Here’s a small factoid: Cambodian private debt is 180% of GDP. 180%! In layman’s terms, this means that the average private Cambodian is in debt up to their eyeballs. All those new cars and new houses are not paid for, and as far as I can see, will never be paid for. They will all […]
The media have been going berserk talking ad nauseum about Presidential immunity. But it seems there are many questions that they are not asking. Does this ruling mean that there can be no more impeachments of Presidents? Can the Republicans forget about impeaching Joe Biden? If so, can a former President be un-impeached? Trump’s infamous phone […]
Public education in almost all developing countries is under-funded, and therefore of poor quality. One result is that developing countries fall further and further behind developed countries in human capital. Their poorly educated graduates just cannot compete with those from developed countries. Private schools spring up in developing countries in order to meet the demand […]
This is not a political screed about abortion. I have placed it in my ‘Religion’ category. My thinking was stimulated when a friend told me that I would someday see my deceased daughter in the afterlife. My first question was: “She was 7 when she died. Will she still be a cute 7-year-old whenever I […]
I contend that the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Committee (2010) is a prime cause of exacerbating the divide between the rich and the poor in America. In short, it allowed the rich, through large corporations, to buy politicians, who then enact laws that benefit the rich and harm the poor and middle […]
I hear so many educators pontificate about ‘maintaining standards’. In developing countries, there is a cry of, “Don’t water-down the curriculum” from the standards of Harvard, Oxford, and other top Western universities. This attitude usually comes from local scholars who have achieved their advanced degrees from top Western universities. When they return to their home […]
Hamas’ latest actions are consistent with my earlier posts about their motivation. First, firing rockets at Israel is a message – a show of strength, even though the chances that the rockets do any damage are minimal. Hamas needs such bravado to show the world that it is still a fighting force. As I pointed […]
Sudan is the second largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, with an area of 1,878,000 km2, compared to Israel at 20,770 km2, (roughly 1% of the area of Sudan.) Sudan’s population is 49.4 million. (Israel: 9.3 million, about 20% of Sudan). Sudan is in the midst of a civil war, in which at least 16,000 people […]
I was prompted to write this blog by the ads I see asking for donations for aid to Gaza. We keep hearing about the impending famine in Gaza, or lack of medicaI treatment, but I’m not hearing anything about famine among the Hamas soldiers. They are receiving food and medical treatment. It’s pretty clear that […]
This blog is essentially a lesson in Statistics 101 — one that you won’t see in any Statistics textbook. Lesson One in most statistics courses starts with means and medians, while Lesson Two moves on to standard deviations. This blog does almost the same, but starts with a question that many people are asking: “Are […]