns

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The governor of Arizona has signed a law that requires guns acquired in gun buy-back programs to be sold. If a police department in Arizona buys your gun in order to reduce the likelihood that it will be used to commit a crime (such as shooting a police officer), they can’t destroy it. They have to sell it to a gun dealer, who can then resell it and return it to its rightful place in the community.

Police had argued that they were allowed to destroy guns acquired in such programs, even though an earlier Arizona law required that they sell any guns seized during crimes. The NRA and gun fanatics argued that destroying valuable weaponry is wasteful.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ariz-bill-requiring-resale-buyback-guns-signed

The Cutting vs. Spending Argument Should Be Over

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In a recent blog post, the (indispensable) economist and columnist Paul Krugman has summarized his view of our economic predicament and what we should do to get out of it. He did this in response to a billionaire who went on TV and spoke like a simpleton. Krugman makes his case as clearly as possible, so it’s worth reading if you have any doubts at all about whether the government should be cutting or increasing spending in our present circumstances. 

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/the-ignoramus-strategy/

Henry Blodget, who isn’t an economist and was convicted of securities fraud when he was a research analyst at Merrill Lynch, argues that the argument about cutting vs. spending is over and Krugman won.

http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-is-right-2013-4

It’s clear that Krugman and his like-minded Keynesian colleagues have won the argument in the sense of having offered enough evidence to prove their thesis to reasonable people. Whether they’ve won the argument in the sense of getting politicians to change their policies isn’t clear yet. The most we can reasonably expect is that the tide has turned.

As we know, most people, especially politicians and pundits, hate to be proven wrong. Admitting that they were wrong to promote government austerity in response to the Great Recession would require a lot of character.

What I would love to see is President Obama, who is said to be a reasonable person, admit that his search for a “Grand Bargain” with the Republicans has been a terrible mistake. He should admit that we need to repeal the Sequester immediately (not just as it affects air travelers) and increase spending on infrastructure, education, research, grants to local government, etc. etc.

If it would help, Obama could have Krugman sit next to him and explain the situation in terms that even billionaires would understand! Not everyone would be convinced (there are plenty of simpletons and others with their own agendas), but it would be a step in the right direction.

Postscript 4/29/13 —

This is a sensible summary from Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne (although it’s not really a “whodunit?” because we know who done it):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-economic-whodunit/2013/04/28/6948f9a4-aea9-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html