“Xi’s statement that the Chinese “firmly oppose hegemony and power politics in all their forms” might also seem ironic to Taiwan, which suffers regular large-scale displays of military force aimed to intimidate them; Canada, which saw China detain two of its citizens in an attempt to coerce Ottawa into rejecting a U.S. extradition request for wanted Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou; or Australia, against whom China’s government imposed heavy economic sanctions after Canberra called for an investigation of the origins of COVID-19.” - The Diplomat June 01, 2023
These excerpts are from: “To Fix Democracy, First Figure Out What’s Broken”, by Adam Gopnik/The New Yorker. September 25, 2023.
Lottery winners who settle in countries other than Israel will receive $24,000 in monthly increments over a period of two years, paid by Israel. They will also receive benefits and services from receiving countries, comparable to what recent immigrants receive in these countries.
The challenge was to come up with something that Israelis might actually go for. Israeli is a democracy, after all. This budget might pass muster. It’s actually rather stingy, but would still require a substantial tax increase to fund. I doubt Israeli voters would agree to spending more.
“Based on our review of 981,671 migrant records documented by USBP [US Border Patrol] from March 2021 through August 2022, addresses for more than 177,000 migrant records were either missing, invalid for delivery, or not legitimate residential locations.” - DHS Does Not Have Assurance That All Migrants Can be Located Once Released into the United States Office of Inspector General/Department of Homeland Security, September 6, 2023
Example of effective political messaging: “We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.” - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, January 6, 1941
In other words, I’ll address how politicians and elected officials might be able to persuade the public and powerful interests to go along with disagreeable policies that promise plenty of short-term pain and almost no immediate payoff, all for an eventual yet somewhat uncertain greater good.
Reducing class size is seen as a way of improving student performance. But larger class sizes help control education budgets. The evidence suggests at best a small effect on reading achievement. There is a negative, but statistically insignificant, effect on mathematics, so it cannot be ruled out that some children may be adversely affected.
…self-management interventions significantly and positively impacted all challenging behaviors assessed (i.e., on-task behavior, prosocial behaviors, disruptive behaviors, and following directions) and academic outcomes (i.e., achievement and work completion).
But the US doesn’t just have a skills shortage - it also has a labor shortage, meaning there aren’t enough working-age adults living here to fill available jobs. We need more workers. In other words, we need more immigrants.
Unhelpful responses to this list (shorthand version): it’s not that bad; it’s not his fault; Robots/AI will solve a lot of these problems; just raise taxes on the rich/corporations; Trump/the right-wing/conservatives/Republicans are way worse; so-and-so says it ain’t so; but what about all the things he gets right?!
This is a problem of employability. Too many Americans lack the experience, knowledge and skills that employers want. On the individual level, lack of employability is associated with unemployment, poor job performance, and low wages. When widespread, a lack of employability negatively impacts a country’s labor productivity, standard of living and its potential for economic growth. Increasing the people’s employability boosts productivity, standard of living and economic growth, which translates to higher tax revenues for paying down the federal debt. So how can the US increase the employability of its people?
“The graying of America means that the portion of people who are of prime working age is getting smaller, with fewer workers available to fill open positions, ultimately reducing productivity, straining the federal budget, and slowing economic growth.” – Antonioli, J., & Malde, J. (2023)
That’s because between inflation and the growing federal debt, interest payments on that debt are gobbling up a larger share of federal revenue every year. Per the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), annual net interest costs would total $663 billion in 2023, and by 2053 interest costs on that debt are projected to be nearly three times the amount the federal government has historically spent on R&D, infrastructure, and education combined.
“Our message is that debt reduction, while desirable in principle, is unlikely in practice. Historically, countries have been able to [eliminate debt and sustain large surpluses] only when there exists political solidarity at the national level and when economic growth is strong… Looking forward, the challenges are daunting. Given ageing populations, governments will have to find additional finance for healthcare and pensions. They will have to finance spending on defense, climate change abatement and adaptation, and the digital transition.” - Living with High Public Debt by Serkan Arslanalp and Barry Eichengreen. August 2023.
And for low-risk/low-need offenders, sometimes no intervention is the best approach…
Main Findings: Permanent supportive housing interventions appear to improve short- and long-term housing stability for persons with lived experience of homelessness… Peer support alone does not impact housing stability. Inconsistent results on mental health, substance use and other social outcomes require additional research.
“In short, moderates work to puncture the kind of ideological groupthink that can occur when many people who are politically certain come together. They’re clearly not ditherers who believe in nothing. Instead, they approach politics and policy with a sense of humility about accepting the future is unknown and a belief that they should encounter the world with respect for the possibility of error.” Why America Needs Moderates (Joseph Romance/Discourse Magazine, May 4, 2023
What is a moderate? For the purpose of this post, a moderate is someone who considers themself a moderate. Moderates don’t get much press or respect, but it turns out there are lots of them…
“It stands to reason that when one sees the world as relatively simple and straightforward, people hold their beliefs about the world with high confidence...One implication of such belief confidence is belief stability: Attitudes held with high confidence are less likely to change over time than attitudes held with low confidence.” - van Prooijen, J-W. (2021). Overconfidence in radical politics.