There’s a common argument that the Alaska purchase was a steal since we bought it for $7.2 million and its GDP today is $45 billion today. Well an economist says this claim is false. According to David Barker, the U.S. would feel the same economic benefits if Alaska was part of Great Britain or Canada. [...]

So here’s an idea: fix states’ budget woes by raising the price of cigarettes. A number of anti-smoking a advocacy groups have released a study suggesting this could work. According to The Fiscal Times: By increasing cigarette taxes by $1 a pack, the states could raise revenue to help close severe budget shortfalls, while also [...]

This Exonomix post by economist Nancy Folbre isn’t exactly Shakespeare but it has some insightful (and also scary) points for out-of-state students like me: In other words, enrolling in college is a bit like joining a health club. And as with a health club, the revenue comes from signing people up, not from encouraging them [...]

My Consider colleague Aaron Bekemeyer had a wonderful post about the filibuster. It’s really a must read. Now it turns out that My state’s very own Senator Durbin is on board the reform-the-filibuster bandwagon: Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker confirms to me that the Senator supports the new effort, which was unveiled yesterday by Senators Tom [...]

To my delight, he Church of England just voted nearly unanimously for a motion that says science and religion are compatible: “Launching the debate, a computer scientist, Dr Peter Capon of Manchester diocese, said: “We wish to refute the perception that you have to choose between science and faith … the crude caricature of faith [...]

Alexander McQueen hanged himself yesterday. Some thoughts: Upon reflection, to call McQueen a fashion designer would a) render “clothing” a word with virtually no definition and b) address only a sliver of what he managed to create. This guy was a pure, raging installation artist – he constructed violently intellectual fantasies that were completely alluring [...]