Author Archives: John Lusk

Wealthy Democrats Are in Denial About Inequality – The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/wealthy-democrats-are-denial-about-inequality/602164/

Deval Patrick doesn’t seem to understand (or he’s being insincere to somebody).

«America’s political parties are now as polarized as they were at the end of Reconstruction. And just as at the end of Reconstruction, a multiracial party whose ranks include both frustrated workers and wealthy capitalists finds itself at a crossroads, with no certain options for healing the nation’s divides or its own. As ever, America’s gilded class regards the possibility of higher taxes and redistribution as a greater threat than a resurgent racist authoritarianism that imperils America’s still-young experiment in multiracial democracy. The latter, after all, does not jeopardize its profits.»

The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/world/asia/e-waste-thailand-southeast-asia.html

Factoring the cost of e-waste disposal into our electronics would make prices go up, and that’s un-American. The free market will find a solution, though. (Oh, wait, it already has.)

«“Why don’t you in the West recycle your own waste?” said Phayao Jaroonwong, a farmer east of Bangkok, who said her crops had withered after an electronic waste factory moved in next door.

“Thailand can’t take it anymore,” she said. “We shouldn’t be the world’s dumping ground.”»

On a more serious note, though, nobody thinks “complete life cycle” for anything, software or hardware. If you build something with poison in it (lead, mercury, germanium, polychlorinated biphenyl), now you have a piece of poison in your life. Then what?

Also, this isn’t just an American thing. China doesn’t want its laptop prices going up, either. Hurts exports.

Elizabeth Warren made $67k/yr for 30 years at Harvard Law School.

https://twitter.com/joshjame/status/1203841898990985216?s=20

I *almost* feel sorry for this WSJ reporter. Almost.

Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) Tweeted:
«NEWS: Elizabeth Warren was compensated nearly $2 million over about three decades for doing consulting & other legal work, per campaign.

She previously disclosed the cases she worked on but compensation is new amid calls by Mayor Pete to release more tax returns. Story up soon»

Here’s another interesting observation:

https://twitter.com/courtranstrom/status/1203844301911801858?s=20

Courtney Ranstrom (@courtranstrom) Tweeted:
«@joshjame @Bencjacobs That shakes out to $67,000/year. If she’s consulting, she’s probably 1099. Based on an hourly rate of $200, that’s only 330 hours per year. I’m not surprised she had multiple income streams as a professor-that’s common at law schools & MBA programs. Most of my professors did.»

I Worked for Alex Jones. I Regret It. – The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/magazine/alex-jones-infowars.html

«I thought of the children who lived in Islamberg: how afraid their families must have felt when their communities were threatened and strangers appeared asking questions; how we chose to look past these people as individuals and impose on them more of the same unfair suspicions they already had to endure. And for what? Clickbait headlines, YouTube views?»

“beyond full employment”

https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/1058343541620043776?s=20

modest proposal (@modestproposal1) Tweeted:
I agree with the below. And repeat my contention that beyond full employment is an even dumber theoretical construct than NAIRU #turnitto11 https://t.co/1DG55Rp3W5

Sam🔔 (@sam_a_bell) Tweeted:
Maybe we weren’t close to full employment in 2013.
Maybe we weren’t almost at full employment in 2014.
Maybe we weren’t more or less at full employment in 2015.
Maybe we weren’t at full employment in 2016.
Maybe we weren’t beyond full employment in 2017. https://twitter.com/sam_a_bell/status/1058339462709686272?s=20

Florida can’t keep the sea back

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/climate/florida-keys-climate-change.html

«To keep those three miles of road dry year-round in 2025 would require raising it by 1.3 feet, at a cost of $75 million, or $25 million per mile. Keeping the road dry in 2045 would mean elevating it 2.2 feet, at a cost of $128 million. To protect against expected flooding levels in 2060, the cost would jump to $181 million.

And all that to protect about two dozen homes.»