Is It Time for a New Economics Curriculum? “The Economy,” a new textbook, is designed for the post-neoliberal age. ......... “I don’t care who writes a nation’s laws—or crafts its advanced treaties—if I can write its economics textbooks,” he wrote, in 1990. “The first lick is the privileged one, impinging on the beginner’s tabula rasa at its most impressionable state.” ......... initiative—called core, for Curriculum Open-Access Resources in Economics, and anchored by a free online introductory textbook titled
—will “teach economics as if the last thirty years had happened.” ...........
Queen Elizabeth II visited the London School of Economics in 2008, and asked the school’s professors why no one had seen the crisis coming.
.......... the limits of the Homo economicus view of people as farsighted and self-interested actors .......... Bowles and Carlin, in contrast, present market failure as far more pervasive, and not as a rare deviation from a generally efficient and desirable status quo. ........ lead students to “reasonably conclude that the economy is about interactions in competitive markets (a positive statement) that function pretty well (a normative one) and in which governments ought not to meddle.” core provides reasons and evidence to challenge all three positions. .......... Bowles told me about an informal rule among publishers that no more than fifteen per cent of the material in a new textbook should deviate from the dominant ones. He estimates that the figure for core is closer to seventy per cent. ......... After a summer of floods and fires, readers will not be shocked to learn that the economy depends on a functional ecology: “The economy is part of society, which is part of the biosphere,” the core textbook reads. ......... core still relies on G.D.P., but it acknowledges some of the limits and criticisms that pertain to long-dominant models in economics. ......... core also presents a view of psychology in which people are motivated by more than self-interest. .........
None of the textbook’s contributors were paid, and all donated their rights over the material to core, which is a registered charity.
........
One teacher from Arkansas State University calculated that using core will save his students a combined hundred thousand dollars annually.
............ “Teaching a version of economics where there is no such thing as economic power, where we’re in the best of all possible worlds . . . I could see how it would not necessarily be a very interesting field for people from more marginalized groups.” ........ He worried that so much emphasis on the ethical and political dimensions of economics might make the subject feel like a different discipline altogether. “The question is, do you want the students to feel like they’re coming out of, you know, to be blunt, a sociology class or an economics class?” Gruber said. ...........
“Economics is a right-wing science,” he told me. “We teach students that the market is always right. And that’s just wrong.”
.............. In his book, “Economics: The User’s Guide,” from 2014, Chang delineates nine major schools of economic thought: Austrian, behaviorialist, classical, developmentalist, institutionalist, Keynesian, Marxist, neoclassical, and Schumpeterian. Adding feminist economics, evolutionary economics, and ecological economics brings the number to twelve. ............. He sees core as fundamentally neoclassical, and thus something of an intellectual monoculture. “All these different schools have been developed with different questions, different methodologies, different assumptions. So they are differently good at answering different kinds of questions,” he told me. “I’m not saying that neoclassical economics is particularly bad, but, in neoclassical economics, you don’t really question the underlying distribution of income, wealth, and power. People promoting that perspective have, frankly, more exposure, more research funding, more political support.” ........... “If one wishes to restructure society in order to achieve other values than maximizing output of material goods and services, Samuelson’s book is no help at all,” one professor wrote, in the early nineteen-seventies. .......... she doesn’t think core goes far enough in reimagining the discipline. .......... many assumptions in present-day economics—about gender, the moral status of future generations, or the natural world—may, one day, appear hopelessly flawed. ..........
the astounding increases in inequality that have occurred in the United States since 1980
........... "The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."
Home prices are increasing at the fastest rate that we’ve ever witnessed since we first began collecting data just over five decades ago.
........... mortgage rates may be suppressed by the Fed’s balance sheet for years to come. ........
The housing bubble of the 2000s can offer helpful insight in assessing the current bubble.
......... Current home prices are nearing the 2000s housing-bubble level relative to income. ....... these rare heights have not corrected without recession in over 35 years. ....... As of this July, home prices were 13 percent above average long-term affordability. Should prices continue rising for another year, they will be around the ’05 level — 23 percent above average. Declines in home prices from this level would wipe out equity for the new generation of homebuyers. Home prices took a decade to recover from the 2000s bubble. .......... the beginning of a buyer’s strike with over two-thirds of consumers believing this to be a bad time to buy a house. ....... this statistic is at its worst level in about 40 years. Then, during the brutal early-1980s recession, homebuyers were concerned with double-digit mortgage rates. Now they are concerned with double-digit price increases. .......... Based upon past metrics, the January sales peak has the earmark of a cyclical peak, with prices likely to fall within about a year. ........ It did not take large mortgage-rate changes to tip the 2008 crisis. ......... Another financial crisis seems unlikely, although a crude measure of the surplus of bank assets over liabilities is at its lowest ratio to bank assets since 2009. ......... “if something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” History informs us that current home pricing cannot go on forever.
India made unreasonable demands, China says after border talks fail Chinese military calls on India to prove its sincerity after latest commander-level talks falter ........ The two sides have traded accusations about recent incidents on their shared frontier ......... India rejected the accusation, saying its suggestions to improve the situation were not accepted by China.
As US returns to the UN Human Rights Council, it confronts an increasingly forceful China A great deal has changed in the 3 years since the US withdrew from the council: ‘China is now the biggest player in town’, notes one diplomatic analyst ....... Checking Beijing’s efforts to reshape the UN will take more than just coming back, as China continues to leverage its growing influence .......... at a time when Beijing is working overtime to blunt criticism over its crackdown in Xinjiang and revamp the UN in line with its world view.
The United States surpassed 700,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday, a milestone that few experts had anticipated months ago when vaccines became widely available to the American public........ The United States has had one of the highest recent death rates of any country with an ample supply of vaccines. ....... the coronavirus pandemic has become the deadliest in American history, overtaking the toll from the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, which killed about 675,000 people. ........ The deaths that have followed the wide availability of vaccines, he added, are “absolutely needless.” ........... Brandee Stripling, a bartender in Cottondale, Ala., told her boss that she felt as if she had been run over by a freight train........ had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, and now she had tested positive. ......... her children clutched one another in grief .........
2,900 people who were vaccinated among the 100,000 who died of Covid since mid-June.
......... after Delta became the dominant variant, unvaccinated people were more than 10 times as likely to die of the virus as the vaccinated were .......... By late September, more than 2,000 people on average were dying from the virus each day, a level the country has not reached since February. .......... About 40 percent of the most recent 100,000 people to die of the virus were under 65, a share higher than at any other point in the pandemic ........ A 16-year-old girl in another family lost her mother, aunt and cousin to the virus, all in quick succession. ..........
It’s so much worse now than it was when the pandemic first happened. The Delta variant is tremendously worse.
......... only 65 percent of the eligible U.S. population is fully vaccinated. The nation’s vaccination campaign has been slowed by people who say they are hesitant or unwilling to get shots, amid a polarized landscape that has included misinformation from conservative and anti-vaccine commentators casting doubt on the safety of vaccines. ......... More than 3,800 people in their 40s died of Covid-19 in August, compared with 2,800 in January. ......... The Delta variant is much more contagious than previous variants. ........ “The families are going through a lot of initial pain and shock and when we’re getting 20-, 30-, 40-year-old people who are passing away from it ...........
a frequent refrain: family members who vow to be vaccinated after losing a relative to the disease.
............ The wave of Delta deaths has been particularly high in rural areas of the South, where vaccination rates trail those of nearby metropolitan areas. Even though the raw number of Covid-19 deaths is higher in metropolitan areas because their populations are larger, the share of people dying of the virus in rural areas has been much greater. ........... The woman who died of Covid-19 was a 64-year-old church member, talented baker and frequent volunteer during group dinners on Thanksgiving.
Her adult children had advised her not to receive a shot.
......... the woman’s children were full of regret, despairing over their actions and searching for a rationale.
Is the Coronavirus Getting Better at Airborne Transmission? The Alpha variant traveled more efficiently in small droplets, two new studies found. The Delta variant may have continued this evolution. ........ People infected with the Alpha variant exhaled 43 times more virus into aerosols than those infected with older variants .......... Newer variants of the coronavirus like Alpha and Delta are highly contagious, infecting far more people than the original virus. Two new studies offer a possible explanation:
The virus is evolving to spread more efficiently through air.
............. Most researchers now agree that the coronavirus is mostly transmitted through large droplets that quickly sink to the floor and through much smaller ones, called aerosols, that can float over longer distances indoors and settle directly into the lungs, where the virus is most harmful. ............. the virus is changing in ways that make it more formidable. ........ the results may also explain
why the Delta variant is so contagious — and why it displaced all other versions of the virus
. ............ It may be that lower doses of the variants are required for infection, or that the variants replicate faster, or that more of the variant virus is exhaled into aerosols — or all three. ..............
The Alpha variant proved to be twice as transmissible as the original virus, and the Delta variant has mutations that turbocharged its contagiousness even more. As the virus continues to change, newer variants may turn out to be even more transmissible
............ People infected with the Alpha variant had copious amounts of virus in their nose and throat ........... The results were posted on bioRxiv, a website that features papers before they have been published in a scientific journal. ........
the new findings underscore the importance of masks for vaccinated people, especially in crowded spaces
......... With billions of people worldwide vaccinated, and billions still unvaccinated, the virus may still change in unexpected ways
Progressives Flex Muscles on Biden Agenda, Adopting New Tactics Their persistence forced Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay a planned vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. In the end, President Biden sided with their position. ........ Progressive Democrats in Congress ....... The nearly 100-member caucus refused to support a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that is a major piece of President Biden’s agenda, seeking leverage for a bigger fight. ......... signaled that the progressives enjoyed newfound influence ....... while the progressives scored a tactical victory, negotiations continued to whittle down the size of the social policy and climate bill, which was already much smaller than the initial $6 trillion to $10 trillion that many of them had envisioned. ........ Despite its growing ranks, the progressive caucus has struggled for years to enact its agenda of
providing more robust health care services, taxing the wealthy, reining in military spending and addressing climate change
. Activists have grown frustrated as they helped elect members to Congress, who then fell in line, voting for whatever Democratic leaders put on the floor. ............ progressives won the battle of ideas before the battle of tactics ........
The social spending and climate change platform put forth by Mr. Biden stems in large part from the proposals of Senator Bernie Sanders
......... But bare-knuckled tactics were important too ............ many progressive activists were still upset about how Democrats allowed Republicans to weaken the Affordable Care Act with a slew of amendments when the party had control of both chambers of Congress. But he is now cheering the stance taken by the Progressive Caucus. ........ progressives were only responding to the political maneuvers of centrist Democrats ....... The liberals’ tactics were reminiscent of those employed by the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members routinely threatened to withhold their bloc of votes unless Republican leaders met their demands. .......... another group of activists paddled kayaks to confront Mr. Manchin in the waters next to his large houseboat docked at a Washington marina.
This Is Why We Need to Spend $4 Trillion what did I sense in my recent travels across five states? The same thing I sense in my social media feed and on the various media most-viewed lists. Indifference. ....... Have we given up on the idea that policy can change history? Have we lost faith in our ability to reverse, or even be alarmed by, national decline? More and more I hear people accepting the idea that America is not as energetic and youthful as it used to be. ....... a core faith that this would forever be the greatest nation on the planet,
the New Jerusalem
, the last best hope of earth. ............ There was a time when the phrase “the common man” was a source of pride and a high compliment. ........ From Reagan through Romney, the Republicans valorized entrepreneurs, C.E.O.s and Wall Street. The Democratic Party became dominated by people in the creative class, who attended competitive colleges, moved to affluent metro areas, married each other and ladled advantages onto their kids so they could leap even farther ahead. ....... There was a bipartisan embrace of a culture of individualism, which opens up a lot of space for people with resources and social support but means loneliness and abandonment for people without.
Four years of college became the definition of the good life, which left roughly two-thirds of the country out.
........... the poisonous combination of elite insularity and vicious populist resentment. ............ a group of people so enraged by a lack of respect that they are willing to risk death by Covid if they get to stick a middle finger in the air against those who they think look down on them. They are willing to torch our institutions because they are so resentful against the people who run them. ........... In real, tangible ways, they would redistribute dignity back downward. ......... They would ease the indignity millions of parents face having to raise their children in poverty. ............. among those getting the most money per capita from the infrastructure bill. A lot of them are places where Trumpian resentment is burning hot: Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota. ............ Statecraft is soulcraft. ...... In many large Western nations, there are
vast tectonic forces concentrating wealth in the affluent metro areas and leaving vast swaths of the countryside behind
Perilous, Roadless Jungle Becomes a Path of Desperate Hope The recent surge at the Mexican border is likely to grow as more migrants, mostly Haitian, risk everything negotiating the notorious Darién Gap on their way to the United States.
Britain Is Heading Into a Nightmarish Winter Long lines outside gas stations. Panicked drivers fighting one another as the pumps run dry. Soldiers deployed to distribute fuel across the country. And in the background,
the pandemic stretching on, food rotting in fields and families sinking into poverty. This is Britain in 2021.
........ For many months, industry leaders across the economy have warned about chronic labor shortages — of truck drivers, yes, but also fruit pickers, meat processors, waiters and health care workers — disrupting supply chains and impeding businesses. .......... The signs of breakdown are everywhere: empty shelves in supermarkets, food going to waste in fields, more and more vacancy posters tacked to the windows of shops and restaurants. Meat producers have even called on the government to let them hire prisoners to plug the gap. ........
One of the main causes of this predicament is Brexit
....... Britain’s protracted departure from the bloc, undertaken without any real effort by Mr. Johnson to ensure a smooth transition, led to an exodus of European workers — a process then compounded by the pandemic. As many as 1.3 million overseas nationals left Britain between July 2019 and September 2020......... Three million households in Britain already live in fuel poverty, made to choose between heating and eating in the winter. ....... This grim confluence, from fuel shortages to spiraling poverty, has been described by many as a perfect storm. Yet the metaphor erases the active role the Conservatives — and in particular, the prime minister — have played in orchestrating these foreboding conditions. The bleak winter ahead is of their making.
Boris Johnson Is a Terrible Leader. It Doesn’t Matter. Britain’s freewheeling, clownish prime minister ...... and the retreat of liberal democracy around the world. ........ There have been accusations of corruption, reports of bitter rivalries on his closest team and, to top it off, explosive testimony from his former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, that laid responsibility for the handling of the pandemic in Britain — where over 125,000 people have died of Covid-19 — squarely at Mr. Johnson’s door. Story by story, scandal by scandal, Mr. Johnson has been exposed as
a slapdash, venal, incompetent leader
. ......... According to Mr. Cummings, Mr. Johnson initially claimed that the coronavirus “is only killing 80-year-olds”
and wanted to be injected with the coronavirus live on television to show that there was nothing to worry about
. ........... Covid-19 contracts worth billions of pounds going to friends of Conservative lawmakers with no experience in the health sector, business tycoons with direct lines to the prime minister to push their interests and a lavish renovation of the prime minister’s residence at Downing Street that involved a secret donation by a Tory backer. Talk of sleaze and Britain’s “chumocracy” has permeated even the typically loyal pages of the right-wing press. ......... Engulfed in scandal, unassailably popular — this has always been the essence of brand Boris. ........
Mr. Johnson has led Britain to one of the highest Covid death rates in the world, overseen one the worst economic downturns in the Group of 7 and imposed the third-strictest lockdown globally.
........... the modern Conservative Party. The party’s founding promise, laid down in Robert Peel’s Tamworth Manifesto in 1834, was to stop Britain from becoming a “perpetual vortex of agitation.” Since the Conservatives regained power in 2010, Britain has become just that, with two referendums, three prime ministers and four general elections............... The Conservatives have flourished in these conditions, winning each general election since 2010 with a larger share of the vote than the last. But the spoils of victory have not been widely shared.
Wages have not risen against inflation for the longest period since the Napoleonic era, a third of children now grow up in poverty, and state welfare is now one of the stingiest in the developed world.
............ Despite all the havoc the Conservatives have caused, the party is in a stronger position than ever. And Mr. Johnson — the man who seems only ever to fail upward, blundering from one success to the next — is at its beating heart.
Boris Johnson Is How Britain Ends Not with a bang, but with a burst of blond ambition. .......... Boris Johnson, to whom lying comes as easily as breathing, is on the verge of becoming prime minister. He faces the most complex and intractable political crisis to affect Britain since 1945. ......... Mr. Johnson, whose laziness is proverbial and opportunism legendary, is a man well practiced in deceit, a pander willing to tickle the prejudices of his audience for easy gain. His personal life is incontinent, his public record inconsequential. ........
his premiership could bring about the end of Britain itself
....... Though
Brexit is primarily driven by English passions
, two of the four territories in the Union — Northern Ireland and Scotland — voted to remain. ....... his political career has been marked by ferocity of campaigning and indifference in office, as both London mayor and foreign secretary ........... He seems not to have principles.
In the late ’90s he told a surprised colleague he was “worried I haven’t got any political opinions”
— before going on to rehearse a hit parade of right-wing classics about “picanninies” and “bum boys” in his Telegraph column.
Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Rise of Radical Incompetence Like America’s president, Brexiteers resent the very idea of governing as complex and based in facts........ One thing the two men share is a recklessness that looks like courage in the eyes of their supporters, but which also sabotages the work of policymaking and diplomacy. ........
In characteristically florid terms, Mr. Johnson’s resignation letter expressed fears that “we are headed for the status of a colony.”
......... nobody has any idea what “hard” Brexit actually means in policy terms. It is not so much hard as abstract. ....... What appear on the surface to be policy disputes over Britain’s relationship with Brussels are actually fundamental conflicts regarding the very nature of political power. In this, the arguments underway inside Britain’s Conservative Party speak of a deeper rift within liberal democracies today, which shows no sign of healing. .......... Government involves officials, data-gathering, regulating and evaluating. As a governmental issue, Brexit involves prosaic problems such as how to get trucks through ports. ......... A common thread linking “hard” Brexiteers to nationalists across the globe is that
they resent the very idea of governing as a complex, modern, fact-based set of activities that requires technical expertise and permanent officials
. .......... For hard-liners such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, it is an article of faith that Britain’s Treasury Department, the Bank of England and Downing Street itself are now conspiring to deny Britain its sovereignty. ........ and the public insist that only sovereignty matters and that the complexities of governing are a lie invented by liberal elites? For one thing, it gives rise to celebrity populists, personified by
Mr. Trump, whose inability to engage patiently or intelligently with policy issues makes it possible to sustain the fantasy that governing is simple
A Fanatical Sect Has Hijacked British Politics Boris Johnson is poised to become prime minister thanks to a small, unrepresentative population of Brexiteer voters bent on destruction. ......... Boris Johnson, the controversial journalist-turned-politician, with a lifelong weakness for causing offense and then laughing off the consequences. ....... the “electorate” consists of a mere 160,000 people, just 0.3 percent of the national electorate, who are significantly older and richer than average ......... the worry is that Britain is now in the grip of something combining the worst aspects of both oligarchy and representative democracy. It might best be described as unrepresentative democracy. ...........
Mr. Johnson’s appeal to his base rests heavily on his enthusiastic comments about “no deal” Brexit, a kamikaze policy that would devastate Britain’s economy and produce a state of emergency for basic civil infrastructure, such as the supply of medicines.
......... Conservative Party members are now so fixated on Brexit that they believe it is worth doing at almost any cost — even if it leads to Northern Ireland or Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, “significant damage to the U.K. economy” or, most strikingly, the destruction of the Conservative Party. ....... But if Mr. Johnson’s personality offers one glimmer of hope, it’s that he’s never shown any indication of holding principles, and is entirely relaxed about letting people down.
Britain Is Drowning Itself in Nostalgia Brexit has exposed my country as a solipsistic backwater. ......... If Britain were an airline, we’d be very much like the one British Airways gives us in its ad — idling on the runway, sipping our tea and mumbling our self-congratulatory eulogies, reveling in our isolation because
all sense of a destination has disappeared
. .......... We are, in almost every sense, on a plane to nowhere, and because we have nowhere to go, we have to convince ourselves that nowhere is exactly where we wish to be. ......... With nothing meaningful to say about our future, we’ve retreated into the falsehoods of the past, painting over the absence of certainty at our core with a whitewash of poisonous nostalgia. The result is that
Britain has entered a haunted dreamscape of collective dementia — a half-waking state in which the previous day or hour is swiftly erased and the fantasies of the previous century leap vividly to the fore.
.............. or succumbing to fits of self-righteous fury because someone has dared to impugn the legacy of Winston Churchill. ...........
in our determination to rekindle the embers of our cooling significance, we seem perfectly happy to burn the future of our young for fuel
......... To protect that past, we seem prepared to abandon the future entirely, to tell ourselves that there is no future, just as to British Airways there are apparently no countries to fly to. ......... with the No. 1 shared value, as listed on their website, turning out to be the drably predictable assertion that “Ours is a great country of which people are rightly proud.” It’s the same old pillar of jingoism and self-regard to which, it increasingly seems, everyone must genuflect before, or even in place of, saying anything else at all. ........ We are not quietly leading any revolutions right now, unless one counts as a revolution
our project of self-dismantlement
. ........ We’re the world’s fifth-largest economy and likely to sink to seventh this year. Industry and finance are falling over themselves to flee. ......... the number of people sleeping on the streets has risen 140 percent since 2010; in which over a million emergency food packages were given to those struggling financially in the 2017-18 financial year; in which over 4 million children are living in poverty; and in which local councils in England face an £8 billion financial black hole by 2025, endangering not only their upkeep of communal spaces, but also their ability to provide adequate care for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. .......... There is no patriotic argument for Remain because Brexit itself is a cautionary argument against
blind national pride
. ............... We are pathologically unable to say what needs to be said: that nostalgia, exceptionalism and a xenophobic failure of the collective imagination have undone us. This is not a time of national pride, it is a moment of deep and lasting national shame. We are unable to lead yet determined never to follow. We have nothing of note to say and yet still refuse to listen. .........
unless we find in ourselves the humility we’ve always abhorred, we face a brutal and potentially permanent humbling.
Andrew Yang And The Two Party System a new party, which he has named “Forward.” This time, the candidate known for evangelizing universal basic income, or U.B.I., is championing ideas like open primaries and rank-choice voting .......... A few weeks ago, he announced he was abandoning the Democrats and forming a new third party. ....... I was completely anonymous and I made seven debate stages and mainstreamed universal basic income. I think the reverse should be true, which is how is it that someone who no one had heard of several years ago was a top contender for the mayoralty. .......... 42% of people on both sides would characterize the other party as downright evil, and both our media and our social media environments are exacerbating the situation. ..........
we’re at pre-civil war levels of political stress and they expect political violence to rise
.......... Right now Congress has an overall approval rating of 28% or so. The re-election rate for individual members of Congress is about 92%. Now, why that mismatch? ............ if I’m a Democrat or Republican in 83% of the seats around the country, it is a safe seat. I’m going to win if I get to the general. .............
the movement that I’m kicking off is around open primaries and ranked choice voting and reducing polarization
............ we have to try and liberate our leaders from the tyranny of the most ideologically extreme on either side. ........... when I say open primaries and ranked choice voting in every district around the country, some people react to that negatively. But I have a feeling that over time, they’re going to see, wow, this really would solve a lot of problems, would improve incentives, would fix things .......... right now 60% of Americans say that both parties are not really connected with the needs of the people and want a third party, which is the highest in a long time .......... change is structurally next to impossible because that that is just the way it’s been set up. ........... the Forward Party ............ the Forward Party is not left or right, it’s forward. It’s about solutions, fixing the process and incentives, fact-based governance, modernity ............ there are six core principles to the Forward Party. Number one is open primaries and ranked choice voting. This process change is the key to everything. So that’s number one. Number two is modern and effective government. We’re going to try and hold government’s feet to the fire to try and speed up and modernize. The third one I think people will — at least some people will appreciate this, it’s grace and tolerance. It’s that we don’t see anyone as our enemy. We don’t see other Americans as our enemy certainly. Our enemy is a system that’s rewarding people for pitting us against each other. ............ number four is fact-based governance .... The fifth will surprise absolutely nobody, which this universal basic income. ......... And the sixth is a human-centered economy. We right now measure our economic success and progress based upon capital efficiency, stock market prices, GDP, and none of those things corresponds to our generally deteriorating way of life. ..........
The big change we have to make is open primaries and ranked choice voting. ..... In 24 states, you have ballot initiatives so if you get enough people in that state together, as happened in Alaska, you could potentially see this process happen.
......... I am dedicated to building this party into the healing liberating force in American politics. ......... if you had ranked choice voting, Trump might not have won the Republican primary in 2016. ..........
open primaries, ranked choice voting, fact-based governance, universal basic income, human-centered economy, grace and tolerance and modern effective government
......... I’m going to spend years of my life mainstreaming open primaries and ranked choice voting as the key reform that’s going to set us free. .......... bipartisanship is such a rarity or unicorn at this point, in part because the incentives lead us that direction
Nobody Really Knows How the Economy Works. A Fed Paper Is the Latest Sign. Many experts are rethinking longstanding core ideas, including the importance of inflation expectations. ........... “Macroeconomics behaves like we’re doing physics after the quantum revolution, that we really understand at a fundamental level the forces around us,” said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an interview. “We’re really at the level of Galileo and Copernicus,” just figuring out the basics of how the universe works. .............. “Mainstream economics is replete with ideas that ‘everyone knows’ to be true, but that are actually arrant nonsense.” ........
basic precepts underlying economic policy are shifting beneath economists’ feet.
........ interest rates and inflation fell worldwide, for reasons that scholars are still trying to understand fully. That implied a lower “neutral interest rate,” or the rate that neither stimulates nor slows the economy, than was widely believed to be the case as recently as the mid-2010s. .............. huge budget deficits have been paired with low interest rates and abundant credit for businesses.
This Is No Way to End a Pandemic The world’s largest vaccine makers say they will soon have enough shots to inoculate just about the entire global population ......... data suggests and experts have argued that hardly any hospitalizations or deaths will be prevented by giving boosters to other groups like frontline workers, because their risk is so low to begin with. Still, health officials across the country report that people are clamoring for boosters ........ It’s also difficult to say whether Mr. Biden’s latest booster plan will undercut his recent pledge to help vaccinate 70 percent of the world’s population by this time next year. Mr. Biden has pledged to donate more than a billion shots to that effort.
How I Knew I Needed to Quit Instagram Just like with alcohol, social media left me feeling anxious and removed from myself. ......... I had built “a platform” in publishing-world speak — a sizable audience with blue-check verified accounts — which enabled me to switch careers from advertising to writing in 2016, and secure my first book deal in 2018. ......... Over time, however, I noticed that Instagram was invading every part of my day. Checking the app was the first thing I did in the morning and the last thing I did at night. According to my iPhone usage report, I was spending up to six hours a day on the app ingesting thousands of images, reading hundreds of comments and messages, and comparing myself to countless other people. When
all that time online left me overwhelmed, anxious and burned out
(which was often), I convinced myself I had to stay for my career. Without Instagram to promote my work, I wasn’t sure I could actually make a living. I worried that if I didn’t consistently appear in people’s feeds, I’d become irrelevant. ........... I was so distracted by Instagram. I had difficulty concentrating and remembering things, and I was plagued by constant anxiety. I was so consumed by the information in my feed that I wasn’t focused at work, or in conversations. My daughter had to continually repeat herself because I wasn’t listening, even when she was right in front of me. My boyfriend told me he was worried about the impact it was having on my mental health. ........... most incredibly, I was actually present with people who were in front of me. .......
I realized that whenever I was on social media, I was chasing a goal that was impossible to reach.
......... No matter what I did, there would never be enough followers, enough approval, enough success. The more I posted, the less I felt like my true self. ......... we lose something vital: the ability to experience life in the here and now. And “the here and now” is where the true self lives. ........ I feel the buzz of fear in my stomach, the clutch of anxiety around my throat, the endless procession of negative thoughts and the fractured texture of my attention. When I do this, I remember it’s simply not worth it.
Trump Had a Mob. He Also Had a Plan. As the full picture of Jan. 6 begins to come into view, I think we should consider it a kind of revolution or, at least, the very beginning of one. Joe Biden ultimately became president, but
Donald Trump’s fight to keep himself in office against the will of the voters
has upturned the political order. ................ Trump, we know, urged Mike Pence to reject the votes of the Electoral College,
with the mob outside as the stick that would compel his obedience
. “You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump told Pence, as recounted in this newspaper, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.” .......... this week we learned that he had an actual plan in mind, devised by John Eastman, a prominent conservative lawyer who worked with the former president to challenge the election results, a job that included a speaking slot at the rally on the National Mall that preceded the attack on the Capitol. .......... Eastman was essentially summarizing the contents of a memo he had written on Trump’s behalf,
describing the steps Pence would take to overturn the election in Trump’s favor
. ........... Eastman’s confidence throughout this memo (he dismisses potential Democratic objections as “howls”) belies his shoddy legal, political and constitutional thinking. For one, his argument rests on an expansive reading of the Twelfth Amendment for which there is no precedent or justification. The vice president has never directly counted electoral votes. .......... None of this should make you feel good or cause you to breathe a sigh of relief. Consider what we know. A prominent, respected member in good standing of the conservative legal establishment — Eastman is enrolled in the Federalist Society and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — schemed with the president and his allies in the Republican Party to overturn the election and overthrow American democracy under the Constitution. Yes, they failed to keep Trump in office, but they successfully turned the pro forma electoral counting process into an occasion for real political struggle............
As it happens, Trump may well run for president in 2024 (he is already amassing a sizable war chest) with exactly that board in play.
.......... If Trump is, once again, on the ballot, then the election might turn on the manipulation of a ceremony that was, until now, a mere formality. ......... Jan. 6 closed the door on one era of American politics and opened the door to another, where constitutional democracy itself is at stake. ........ the main threat to the security and stability of the United States is coming from inside the house.
Joe Manchin Got the Voting Bill He Wanted. Time to Pass It. This antidemocratic (and anti-Democratic) agenda began before President Donald Trump, but he supercharged it. Now, the former president and his supporters — who tried unsuccessfully to overturn the last election by lying about fraud and trying to strong-arm state officials and Congress into flipping electoral votes — have continued their crusade against democracy at the state and local levels. ........... This slimmed-down package jettisons some of the more controversial elements of the earlier plan. It would not, for instance, restructure the Federal Election Commission or mandate the use of nonpartisan commissions for congressional redistricting. ............ The package’s provisions range from making Election Day a public holiday to protecting local election officials from partisan interference. Partisan gerrymandering and voter caging, a sketchy method of purging voting rolls, would be banned. Same-day voter registration would be available in all states, as would automatic voter registration systems. A 30-minute wait-time limit would be imposed for in-person voting, and uniform, flexible ID requirements would be established in states that require voter IDs. .......... “Put simply, if the new bill is enacted, more citizens will be able to register to vote, vote in person and by mail and have their votes counted” ......... To avoid death by filibuster, it needs the support of all 50 Democrats plus 10 Republicans. Absent that, Democrats will face a hard choice: Let this crucial legislation die
or eliminate the legislative filibuster in order to pass the bill on a party-line vote
. .......... while there were some pieces of the For the People Act that made Mr. Manchin uneasy, his primary objection was that it lacked buy-in from Republicans. .......... Republican-controlled legislatures already have passed laws restricting ballot access in at least 18 states. ..........
when voting rights are being ratcheted backward by one party, bipartisanship can’t be an excuse for inaction.
There Is No Good Reason You Should Have to Be a Citizen to Vote Washingtonians love to complain about taxation without representation. But for me and my fellow noncitizens, it is a fact of political life that we submit to unquestioningly year after year, primary after primary, presidential election after presidential election. Nearly
15 million people
living legally in the United States, most of whom contribute as much as any natural-born American to this country’s civic, cultural and economic life, don’t have a say in matters of politics and policy because we — resident foreign nationals, or “aliens” as we are sometimes called — cannot vote. ........... it’s time for Democrats to radically expand the electorate. Proposing federal legislation to give millions of young people and essential workers a clear road to citizenship is a good start. But there’s another measure that lawmakers both in Washington and state capitals should put in place: lifting voting restrictions on legal residents who aren’t citizens — people with green cards, people here on work visas, and those who arrived in the country as children and are still waiting for permanent papers. ............. It’s easy to assume that restricting the franchise to citizens is an age-old, nonnegotiable fact. But it’s actually a relatively recent convention and a political choice. Early in the United States’ history, voting was a function not of national citizenship but of gender, race and class. .........
Arkansas was the last state to eliminate noncitizen voting in 1926
.......... The United States already has plenty of institutions that account for noncitizens: The census aims to reach all residents because it believes everyone, even aliens, matters. Corporations enjoy free speech and legal personhood — and they’re not even people. Would it be such a stretch to give noncitizen residents a say in who gets elected to their state legislature, Congress or the White House? ...........
allowing noncitizens to vote in federal, state and municipal elections would help revitalize American democracy at a time when enthusiasm and trust are lacking.
........... The United States not only allows dual citizenship but also allows dual citizens to vote — and from abroad. Is there any reason to think resident foreigners should be less represented? ............ It took me 15 years and over $10,000 in legal fees (not to mention the cost of college) to obtain permanent residency. The citizenship test and oath feel comparatively like a piece of cake. ........... Since 1992, Takoma Park, Md., has allowed all residents to vote, regardless of their citizenship. Nine additional Maryland towns, as well as districts in Vermont and Massachusetts, have voted to re-enfranchise noncitizens. The cities of Chicago, Washington and Portland are also considering the idea, and a bill that would give New York City’s authorized immigrants voting rights has a new supermajority in the City Council.
The Endless Catastrophe of Rikers Island “There’s garbage everywhere, rotting food with maggots, cockroaches, worms in the showers, human feces and piss,” Ms. Gallagher wrote. “Most of the toilets are broken so men are given plastic bags to relieve themselves in.” ...... “I met multiple men with broken hands and legs that were not being treated,” she continued. ......... More than half of the inmates have received mental health services, and as of last year, nearly one in five had been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. ............ Meanwhile, corrections officers are calling in sick en masse — nearly 1,800 on Wednesday alone — leaving their colleagues to work double and triple shifts and
effectively ceding control of parts of the complex to gangs
. ........
New York, like the rest of the country, locks up far too many people for no good reason.
........... close to 6,000 people at the moment. Taxpayers are charged nearly half a million dollars per year to incarcerate each of these people —
the vast majority of whom haven’t even had a trial yet
. .......... pretrial detention for even a few days makes someone more likely to commit a crime, not less.
अरुण तेस्रो, फास्ट-ट्रयाक र एमसीसी : महत्त्वपूर्ण आयोजना, अतिरञ्जित बहस नेपालका ठूला परियोजनालाई काठमाडौंको कुलीन वर्गको एउटा तप्काको निहित स्वार्थ, विदेशी कम्पनीका नेपाली एजेन्ट र स्थानीय दल अनि दलका नेतृत्वसँग उनीहरूको अदृश्य सहकार्यले गर्दा अतिरञ्जित तर्क र मिथ्यांक प्रस्तुत गरेर ढिलो वा खारेज नै गराउनेसम्मका दुष्कृत्य हुने गरेका छन् । ......
फास्ट–ट्रयाकमा बढेको करिब २ खर्ब ८० अर्बको लागत, लाखौं लिटर पेट्रोलियम पदार्थ बचत हुनबाट वञ्चित हुनुपर्दाको घाटा
लगायतको क्षतिपूर्ति नेपाली समाजले कुन विज्ञ, कुन प्रशासक, कुन दल, कुन नेतृत्व र नागरिक समाजको कुन तप्काबाट माग्ने कसरी ? ......... देश ठूला पूर्वाधारको विकासमा भन्दा हल्लैहल्लाका पछि लागिरह्यो । विकासको अविकास भयो, हल्लाको द्रुत विकास भयो । बहुदल प्राप्तिपछि भएका चारवटा ठूला पूर्वाधार विकाससम्बन्धी बहसले यो प्रवृत्तिलाई पुष्टि गर्छन् ....... अरुण तेस्रो ........ ४०२ मेगावाटको अरुण तेस्रो आयोजनामा अनुमानित लागत १ अर्ब डलरमध्ये करिब दुईतिहाइ वैदेशिक सहयोग प्राप्त हँुदै थियो । सहयोगमध्ये ठूलो भाग अनुदान थियो । बहुदल पछाडि गरिएको आर्थिक सुधारका कारण
विद्युत्को माग प्रतिवर्ष करिब ४० मेगावाटले बढिरहेको थियो, जसलाई सम्बोधन गर्न अरुण तेस्रो बन्नैपर्ने थियो ।
........ आयोजनाको २० प्रतिशत मात्र आम्दानीले ऋणको साँवाव्याज तिर्न पुग्थ्यो र ८० प्रतिशत आम्दानी शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य, गरिबी निवारणमा खर्च गर्न सकिन्थ्यो ..... सञ्चारमाध्यम, नागरिक समाज, राजनीतिक दलहरूको एउटा तप्काले आयोजनाको विरोधमा देश–विदेशमा व्यापक विरोध गरे । तत्कालीन एमालेको सरकारको निर्णय, समाजको एउटा तप्काको विरोधले गर्दा विश्व बैंकले आयोजनाबाट हात झिक्यो । अरुण तेस्रो रोकिएसँगै माओवादीद्वारा देशमा आन्तरिक द्वन्द्व सिर्जना गरियो, जसका कारण जलविद्युत् निर्माणमा सुस्तता छायो । देशलाई लोडसेडिङले आक्रान्त पार्दै लग्यो । ......... सन् २००२ पछिको एक दशकमा देशमा जम्मा ९२ मेगावाट बिजुली थपियो भने उल्लेख्य प्रसारण लाइन पनि बन्न सकेन । ....... २०६२–६३ सालको जनआन्दोलनयता ९ वर्षको लोडसेडिङले गर्दा नेपालले २०७३ सालको मूल्यमा १५ खर्ब रुपैयाँ बराबरको क्षति बेहोर्यो । धेरै उद्योग जन्मिन सकेनन् र लगानीको माग झन्डै ३३ प्रतिशत र उत्पादन करिब ७ प्रतिशतले घट्यो । सन् १९९५ मा एमालेद्वारा रोकिएको अरुण तेस्रो आयोजना सन् २०१८ मा एमालेकै अध्यक्ष र भारतीय प्रधानमन्त्रीले संयुक्त रूपमा शिलान्यास गरे । ........
सो आयोजनाको विरोध गर्ने कुलीन राष्ट्रवादी विज्ञहरू जागिर खोज्न बिदेसिनु पनि परेन, सोह्रसोह्र घण्टाको लोडसेडिङलाई तिनले जेनेरेटर र इन्भर्टर राखेर पराजित गरे
.......... काठमाडौं–तराई मधेस फास्ट–ट्रयाक ........ करिब १ खर्ब १८ अर्बमा बन्ने अनुमान गरिएको द्रुतमार्गका कारण ठूला ट्रकहरू निजगढबाट काठमाडौं पुग्दा एकतर्फी डिजेलको खपत पनि प्रतिट्रक करिब ४० लिटर कम हुने थियो । ....... उक्त विदेशी कम्पनीले लैजाने नाफा भनेको वार्षिक २ अर्ब २० करोड थियो .... तर सत्ता साझेदार एमालेले फेरि पनि अतिरञ्जित कुरा उठाउन थाल्यो, यो आयोजना देशलाई टाट पल्टाउने गरी भारतीय निजी कम्पनीलाई दिन लागिएको भनेर विरोधमा उत्रियो । विभिन्न विज्ञबाट पनि तथ्यांकभन्दा बढी मिथ्यांक प्रस्तुत गरिए । यहाँसम्म कि, अर्थ समितिद्वारा गठित र सबै ठूला दलका सांसदहरू भएको केशवप्रसाद बडालको संयोजकत्व रहेको उपसमितिले
१ खर्ब १८ अर्ब
लागत नै धेरै भएको लगायतका तर्कहरू गरेर आयोजना बनाउन नदिने निष्कर्ष निकाल्यो, जबकि
आज उक्त फास्ट–ट्रयाक बनाउन करिब ४ खर्ब लाग्ने देखिएको छ ।
........... त्यस बेला १ प्रतिशतमा भारत सरकारको ७५ अर्ब सहुलियत ऋण लिएर बनाउन आँट गरेको भए, एउटै सवारीसाधन नगुडेको भए पनि भारतीय कम्पनीले ७६ किलोमिटर लामो र करिब २८ मिटर चौडा सडक पूरै बनाएर, २५ वर्षसम्म सञ्चालन गरेर लैजाने भनेको जम्मा ५५ अर्ब रुपैयाँ मात्र हुन्थ्यो, त्यो पनि २५ वर्षमा । ......... नेपालले आफैं बनाउँदा लागत त्यति बेलाको अनुमानभन्दा करिब २ खर्ब ८० अर्ब बढ्ने भयो, अहिलेको मूल्यमा ........... एमसीसी ................... ११ सेप्टेम्बर २००१ पछि अमेरिकी संसद्ले गरिब देशहरूमा अमेरिकी विकास सहयोग देखिने गरि नपुगेको भन्ने गुनासोलाई ख्याल गरेर ठूल्ठूला पूर्वाधारका लागि प्रजातान्त्रिक शासन र मानव अधिकारको प्रत्याभूति भएका अनि सामाजिक क्षेत्रमा बजेट खर्च गर्ने गरिब राष्ट्रहरूलाई अनुदान सहयोगको घोषणा गरेको थियो । तीनतिर चीनबाट घेरिएको मंगोलियाले एमसीसी सम्झौता संसद्बाट पास गराएर सन् २००७ मा २५ करोड डलर ल्याई ऊर्जा, व्यावसायिक तालिम, सडक निर्माणलगायतमा खर्च गर्यो । उसले फेरि सन् २०१८ मा अर्को सम्झौता गरेर थप ३५ करोड डलर ल्याएको छ, जसको अधिकांश हिस्सा राजधानीको खानेपानी आयोजनामा खर्च गर्दै छ । सन् २०१६ मा दलाई लामाले मंगोलिया भ्रमण गरेपछि नाकाबन्दी लगाई थुरथुर बनाएको चीनले एमसीसी आयोजना चिनियाँ हितप्रतिकूल हुने भए दुई–दुई पटक त्यहाँ अमेरिकी आयोजना बन्न दिन्थ्यो होला ? महान् चीनको हित एसियाको दोस्रो दरिद्र राष्ट्र नेपालले हेरिदिनुपर्छ भन्ने तर्कलाई चिनियाँहरूले पनि हास्यास्पद मान्दा हुन् । ............... २०२८ सालसम्म नेपालले विदेशबाट अनुदान मात्र लिन्थ्यो, त्यसपछि मात्र वैदेशिक ऋण लिन थालेको हो । ........ औसतमा हेर्दा, नेपालले आफ्नो बजेटको करिब ११ प्रतिशत रकम वैदेशिक अनुदानबाट लिएको छ तर यो निरन्तर घट्दै छ ........ २०१३ साल यताको जोड्ने हो भने, नेपालले हालसम्म करिब ७ खर्ब वैदेशिक ऋण र करिब ६ खर्ब बराबरको अनुदान परिचालन गरेको सरकारी तथ्यांकले देखाउँछ ......... यी सबै सम्झौता लगभग उस्तै छन्, कुनै एमसीसीका सर्तहरूभन्दा कडा त कुनै उदार । ......... एमसीसी संविधानभन्दा माथि नभएको प्रत्याभूति लिखित रूपमै तीनपटक दिइसकेको छ अमेरिकाले । अहिले ३४ देशमा ४४ वटा एमसीसी आयोजना सम्पन्न भइसकेका वा कार्यान्वयनको चरणमा छन् ।
ती ३४ देशमा कतै अमेरिकी सेना प्रवेश गरेको उदाहरण छैन ।
एमसीसी आयोजना लागू भएका आधाभन्दा बढी देशहरूमा पश्चिम अफ्रिका, दक्षिण अमेरिका, पूर्वी युरोपका छन्, जसको हिन्द–प्रशान्त महासागरसँग भौगोलिक सम्बन्ध नै छैन । .......... नेपालमा वैदेशिक सहयोग वा स्वदेशी लगानीका आयोजनाहरू समयमा नबन्नु सबैभन्दा ठूलो रोग हो । माथिल्लो तामाकोसी, चमेलिया, मेलम्ची, रानीजमरा, कालिगण्डकी, पञ्चेश्वर आयोजना, बबई सिँचाइ आयोजना, मध्यपहाडी सडक, हुलाकी सडकसहित थुप्रै विद्युतीय प्रसारण लाइनहरू एक–दुई दशकमा पनि सम्पन्न नहुने र आयोजना सुरु गर्दा गरेको
लागत अनुमानको पाँच गुणासम्म बढी खर्च हुने गरेका छन् ।
......... आखिर त्यो लगानीमा सप्तरी, कालीकोट र खोटाङका गरिब जनताले पसिना बगाएर तिरेका धेरैथोरै करको ठूलो हिस्सा पनि अहिले वा पछि परेको हुन्छ । आयोजनाहरू समयमा बनाएर चाँडै प्रतिफल प्राप्त गर्दा देश र जनतालाई फाइदा हुन्छ तर ढिलो हुँदा बढेको लागतको भार जनताले तिर्नुपर्छ । त्यो आर्थिक भारको क्षतिपूर्ति कसले भर्ने ? एमसीसीको सहयोगबाट सञ्चालन हुने आयोजनाको विशेषता नै बनाउन थालेको ५ वर्षमा सक्नैपर्ने हो । ........ एमसीसीअन्तर्गत बनाइने अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय प्रसारण लाइनले हामीले खपत गरी बचेको विद्युत्को व्यापार गर्नमा सहयोग पुर्याउनेछ । स्मरणीय छ,
वर्षायाममा नेपालको विद्युत् त्यसै खेर जाने गरेको छ ।
........... पोखरा विमानस्थल .......... २०४५ सालताका पोखराको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थल करिब ८.५ करोड डलरमा सम्पन्न हुने अनुमान थियो । पछि २०६८ सालतिर यसको लागत बढेर करिब १७ करोड डलर पुग्यो । तर चिनियाँ कम्पनीले ३० करोड डलरभन्दा बढीमा बनाउन प्रस्ताव गर्यो । .......... पुनर्मूल्यांकन गर्ने समूहले लागत करिब २२ करोड डलर बनाइदियो जुन सरकारको अनुमानभन्दा ५ करोड डलरले बढी थियो । त्यही मूल्यमा चिनियाँ एक्जिम बैंकबाट ऋण लिएर चिनियाँ कम्पनीलाई नै बनाउन दिइयो ।
नेपाली समाजको सनातन चरित्रअनुसार, यो आयोजनामा मूल्य बढेकामा कुनै बुद्धिजीवी, दल, नेतृत्व वा नागरिक समाजले अपेक्षित बहस गरेनन् ।
............ निजी स्वार्थपूर्तिका लागि संकीर्ण अन्धराष्ट्रवाद र लोकरिझ्याइँमा रमाउने दल र समूहहरूले देश र समाजलाई अर्कै बाटोमा डोर्याइरहेका छन् । यस्ता गतिविधिले देशमा राजनीतिक अस्थिरता निम्त्याएर लगानीको अविश्वसनीय माहोल बनाई वैदेशिक कूटनीतिको गाम्भीर्य र गुरुत्वलाई कमजोर पारिरहेका छन् । यावत् गतिविधिले देशको अर्थतन्त्र ओरालो लागिरहन्छ, रोजगारीका अवसरहरू सिर्जना हुन दिँदैनन् । यस्ता दल र समूहले देशमा सम्भावना नदेखी वैदेशिक रोजगारीमा गएका असंख्य युवाहरूमा समेत गलत विचारको बीजारोपण गरिरहेका छन्, जसले गर्दा समग्र देश र समाज नै तर्क र सार्थक बहस गर्न नसक्ने, हल्ला र अफवाहमा बग्ने भएको छ । समाजका केही बुद्धिजीविले पनि व्यक्तिकेन्द्रित कुतर्कमा रमाएर आक्रमण गर्ने संस्कारको अनुसरण र पैरवी गरिरहेका छन् । ............. हाम्रा केही दल, केही नेतृत्व, नागरिक समाजको एउटा समूहलगायतबाट आधुनिक समाजमा दिगो पुँजी वृद्धिका लागि केके गर्नुपर्छ भन्ने हेक्का नराखी विकासका नारामा अव्यावहारिक सपना बाँड्ने काम भएको छ । अहिलेको हाम्रो करिब ४२ खर्बको राष्ट्रिय कुल गार्हस्थ्य उत्पादनलाई १०० खर्बमा पुर्याउन, गत ५५ वर्षको औसत लगानी र आर्थिक वृद्धिको प्रवृत्ति हेर्दा, हामीले ठूल्ठूला लगानी र लगानी गर्न सजिलो हुने गरी पूर्वाधार एवं नीतिगत व्यवस्थालगायतमा तत्काल सुधार नगरे कम्तीमा अरू २० वर्ष लाग्नेछ । ......... हाम्रा दल र नेतृत्वहरूको सोचाइ र गराइमा परिवर्तन नआउने हो भने हाम्रो प्रतिव्यक्ति आय आगामी २० वर्षमा ३ हजार डलर पुग्न पनि धौधौ हुनेछ । .......
हातमुख जोर्ने अवसरको खोजीमा देश–विदेशमा भौंतारिएका असंख्य नेपालीको अनुहार हेरेर आफ्नो कर्म गर्नुपर्छ
अमेरिकनलाई होइन, नेपालीलाई चाहिन्छ एमसीसी अर्थ मन्त्रालयले गत महिना पठाएको लाजमर्दो प्रश्नसूची, अमेरिकी पक्षको गम्भीर जवाफ ........ नेपालको अर्थतन्त्रलाई सबैभन्दा चाहिएको पूर्वीपहाडका उत्पादन केन्द्रबाट हेटौंडा आइपुग्ने बिजुली मध्य नेपाल र पश्चिमसम्मै ‘इभ्याकुवेसन’ गर्ने यो अत्यावश्यक पूर्वाधार परियोजना हो र ५०० मिलियन (झन्डै ५९ अर्ब रुपैयाँ) डलर अनुदान नेपाली प्राविधिक आफैंले छानेका र
एकपछि अर्को सरकारमा रहेकाले स्वीकारेको, जो अहिले विरोधको डढेलो सल्काइरहेछन्।
............ त्यसपछि कता पैसा हाल्ने भनेर वर्षौं अध्ययन र बहस गरिए, जतिबेला नेता, विश्लेषक र पूर्वाधारविज्ञलाई अमेरिकी साम्राज्यवादले नेपाली राज्य र जनतालाई पूर्वाधार निर्माणको ठूलो राशि जबर्जस्ती ठेलेर यत्रो ठूलो षड्यन्त्र गर्छ भन्ने शंका नै लागेन। .......... नेपालले ऋणको भार बोक्न नपरी सीधा अनुदान पाउँछ ........... दुई–दुई वर्षको कोरोना प्रकोपले विश्व अर्थतन्त्र शिथिल भएको र सर्वत्र विकास सहायता ठप्प भएका बेला यत्रो राशिले नेपाली अर्थतन्त्रमा तरलता ल्याउँछ। यो रकम आज भए कसैले दिँदैनथ्यो, तर कम्तीमा आधा दशकअघिको अभ्यासको उपज भएकाले अमेरिकाले फिर्ता लिने कुरा भएन ............
एमसीसीको सहयोग नलिने हो भने उत्पादन केन्द्र र खपत क्षेत्र जोड्ने यो प्रसारण लाइन नेपालले आफ्नै पैसाले बनाउनैपर्छ।
........... ५०० मिलियन डलर केही होइन नेपालको लागि भन्ने पनि सुनिन्छ। ........ बर्खायाममा अबका दिनमा बढी हुने बिजुली भारतमा बेच्न पनि यस परियोजनाले सहयोग गर्छ, गोरखपुरसँग लाइन जोडेर। फेरि हिउँदमा बिजुली आयात गर्न पनि यसले सघाउँछ ......... वर्षौंको भयावह लोडसेडिङको स्थितिबाट नेपाल निक्लिएको भारतबाट आउने मुजफ्फरपुर–ढल्केबर ४०० केभीको लाइन नै मुख्य कारण हो ......... धेरै ठूलो आन्तरिक चमत्कार भएको होइन भारतबाटै बिजुली आयात गरिएको हो र
हाम्रो उत्पादन बढी भए भारतलाई बेच्दा कुनै देशद्रोह हुने होइन।
......... अमेरिकासँग यो अनुदान लिएर अमेरिकाकै नेपालप्रति नजर राम्रो बन्नु खराब कुरा होइन नि,
उसको पैसा लिनु नै मित्रताको प्रमाण!
.......... आज नेपाल भारत र चीनको चेपुवामा परेको छ। भारतको नेपाली अर्थतन्त्र र राजनीतिमा प्रभाव रहँदारहँदै चीन पनि एक्कासि हस्तक्षेपकारी बनेको छ र, लद्दाखको गत वर्षको झडपपछि त दुई ठूला छिमेकबीचको सम्बन्ध धेरै नै चिसिएको छ। एसियाका ‘महाराष्ट्र’
दुवैले मसँग मात्र मित्रता गर अर्कोलाई बिर्सिदेऊ भन्छन्
, हाम्रो आन्तरिक राजनीतिक डामाडोलका कारण भने चुस्त कूटनीति गर्न सम्भव भइरहेको छैन। ............ अरू बेलामा भन्दा पनि आज नेपालको भूराजनीतिलाई तेस्रो टेको चाहिएको छ, त्यो हो– पश्चिमा शक्ति, यो भन्न कुनै लाज मान्नुपर्दैन। तीनखुट्टे भूराजनीति त नेपालले दशकौंदेखि अपनाइरहेकै हो, आज पनि यो अपरिहार्य छ ......... हातैमा आएको अनुदान लत्याउँदा सबैले नेपाललाई होसहवास उडेको मुलुकका रूपमा हेर्नेछन्, दुई दशकको द्वन्द्व र संक्रमणकालमा खस्केको हाम्रो अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय वजन जो ब्युँतिँदै थियो, केही उँधो लाग्नेछ। चीन त खुसी होला, तर उसको नजरमा नेपाल गिर्ने निश्चित छ। ........ एमसीसीलाई नलिने निर्णय एक प्रकोप हुनेछ, जसको असर नेपालको अर्थतन्त्र मात्र होइन, अन्य धेरै क्षेत्रमा पर्नेछ। नेपालीतर्फ पश्चिमा ‘एकेडेमिया’, ‘भिजा रेजिम्’ आवतजावतको शृंखला, अरू दक्षिण एसियाली मुलुकभन्दा अलि लचिलो छ भने त्यो कठोर हुनसक्छ, नेपालीलाई मिलनसार ठान्नेहरूले अब स्वाँठको दर्जामा राख्न बेर छैन। ........... अमेरिकालाई नेपालको मित्रता चाहिएको छ। बदलिँदो विश्वराजनीतिमाझ भारत–चीनबीच बसेको नेपालको महत्त्व उत्रै साइज र अर्थतन्त्र भएका अन्य कैयौं देशले नपाएको सहायताको हात नेपालतर्फ तेर्सिएको छ। त्यस्तै नेपालले यो सहयोग नलेओस् भन्ने बेइजिङले पनि नेपालको प्रभाव र महत्त्व बुझेर त्यसो गरेको हो। तसर्थ
लेऊ र नलेऊ चाहनाबीच नेपालले आफ्ना लागि हेर्ने हो, न अमेरिका न चीनका लागि।
........... कागले कान लग्यो भन्दै चिच्याउँदै यत्रतत्र दगुर्नेलाई दुवै छिमेकले र बाँकी विश्वले हेप्ने निश्चित छ, यसले त आफ्नै फाइदा बुझ्दो रहेनछ भनेर। ......... एमसीसी परियोजना चिनियाँ शक्तिलाई सामना गर्न तयार पार्दैगएको ‘इन्डो प्यासिफिक स्ट्रयाटिजी’भन्दा वर्षौं पुरानो हो। ......... विभिन्न पक्षबाट जति नै तथ्य र तर्क जति नै विश्वासका साथ पेस गरे पनि केही लछारपाटो लागेको छैन, बरु एमसीसीको विरोध अफवाहका भरमा गाउँगाउँ छिरेको छ। आफूले राम्ररी बुझेको कुरा दशकौं निर्धक्क लेख्ने/बोल्ने गरेका सम्पादक, विश्लेषक पनि झस्केका छन्; बोल्न/लेख्न छाडेका छन्। ..........
यसरी आफ्नै खुट्टामा रमाईरमाई बञ्चरो हान्दै छौं, हामी नेपाली। फर्जी सूचना कताबाट निर्माण भइरहेछ थाहा हुने कुरा भएन, तर सामाजिक सञ्जालको राम्रो प्रयोग भइरहेछ।
.......... नेताहरू बोल्नसमेत डराउन थालेका छन्। र, सही कुरा बोल्ने राजनीतिज्ञलाई आफ्नै हितैषी र परिवारबाट फोन आउँछ– ‘राजनीति गर्नु छैन कि क्या हो? छाडिदेऊ एमसीसीको समर्थन। चुप बस्नू। समय त्यस्तै छ।’ ......... भूराजनीतिक अनभिज्ञता, एमसीसीद्वारा अमेरिकी सेना र मिसाइल भित्रिन्छन् भन्नेजस्ता अनर्थ कुराले पनि टेको पाएको छ। ......... प्रभावशाली नेताहरूलाई नै तर्साउनेगरी यसरी चुप लगाइदिने थप केही प्रयोग भएको हुनुपर्छ जस्तो लाग्छ, नत्र त यो एमसीसी गाँठो त तथ्य र तर्क प्रयोगले फुकाउन सक्नुपर्ने हो। एक त सामाजिक सञ्जालको उग्र–लोकरिझ्याइँ मलजल गर्ने क्षमता हामीले अध्ययन गर्नुपर्छ। अर्को,
कसैको प्रायोजन त भइरहेको छैन?
.................. भारतीय अर्थतन्त्रलाई समेत लाभ पु¥याउने नेपाल–भारत प्रसारण लाइन पनि एमसीसीको पाटो हो। कम्तीमा भारत एमसीसीबारे ‘एम्बिभेलेन्ट’ छ कि भन्ने लाग्छ, आए पनि ठीक नआए पनि हाइसञ्चो। .........
नयाँदिल्लीले जस्तै बेइजिङले पनि नेपालको आन्तरिक मामिलामा हस्तक्षेपकारी नीति लिन थालेको प्रस्टै छ।
साथसाथै उसको विश्वव्यापी पूर्वाधार योजना ‘बीआरआई’ चिनियाँ राष्ट्रपति सी चिनफिङको आफ्नो मुलुकलाई विश्वको प्रथम राष्ट्र बनाउने मुख्य यन्त्र बनेकै छ। प्रस्ट छ– चीनले नेपालको सन्दर्भमा एमसीसीलाई मन पराएको छैन। चिनियाँ पत्रिका–पोर्टलहरूका लेखाइ हेर्दा ‘एमसीसी नेपालको मामिला हो’ भन्ने कथनबाट गत वर्ष चिनियाँ विश्लेषकहरू (जो निःसन्देह बेइजिङ सरकारको बोली बोल्छन्) खाँट्टी एमसीसीका विरोधी देखिन्छन्। ....... चीनले या त ‘प्रोएक्टिभ’ भई नेपाली संकथन प्रभावित पार्न केही न केही गरिरहेछ, जसले आजको हुन्डरीलाई तीव्र बनाइदिएको छ, जो प्रमाणित गर्न गाह्रो पनि हुन्छ। या त उत्तरको चाहना बुझेर नेपाली नेताहरू, विशेषगरी माओवादीपक्षीय, दिलोज्यान दिएर बेइजिङलाई खुसी बनाउन लागिपरेका छन्, जसको सम्भावना माथि भनिएभन्दा बढी छ । ........... उग्रवाम, दक्षिणपन्थी हिन्दुत्ववादी, राजावादी सबका सब यही हो मौका भन्दै डंका पिटिरहेछन्। .......... नेपाललाई सीधै घात हुने देखिन्छ, एमसीसी सम्झौता हठात् खारेज गर्ने हो भने। र, खारेजीको अवस्था छ आज, तर कांग्रेस–माओवादी गठबन्धनका बेला सम्झौतामा हस्ताक्षर भएको थियो ........... समयमै काम होस् भनेर ५ वर्षको समयसीमा तोकिएको एमसीसीमा कमिसनको खेल नहुने, पैसा बढाउने ‘भ्यारिएसन’ गर्न नमिल्ने देखेर हो त व्यापारिक र ‘औद्योगिक’ भनिने घरानाहरूले एमसीसी खारेजीको चिन्ता नदेखाएको? एमसीसीले भित्र्याउने तरलताले पूरै अर्थतन्त्रलाई लाभ गरेर सबैलगायत उहाँहरूका घरानालाई पनि राम्रो हुनुपर्ने हो। फेरि वैदेशिक लगानीको वातावरण राम्रो भएको देश भनी नेपाल चिनिँदा पूरै निजी क्षेत्रलाई उत्साहित बनाउनुपर्ने हो, ‘डुइङ बिजनेस इन्डेक्स’लाई टेवा दिँदो हो। ......... एमसीसीबाट आउने प्रसारण लाइनको अपरिहार्यताबारे सबैभन्दा सरोकार राख्ने नेपाल विद्युत् प्राधिकरणका नवनियुक्त कार्यकारी निर्देशक कुलमान घिसिङबाट पनि केही आएको छैन। ...........
एकाध स्वर आँटका साथ अगाडि आएका छन् तर उहाँहरूको तर्कले अफवाहको सुनामी फर्काउन सकेको छैन।
.......... नेपाल अझै केन्द्रीकृत शासन व्यवस्थाको कब्जामा छ भन्ने प्रमाण एमसीसी प्रकरणले दिन्छ, जसरी ‘काठमाडौं केन्द्र’का केही मिडियाप्रेमी नेता र विश्लेषकले पूरै मुलुकलाई रिंग्याइदिएका छन्। नत्र खोइ त प्रान्तीय सरकार, प्रान्तीय बौद्धिक, प्रान्तीय व्यवसायीको आवाज? ‘हाम्रा लागि राम्रो गर्ने यो परियोजनालाई धरापमा पार्ने तिमीहरू को हौ’ भनेर सोध्ने कोही भएनन् बिगारे काठमाडौंले बिगारोस्, सपारे उसैले सपारोस् अर्थ लाग्ने निष्क्रियता देखिन्छ। ......... अलग धारको वैकल्पिक राजनीति गर्छु भन्नेका लागि त एमसीसीको सही विश्लेषण प्रस्तुत गर्नु मौका हो, तर उनै पनि उग्र–लोकरिझ्याइँको तापबाट हच्किएका छन्; मौका गुमाएका छन्। ........... नेपालका विचार निर्माणकर्ता र प्रभावशाली मिडियाका सम्पादकहरूले एमसीसीको फाइदा बुझेका छन्, तर बोल्न चाहेका छैनन् सम्पादकीय लेख्ने कुरा त परै रह्यो। .......... अप्ठेरो कुरा पनि वकालत गर्न अघि सर्नुपर्ने ‘नागरिक समाज’का अगुवा अन्य विषय र मुद्दा खोज्दै छन्, जसले गर्दा एमसीसीबारे बोल्नुपर्ने धरापमा नपरियोस्। ..........
प्रश्न उठ्छ– देउवाले किन संसदसामु बहसका लागि एमसीसी विधेयक अगाडि सार्दैनन्।
जवाफ हाजिर छ– माओवादी नेता पुष्पकमल दाहाल एमसीसीको विरोधमा छन् अहिले, मुलुकका लागि होइन, आफ्नो राजनीतिका लागि। ...............
दाहाल चीनलाई रिझाउने दाउमा छन्।
र, एमसीसीलाई अवरोध पुर्याउनु यसका लागि सबैभन्दा राम्रो अस्त्र बनेको छ। बेइजिङबाट निर्देशन नै आउनुपर्दैन, आफ्नो संरक्षक कतातिर खोज्ने भन्नेमा दाहाल प्रस्ट छन् र मौकाको फाइदा लिन पनि जानेकै छन्। ............ केपी ओली सरकारले चाहँदाचाहँदै, पुष्पकमल दाहालको निर्देशन (इशारा होइन) मा तत्कालीन सभामुख कृष्णबहादुर महरालाई एमसीसी विधेयक सदनसामु पेस नै गरेनन्। उनका उत्तराधिकारी सभामुख अग्निप्रसाद सापकोटाको आचरण पनि फरक भएन। महरा र सापकोटा दुवैले सभामुखको स्वतन्त्र भूमिका लत्याउँदै माओवादी नेताको भूमिका खेलेकामा मिडिया र छलफलखानामा माओवादी नेताद्वयको आलोचना त के टिप्पणीसम्म भएका छैनन्। .......... न त एमसीसी विरोधको मूल संवाहक पुष्पकमल दाहालको केन्द्रीय भूमिकाबारे चर्चा भएको पाउँछौं; विश्लेषकले सबै कुरा लेख्छन्, सलाई उनले कोरेको कुरा कतै आउँदैन। ............. एमसीसीको बाटोमा अवरोध पु¥याउने काम माओवादी अध्यक्ष पुष्पकमल दाहालले गरेका छन्; उनी पर्दा पछाडि पनि छैनन्। ............ ‘ट्रोलिङ’ र जगहँसाइको डरले अधिकतर सुझबुझवालाले ‘यस्तो अवस्थामा नबोलौं’ भनेरै भाग्यवादी पल्टिएका छन्। ......... एमसीसीको गाँठो फुकाउने सबैभन्दा सरल बाटो अगाडि छ, त्यो हो– प्रतिनिधि सभामा बहस। यो मुलुक संसदीय प्रणालीमा चल्छ भन्नुको अर्थ जनताले चुनेका प्रतिनिधि (सांसद) हरूको थलो
प्रतिनिधि सभामा सबैभन्दा गम्भीर राष्ट्रिय मुद्दाको खुला, पारदर्शी, गम्भीर बहस हुनु हो।
............. कांग्रेसका शीर्षस्थ नेतालाई घच्घच्याउन खोज्दा उनीहरूको लाचारी सासै उडाउने खालको छ: ‘के गर्नु, सभामुखले एमसीसी सदनमा पेस नै गर्नुहुन्न।’ .......... शेरबहादुर देउवाको दाहाल–झुकाव नेपालको वर्तमान र भविष्यका लागि कति घातक हुँदै छ। ......... सदनलाई छलीछली पुष्पकमल दाहालले आफ्नो प्रभाव प्रमाणित गर्दै संसद बाहिरैबाट ‘क्रान्तिकारी’ तरिकाबाट परियोजना ‘क्यान्सिल’ गरिए। ............. तोकिएको डेडलाइन कट्न आँटिसक्यो। एमसीसी अनुमोदन नगर्नुले नेपाली अर्थतन्त्र, नेपाली विश्वसनीयता, नेपाली कूटनीति तथा स्वतन्त्र निर्णय लिने नेपाली क्षमता ध्वस्त पार्नेछ।
आन्तरिक प्रशिक्षणमा सीके राउतले सुनाए मधेस कब्जाको रणनीति सीके राउतले मधेसमा अरु कुनै पनि दललाई प्रवेश गर्न दिन नहुने भन्दै चुनावमार्फत जनमत पार्टीलाई एक नम्बरको पार्टी बनाउनुपर्ने र पूरै मधेसमाथि कब्जा गर्नुपर्ने धारणा प्रशिक्षणमा राखेका थिए । ‘हामी स्वतन्त्र मधेसका लागि लडेर आएका थियौं, त्यो अहिलेलाई छाडेका छौं तर पार्टीमार्फत अहिले पनि मधेसमाथि कब्जा गर्न सकिन्छ,’ सीके राउतलाई उद्धृत गर्दै ती नेताले भने, ‘पूरै मधेसलाई नियन्त्रणमा लिन सकिन्छ ।’ ........ मधेसको करिब २६ सय वडामा हाल १६ सयभन्दा बढी वडास्तरमा जनमत पार्टीको संगठन विस्तार भएको तथ्याङ्क प्रस्तुत गर्दै अध्यक्ष राउतले बाँकी एक हजार वडामा ३ महिनाभित्र संगठन निर्माण गर्न निर्देशन दिएका छन् । उनले वडास्तरमा संगठन विस्तार गर्नका लागि केन्द्रीय सदस्यहरुलाई फरक फरक जिल्लामा तीन महिनासम्म खटाउने भएका छन् । ....... ‘संगठन माथिल्लो कमिटीले बलियो हुँदैन, तल्लो कमिटीले बलियो हुन्छ, सबभन्दा तल्लो कमिटी वडा कमिटी हो, वडा कमिटी जति बलियो हुन्छ, पार्टी त्यति नै बलियो हुन्छ,’ ती नेताले सीके राउतको भनाइ उद्धृत गर्दै भने । मधेसका हरेक जिल्लाका वडामा वडा स्तरीय कमिटी बनाउने र सोही कमिटीमार्फत तलदेखि नै कार्यक्रमहरु गर्दै आएपछि विस्तारै मधेसमाथि आफ्नो पार्टीको कब्जा हुने धारणा राखेको ती नेताले सुनाए । मधेस कब्जाका लागि उनले पहिलो चरणमा ‘कभरेज अभियान’ सञ्चालन गर्ने, त्यसपछि अर्को अभियान सञ्चालन गर्ने योजना सुनाए । तर दोस्रो चरणको अभियानको बारेमा उनले नखुलाएको स्रोतको भनाइ छ ।
प्र.म.देउवाले अोलीकै सिको गरे राजनीति दुर्घटनामा पर्न सक्छ। बाँकीको लिङ्कमा। https://t.co/NioNqnElwG
बजेट ल्याइ टोपल्ने, पारित गर्न नसक्ने, अघि कहिल्यै नभएको यस्तो लाजमर्दो स्थितिमा देशलाई कसले पुर्यायो? प्रतिपक्षको जिद्दी र सदन अवरोध, हतासामा सभामुखको अमिल्दो सभा स्थगन, अर्थमन्त्रीको बुज्रुक्याईं वा प्र.म.को हेलचक्र्याईं, सब जिम्मेवार देखिन्छन्। यो राष्ट्रघातकै नमूना हो।
The Biggest Tree in the World, the General Sherman, raked and wrapped in preparation for the incoming #KNPComplex fire. Sequoia National Park pic.twitter.com/EpVkaYvimE
When my friend @joelkotkin told me he was writing a book about how progressive & socialist ideas were being used to justify neofeudalism, I thought he was exaggeratingpic.twitter.com/3BlBhiqBLu
China Evergrande bond investors are struggling to find a hedge to cushion their losses as the troubled real estate giant nears what could be one of China’s biggest debt restructurings https://t.co/MkHMSqNLmQ
One country, two systems healthier than ever To decide whether our constitutional arrangement is still intact, you need to look at the system in its totality, not just particular aspects of it ........ Critics, both foreign and domestic, like to claim that the old Hong Kong or the “real” Hong Kong is dead. Usually, they mean local democracy is being undermined. But since real democratisation started only after the 1997 handover of sovereignty, the current situation can more accurately be described as a reversal to the old or colonial Hong Kong under the Brits. ........... the city continues to be represented as a separate entity at international bodies such as the United Nations, and the world trade and world health organisations.
China’s dollar diplomacy preferable to West’s military interventions France, the European Union and the US are withdrawing their failed military interventions from the African Sahel region and Afghanistan. China is stepping up, but it’s doing so with capital investment and developmental aid – and in the case of the Taliban, even diplomatic recognition – rather than bullets and bombs ......... For years, I have left my shares in Chalco for dead. Then suddenly, in recent weeks, stocks of the Aluminum Corporation of China have started going through the roof. It turns out the military coup in Guinea has a lot to do with it. Who would have guessed? It has been a most educational experience. .......... when you have skin in the game, the connections between economics, corporate actions and geopolitics become so much more vivid .........
Don’t believe the international media about China in Africa; you just get the wrong impression while your information is usually put out of context.
........ The problem with France is that it still thinks the West African region, its former imperialist glory, is still its own backyard. To understand this geopolitical fetish, you will have to go back to Charles de Gaulle during the post-war years. A comparison of France’s and the European Union’s doomed efforts in the region with America’s in Afghanistan has been made, and it’s not idle. ........... Rising troop casualties and resentment, and dwindling public support at home have made any multi-year military campaign unsustainable. ........
as France, the EU and the United States are withdrawing from their imperial or liberal-interventionist ventures or whatever you care to call them, China is stepping into the vacuum. But it’s doing so with capital and developmental aid and investment, rather than bullets and bombs.
........... Some of those projects will pan out; others will fail. Some may benefit the locals, others or perhaps the same ones will end up lining the pockets of corrupt local political bosses or fanatical Islamic militants. Who knows? But it’s only money. And if I were a dirt-poor local, it’s a lot better than having unmanned drones dropping bombs on my home and wiping out my wife and children.
What’s the point of democracy when you can’t vote because you and your whole family are dead?
