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Kay Bradley

The Social Welfare State, beyond Ideology: Scientific American - 0 views

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    I think that finding a balance between the freedom and social welfare has always been an issue in America and thats why this is such an interesting article. The Nordic countries seem to have a very good balance of free market success and equality. These countries would be good examples for America but there are two reasons that make this difficult. First off, many Americans seem to be deeply afraid of anything resembling socialism or communism. Second all these nordic states are small and relatively homogenous. This makes it much easier for the government to provide social welfare that meets everybody's needs and keeps everyone happy. The US is huge and has a much more diverse population. This makes for a completely different problem. While a social democratic government has worked so well for Scandinavia, we are far from getting to a state like that in the US.
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    Even though I believe a government like that would be ideal for the US, it is not very realistic due to how conservative the US is compared to Scandinavia.
Kay Bradley

Romney's new focus: pushing a five-point economic plan - Los Angeles Times - 1 views

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    Romney's five point economic plan--Los Angeles Times
Kay Bradley

The Republican Ticket Twists the Facts About Health Care - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    Some facts on the health care dilemma
Kay Bradley

Candidates and the Truth About America - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • dismal statistics on child poverty, declaring it an outrage that of the 35 most economically advanced countries, the United States ranks 34th, edging out only Romania
  • educational achievement, noting that this country comes in only 28th in the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool
  • 14th in the percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds with a higher education
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  • infant mortality, where the United States ranks worse than 48 other countries and territories,
  • the United States trails most of Europe, Australia and Canada in social mobility.
  • America is indeed No. 1, he might declare — in locking its citizens up, with an incarceration rate far higher than that of the likes of Russia, Cuba, Iran or China
  • in obesity, easily outweighing second-place Mexico and with nearly 10 times the rate of Japan
  • in energy use per person, with double the consumption of prosperous Germany.
  • This national characteristic, often labeled American exceptionalism, may inspire some people and politicians to perform heroically, rising to the level of our self-image
  • Democrats are more loath than Republicans to look squarely at the government debt crisis indisputably looming with the aging of baby boomers and the ballooning cost of Medicare
  • the self-censorship it produces in politicians is bipartisan, even if it is more pronounced on the left for some issues and the right for others.
  • epublicans are more reluctant than Democrats to acknowledge the rise of global temperatures and its causes and consequences.
  • An American politician who speaks too candidly about the country’s faults, she went on to say, risks being labeled with that most devastating of epithets: un-American.
Kay Bradley

In Sweden, Immigration Policies Begin to Rankle - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • who say that immigrants are not only failing to pay their way, but that they also are refusing to learn the ways of their host country.
  • “They do not respect Swedish people,” Mrs. Nilsson said. “As long as they learn the language and behave like Swedes, they are welcome. But they do not. Immigration as it is now needs to stop.”
  • They scoff at the notion that Swedes are somehow special — less racist and xenophobic than other Europeans. They believe the country has been generous with financial support, but little else.
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  • Sweden’s liberal policies have become costly. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Sweden, which had more manufacturing jobs than citizens to fill them, invited immigrants in
  • In some of those apartment blocks, the unemployment rate among immigrants stands at 80 percent.
Kay Bradley

The Clash of Ignorance | The Nation - 0 views

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    Edward Said on the Clash of Civilizations debate.  
Kay Bradley

Military spending: how much does the military cost each country, listed | News | guardi... - 0 views

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    Comparative military spending; you can reorganize data to rank by $; % of GDP, etc.  
Kay Bradley

As Coal Boosts Mozambique, The Rural Poor Are Left Behind - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    Relates to Story of Stuff where Annie Leonard says "According to companies setting up shop in the third world, the locals "don't own these resources even if they've been living there for generations, they don't oven the means of production and they're not buying a lot of stuff.  And in this system, if you don't own or buy a lot of stuff, dou don't have value."
Kay Bradley

How to Read in 2013 - NYTimes.com - 3 views

Kay Bradley

TEDxAtlanta - Harrison Dillon - Resolving Food and Oil at Scale - YouTube - 0 views

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    "http://youtu.be/Fj8ZkoL-_wA"  Solazyme--one of the solutions to oil; oil from algae: flexible, scalable, affordable. . . 
Kay Bradley

In Defense of Django | Mother Jones - 0 views

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    Is Django historically accurate?  This is an insightful film review.
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