Markets and their Discontents

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Monday November 02, 2015 · 9:22 AM PST

2015/11/02 · 09:22

This was inspired by two recent articles in NYT, part of a series.
"Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice" by Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Robert Gebeloff

"In Arbitration a 'Privatization of the Justice System'" by Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Michael Corkery

I've often said that market fundamentalism is the last 19th century utopian dream left standing, and so we mistake it for the truth. The idea of the market is a powerful one, in its pure form, but we behave as if it actually does or could exist in that pure form when it doesn't. And so we have lots of people insisting on its miraculous curative powers for social ills, if only we would believe in it more purely.

I have problems with that belief. More below the squiggle.

mitumba

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Saturday August 04, 2012 · 8:30 AM PDT

2012/08/04 · 08:30

In Florida, my (adopted) state, we have a "blue ribbon panel" on higher education. It is modeled on the Texas blue ribbon panel, and based on the Heartland Institute's policy briefs on the issue. They sketch out what they call "increasing evidence" that "US institutions of higher education are less efficient and decreasingly effective at creating the foundations for ...success". Below the squiggle, I will outline their description of the problem, and their solution. It promises to destroy Florida higher education (a claim that, I will argue, is in no way alarmist or extreme), a system which is already uncompetitive within American and world higher education. Jump the squiggle...

mitumba

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Thursday November 03, 2011 · 1:30 PM PDT

2011/11/03 · 13:30

So let me know - send this to the Orlando Sentinel, or no? (I shouldn't have to say this, but this is satire)

Poll

8 votes Show Results

Send it?

8 votes Vote Now!

Send it?

Yup. The world needs more satire.

1 vote

No point, you'll just get grief for it.

5 votes

pear and cranberry pie (serious, it's really good)

2 votes

How they do it in the UK - Higher Education Edition

mitumba

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Tuesday September 27, 2011 · 7:24 PM PDT

2011/09/27 · 19:24

Back in June, the UK government issued a white paper on higher education. It was by no means as extreme as the much loathed (and much-celebrated, by Republicans) "7-point Plan for Higher Education" in Texas. But it got everyone there in a froth. The reaction is instructive - it shows the distance between the assumptions about higher education in the UK, and the assumptions in the US. More below.

mitumba

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Sunday July 24, 2011 · 12:57 PM PDT

2011/07/24 · 12:57

This is the title of an academic paper written by Samantha Vice, in the philosophy department at Rhodes University in South Africa. Her paper has provoked a storm in South Africa, including an assault on an Afrikaner academic who wrote a supportive letter about her paper. As we watch the terror brought about by self-righteous homicidal right-wing extremists in Norway, it is worth keeping in mind that smaller versions of this violence happen elsewhere as well. Details below the jump.

mitumba

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Thursday May 26, 2011 · 2:00 PM PDT

2011/05/26 · 14:00

This is an installment in the occasional series on philosophy and dKos. This time: Freedom, part 1: Cars and Freedom.

See the intro to this series, Philosophy and dKos: Concepts and How They Matter

mitumba

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Thursday May 12, 2011 · 10:08 AM PDT

2011/05/12 · 10:08

Philosophy is the study of concepts. Gilles Deleuze called us the "friend of the concept". Unfortunately, concepts are not so much studied these days as they are used as slogans, or weapons, or shibboleths, or talismans. I want to do my small part in changing that.

I’m interested in how concepts are rooted in place, how they change and shift and adapt to new circumstances. I’m interested in the dirty little secrets that concepts have, the less-than-stellar parentage, the dubious associations, the bad neighbourhoods, and the ambiguous provenance. And, of course, I'm also interested in the fine upbringing and noble peerage within the world of concepts, when it occurs - it's just rarer than most people think it is.

And, I’m interested in the ways in which concepts form ecologies. I think that no one owns concepts. There are, rather, “conceptual ecologies”, groups of related concepts and their supporting infrastructure, that make viable concepts viable. The life of the concept is one in which those shadings of difference can interact, and versions of concepts can uncover differences of human experience that make the world richer.

mitumba

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Friday November 06, 2009 · 1:56 PM PST

2009/11/06 · 13:56

There's not much information yet, but there's been another shooting, this time in Orlando. As I write this, one person is dead, and five are injured. The shooter fled the scene but was arrested at his mother's house. There's more at the Orlando Sentinel.

mitumba

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Tuesday September 08, 2009 · 5:25 PM PDT

2009/09/08 · 17:25

I figured a catchy title is essential for any self-respecting diary, so there you have it. Now, to tell you what I mean.

But first, context – I grew up evangelical. Went to Bible college, 3 years. Even worked for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship during grad school. Went to Urbana. I’ve got the evangelical street cred, in other words.

And, I haven’t identified myself as evangelical for probably 20 years at least. Started drifting away during Bible college, and even more so while working for IV. Do I still identify as Christian? Yes, no question. Just not evangelical.

mitumba

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Sunday September 06, 2009 · 10:04 AM PDT

2009/09/06 · 10:04

Facebook is about the worst place to talk politics, I find. Post something on your wall, and you usually get banal responses from those you've friended. Want to talk politics? Then just become a fan or a groupie of the appropriate group, and knock yourself out.

But there's that issue of who you friended, back when you were all excited about finding old school buddies and childhood crushes. You might accidentally end up with a diverse group, reading those wall postings you make.

And so it happened. I posted this little thing on the wall:

This person thinks that no one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

more below the fold...

mitumba

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Tuesday August 04, 2009 · 8:08 AM PDT

2009/08/04 · 08:08

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting this morning (right here) that Lou Holtz, football coach extraordinaire of Notre Dame (mostly), might throw his hat into the ring for Republican nominee for Suzanne Kosmas's seat (D- New Smyrna Beach). Suzanne is a first-termer, defeating Tom Feeney (who was named by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress.

Anyhoo,...

mitumba

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Thursday August 11, 2005 · 8:32 AM PDT

2005/08/11 · 08:32

I often read David Brooks in the NY Times, even though I hardly ever agree with him. Today's column got me more irritated than usual. Brooks argues that cultural geography will allow us to "study why and how people cluster, why certain national traits endure over centuries, why certain cultures embrace technology and economic growth and others resist them."

This isn't cultural geography, but an exercise in making sweeping generalizations. But Brooks circumvents questioning this approach or its predetermined conclusions by poisoning the well...

<more below> Read More

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Markets and their Discontents

The Path to Mediocrity in Higher Education: Florida Edition

Steve Jobs, Go Home!

How they do it in the UK - Higher Education Edition

How Should I Live In This Strange Place? Whiteness and Violence in South Africa

Philosophy and dKos - Freedom Part 1: Cars and Freedom

Philosophy and dKos - Concepts and How They Matter

Another tragedy, this time in Orlando

Evangelicalism Makes You Stupid

Facebook friends and politics

Lou Holtz running for Congress in Central Florida?

Brooks on Cultural Geography