Economic crisis destabilises jobs and incomes but also undermines the tax base. Governments lack the means to sustain entire nations on their own. Trying to explain declining benefits and rising taxes to the Internet generation is tetchy. They find such long-term complexity boring and politicians are as adrift as the Pope, explaining ancient concepts in a new world.
Gavin Chait
Economist, data scientist, entrepreneur, author. Fascinated by the frontiers of human progress: innovation vs ignorance; wealth vs poverty. Oh, and coffee. @GavinChait and https://gavinchait.com
The new Alphabet Song according to Google Instant
“… We’re destroying words – scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone. In the final version of Newspeak there’ll be nothing else. It’s […]
On the death of an intimate stranger
The phone call came early in the afternoon. My wife’s mom calling from 10,000 kilometres away. An article in the paper. “I thought you should know.” And her cry, of grief and […]
The Trouble with Paradise, or why Pakistan Sucks: Redux
In 2007 I wrote about the asymmetry of “caring”; of how the Indonesian tsunami of that year had unleashed the biggest charity response in history while the Pakistani floods had left people […]
South Africa's assault on freedom and property – should anyone in the rest of the world care?
“Instead of standing aggressively behind the status quo, dressed in the cloak of the fourth estate, they need to talk more about responsibility, more about the importance of ethics, more about improvement […]
Free speech erodes as economic power shifts away from Europe and America
“A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy…. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution so that it can protect our rights as citizens. It is only […]
You chose it, your politicians arranged it and businesses delivered it. Who's responsible again?
On 31 May 2005, the US Supreme Court overturned accounting firm Arthur Andersen’s conviction for obstruction of justice. It would be a pyrrhic victory as, by then, a company which once employed […]
Drive-by: That apology to BP
You know, that apology… “I’m speaking totally for myself, I’m not speaking for the Republican party … but I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday,” Barton said. He called […]
Drive-by: San Francisco passes imbecilic cellphone radiation law
No, really, read it for yourself. So, the largest global study detailing research into radiation and mobile phones plainly shows that there is no clear link between mobile phones and cancer. The […]
S&R Exclusive: Obama finds his Hypocratic voice on BP
During the course of 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled over 9 million of its vehicles due to production-related faults. An alleged 37 people have died due to these faults since 2000. However, […]
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 