The Horrible Choices Facing the US Auto Hospice
The United States will either lose its car industry and with it much of the industrial midwest, or the federal government will force it to restructure against its will -- something...
Can Ron Bloom and the White House Save the US Auto Industry?
I think very highly of Ron Bloom, the Steelworker Financial adviser just named by President Obama as the car czar. Ron and Diana Farrell of the National Economic Council will head...
Bicentennial of Heroes: Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln
Today two of my most cherished heroes celebrate their 200th birthday. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born on February 12, 1809. Neither man was especially popular during his lifetime. Both...
Understanding the Economic Triple Whammy
We are in the middle of three economic crises. Although it would be preferable to handle an attack of food poisoning, a vicious cold, and the flu separately, we got all...
The Man Who Loved Scholars
I am a huge fan of Simon Winchester -- a peripatetic Brit who writes brilliantly about geology, lexicography, and sinology. At his best, Winchester turns science into biography by demonstrating how...
Media Wants to Be Digital and Free
Intel founder Gordon Moore famously observed that chip density doubles about every two years. Thanks to Moore's Law, computer processing gets cheaper exponentially, not arithmetically.
Metcalfe's Law is a lesser known but...
The 2008 Iowa Caucuses — a Newcomer Breaks Through
It's an odd political moment: both major parties are hosting their most open Presidential primaries in memory -- no incumbents are running for President. Both have surfaced strong fields with odd...
“Don’t Tell Me That This is the Best America Can Do”
Last year I got in touch with a friend who had backed Alibris in its very early days. At the time he invested, he warned me that he could be "pathologically...
Thinking Inside the Box
The Nobel Prize winning physicist and genius quantum mechanic Niels Bohr once pointed out that "Prediction is difficult, especially about the future" -- a fact that he demonstrated empirically with respect...
To Infinity and Beyond: Steve Jobs Does it Again
Every year at this time I make a habit of watching the finest business presentation on the planet: the Steve Jobs keynote address at Mac World. The event is held nearby,...
BDS Spreads as Blair Prepares to Step Down
Timothy Garton Ash, one of Europe's most astute political observers, recently described the extreme reaction of dinner guests to unpopular political leaders.
"...The sole duty of any self-respecting commentator is to interrogate...
Protect Income, not Industries, Companies, or Jobs
What if, in order to protect workers, we made it illegal for an employer to fire any employee for any reason? This would not be an especially controversial idea in some...
David Petraeus, Rock Star General
Every great country has always honored its finest warriors. School children are taught the names of our nation's war heroes: John Paul Jones, Ulysses S. Grant, Billy Mitchell, Alvin York, Jimmy...
Angels in Disguise
Cities concentrate people, wealth, culture, and memories. In New York this week, I walked by an Indian restaurant and recalled a lunch almost twenty years earlier with friends who tried to...
A Freak of Nurture
Michael Lewis (author of the must-read Liar's Poker and Moneyball as well as the somewhat less terrific New New Thing) recently published The Blind-Side: Evolution of a Game. Despite the title,...