Guilty Pleasure: He's a Rebel

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I've written before about my love of this song, "He's a Rebel" by The Crystals from 1962.  Not only is it a classic, but it's got a great twist.  She's singing about how her guy doesn't do what society wants him to, but she's the one staring society in the face saying she's going to love him anyway.

In the original Star Wars film, "A New Hope", Obi Wan asks, "Who's the bigger fool, the fool or the fool who follows him?"  Well who's the bigger rebel, the rebel or the rebel who loves him?

I didn't mean for that to turn into a whole Star Wars/rebel analogy, but it kinda worked.

When Did Utopianism Become a Bad Thing?

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     I recently read “The Hidden Wealth of Nations” which is an analysis of the economic impacts of corporate tax havens, much like Apple’s Irish tax haven which made headlines today.  In the book, it’s author Gabriel Zucman offers not only analysis and critique of this topic, but offers solutions ranging from regulation to sweeping tax reform.

     For each potential solution Zucman offers, he takes a moment to explain why the suggestion isn’t “utopian” because it may have worked in another country or be within the purview of a sovereign nation, etc.  In part, I think Zucman spends this time pre-emptively defending against the charge of utopianism because his colleague and mentor Thomas Piketty's was also accused of utopianism for suggesting a global tax on wealth in his work “Capital in the Twenty First Century".

     Rather than discuss either economist’s particular argument, I’d like to focus on the accusation of utopianism as a means of dismissing the argument outright...

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Not Everything Should Be Run Like a Business

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After a recent expose by Mother Jones on corruption, abuses, and waste in privately run federal prisons, the DOJ announced they’ll end privately run federal prisons.  This is amazing, but only the first of many steps to end the cycle of for-profit, mass incarceration in this country.

     It’s also, I hope, the first wake up call toward the total realization that not everything should be run like a business...

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