Smart Links 07 July 2012

Paul Summerville • July 6, 2012

Tags: Canada, Discovery, Harper, Investing, Presidents, United States, Yes

Commentary on where Obama fits in the pantheon of Presidents, 5 reasons to worry about a summer equity swoon, finding Higgs bosen, the man-made reasons behind the Fukushima disaster, and the Economist warns about Harper’s bully boy tactics.

An intelligent and articulate discussion of US presidential leadership and Obama.

Charlie Rose -- with Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Beschloss, James Fallows, Jon Meacham and Robert A. Caro

Related.

New York Times -- Hillary Clinton’s Last Tour as a Rock-Star Diplomat
On May 3, the day after an artful deal to end the diplomatic crisis over Chen Guangcheng, China’s now-famous dissident, unraveled spectacularly, Hillary Rodham Clinton followed a scrum of Chinese ministers around an exhibition of clean cookstoves.

Telegraph -- The cult of Hillary Clinton has restored America’s mission to the world
Barack Obama’s Secretary of State has been a great success, but her eyes are on a bigger prize.

Why Gillian Tett thinks you ought to bring your mobile communication device to the beach.

Financial Times -- Five reasons the summer curse may strike
In recent days, several of America’s largest investment groups, such as Fidelity and Northern Trust, have been discreetly reviewing their staff holiday plans.

Unravelling the universe. (ed’s note: known as the ‘God Particle’ it has nothing to do with god as the term came from a scientist's lament that the particle was 'goddamn hard to find').

Economist -- Gotcha!
The hunt for physics’ most elusive quarry is over.

Related. Thanks to Jeremy from Tokyo.

New York Times -- Inquiry Declares Fukushima Crisis a Man-Made Disaster
The nuclear accident at Fukushima was a preventable disaster rooted in government-industry collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture, a parliamentary inquiry concluded Thursday.

The unintended consequences of constant bullying.

Economist -- Time to flip
The voters may be starting to tire of the prime minister’s bullying.

Add your opinion

Rate this story

E-mail

Comments

Post new comment

Get Smart Links in your inbox

Keep up with CEF!

Join Us Follow Us Subscribe

Connexion utilisateur

Login using social networks

Twin Virtues: Inequality of Outcomes & Equality of Opportunity©

LimeSpot: Own Your Experience.

Leveraging Social Networks for Profit.

Marrying the product portfolio of brand name firms with the personal profile information on Facebook.

The LimeSpot enabled revolutionary new sales channel.

Ultimately, the most successful societies find the balance between the twin virtues of inequality of outcomes and equality of opportunity.

The new politics must marry the twin virtues of unequal outcomes and equality of opportunity.

When too few get too much everybody ends up with less.

Can it be that striving for equality of opportunity however imperfect the process not only benefits the individual but also creates benefits for the society as a whole that are unintended but wonderful?

Economics must be a 'moral enterprise' as much as politics claims to be. Economic outcomes need to be framed in terms of right and wrong not just efficiency if only because these often align in surprising ways.

My vision of Canada is that any Canadian child from a family of limited circumstance can expect to have a chance at lifetime of unlimited opportunities.

Tax policy should be founded on the principle of generating steady tax revenues sufficient to maximise environmentally sustainable economic growth in order to fund fair government.

Public policy should be designed to decrease inequality before the law and increase equality of opportunity.

Capitalism is not the problem; the problem is what we do with capitalism.

Content is always more difficult to argue than conspiracy.

Let the state regulate and the market operate (most things).

Welfare strategies are best designed as a hand up not as a hand out.

Political debate should not be fact free fighting.

Explanation lasts longer than eloquence.

Always favour empowerment over dependency.

The most enduring public figures are embraced for the causes they fought for and not the concept of themselves they hoped others would remember them by.

Find your voice and don't be the echo of somebody else.