A New Deal for Old Age: The message of resentment is real

“Yeats, like us, was faced with the modern problem, i.e., of living in a society in which men are no longer supported by tradition without being aware of it, and in which, therefore, every individual who wishes to bring order and coherence into the stream of sensations, emotions, and ideas entering his consciousness, from without and within, is forced to do deliberately for himself what in previous ages had been done for him by family, custom, church, and state, namely the choice of the principles and presuppositions in terms of which he can make sense of his experience.”
~W.H. Auden, “Yeats as an Example” (Kenyon Review, Spring 1948)

Brexit, Trump and the federal election show how the old categories of left and right are crumbling Richard Denniss Message was Clear ...


African Barter and the disappearing dollars by Jeffrey Moyo and Norimitsu Onishi at the NYT - Fascinationg economies 

Addendum: Bitcoin up 

Transcripts of Trump’s victory speech and  Clinton is clearly fighting back tears.

Andrew  Tsou, First Monday, Vol. 21 No. 11 , November 7, 2016: – “Reddit, known as “the front page of the Internet,” has been one of the most widely visited Web sites since its inception in 2005. As a social networking site it is unique in that the personal relationships between its users are considered secondary to its content, which includes both original, user-generated content and links to outside sources

TheEconomicTimes: In a move to curb the black money menace, PM Narendra Modi declared that from midnight currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination will not be legal tender.

In his 40-minute address, first in Hindi and later in English, the Prime Minister said the notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 “will not be legal tender from midnight tonight” and these will be “just worthless piece of paper.”

This is a big deal as these notes account for at least 80% of all cash in circulation! Ken Rogoff has argued for eliminating cash but this doesn’t seem to be a move in that direction since the notes will be replaced with new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes. Rather it seems to be a wealth tax on the black market. Old notes can be turned into a bank for replacement so ordinary people won’t lose money. 

Cardinal Zen talked to the WSJ about the Vatican's impending capitulation to the Chinese government:

The former bishop of Hong Kong speaks with passion that belies his age (84) and recent hospitalization for a lung virus. As we meet at the church complex where he has lived since 2009—and where he first moved as a novitiate from Shanghai in 1948—he warns of “surrender”: that Chinese leaders are demanding it and Vatican officials appear willing to give it “in the hopes of achieving an agreement.” ...

Three New Scandals Show How Pervasive and Dangerous Mass Surveillance is in the West, Vindicating Snowden Intercept

What Is Socialism for the Twenty-First Century? Monthly Review

The Case Against Democracy New Yorker. Michael: “Guillotine watch meets class warfare. We can clearly see where the ‘epistocracy’ of economists has taken us.”

John Oliver: Why Congress Won’t Shut Down Pyramid Schemes That Destroy People’s Lives Alternet

Danish evidence on wealth inequality in childhood VoxEU

FASTER, PLEASE: Alzheimer’s treatment within reach after successful drug trial.

IT’S THE DEEP SEVENS EMERGING AT LAST, ISN’T IT? Canada investigates mysterious ‘pinging’ sound at bottom of sea in Arctic. “The Department of National Defence has been informed of the strange noises emanating in the Fury and Hecla Strait area, and the Canadian Armed Forces are taking the appropriate steps to actively investigate the situation.”

The Baltimore Sun ran an editorial that began with the line “Rich people threaten lawsuits. It’s what they do.” That isn’t really right, though, I point out in a letter to the editor: “In fact, whether they enter politics or not, most wealthy persons do not share Mr. Trump’s habit of using lawsuits as a tactical weapon (and many who do pursue litigation overzealously are not rich).” Read the whole thing here


An interview is presented with assistant professor Erik Meyersson on research with economist Albrecht Glitz on the economic returns of industrial espionage operations in East and West Germany during the Cold War. Emphasis is given to topics such as the technology and productivity gap between East and West Germany and corporate spying in relation to research and development. Industrial Espionage Is More Effective Than R&D

Leslie Book, District Court Reverses Bankruptcy Court and Finds that Emotional Distress Alone Insufficient to Justify Awarding of Damages When IRS Violates Stay on Collection (Procedurally Taxing). There really needs to be a “sauce for the gander rule” to allow taxpayers to impose the same penalties for IRS carelessness that they get to impose on us.

Despite global efforts in fighting tax dodging: ever more money hidden in tax havens

U.K. Must Identify Best Ways of Taxing Wealthiest, Auditor Says  

Summary of National Audit Office Report: HMRC’s approach to collecting tax from high net worth individuals 

UK National Audit Office Report  HMRC’s approach to collecting tax from high net worth individuals 

• HMRC hunts £2 billion dodgers, but only ONE big tax cheat has been convicted in seven years  

Via OUPBlog:

Has the Digital Health Divide Widened? Trends of Health-Related Internet Use Among Older Adults From 2003 to 2011, by Y. Alicia Hong and Jimmyoung Cho in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences

Internet Use and Depression Among Retired Older Adults in the United States: A Longitudinal Analysis, by Shelia R. Cotton, George Ford, Sherry Ford and Timothy M. Hale in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Information and Communication Technology Use Is Related to Higher Well-Being Among the Oldest-Old, by Tamara Sims, Andrew E. Reed, and Dawn C. Carr in Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences

Digital Dating: Online Profile Content of Older and Younger Adults, by Eden M. Davis and Karen L. Fingerman in Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.

Technology Access and Use, and Their Associations With Social Engagement Among Older Adults: Do Women and Men Differ? by Jeehoon Kim, Hee Yun Lee, M. Candace Christensen, and Joseph R. Merighi in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.



As public servants increasingly handle data for public release, gaining expertise in de-identification will be essential. It's still the most powerful approach available, writes Australian Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim.
De-identification: the de-vil is in the de-tail 

Allegations in the workplace: to investigate or not to investigate?

We think of organizations as a way to coordinate work and get things done, which is true enough. But at the same time, every organization is a bundle of contradictions and conflicts.

For example, an organization must have a way to attract and retain members, or it will cease to exist. At the same time it must constrain people’s behavior, or it won’t be able to get anything done. This means any organization has the oxymoronic goal of being an attractive prison. The paradoxes of organization

  A case against democracy scary canavalistic logic ahead:

I am amazed that the latest New Yorker contains a fair, knowledgeable and informative review-essay of Jason Brennan’s Against Democracy, Ilya Somin’s Democracy and Political Ignorance, and Bryan Caplan’s The Myth of the Rational Voter. The author, Caleb Crain, has done his homework and he engages seriously with the literature. Here is one bit but read the whole thing both for what it says and what its publication in the New Yorker says about our times.

Brennan has a bright, pugilistic style, and he takes a sportsman’s pleasure in upsetting pieties and demolishing weak logic. Voting rights may happen to signify human dignity to us, he writes, but corpse-eating once signified respect for the dead among the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea. To him, our faith in the ennobling power of political debate is no more well grounded than the supposition that college fraternities build character.