- 04 July 2008 |
- Site Map |
- Brijit Blog |
- Brijit for Facebook |
- FAQ
- The Economist
- | Time
- | The New Yorker
- | Fortune
- | ESPN The Magazine
- | Wired
- | Smithsonian
- | A.V. Club
in The American
by
Joel Kotkin, March/April 2008
Despite urban-planning naysayers who see Houston as the antithesis of urban progress, with its overabundance of shopping malls and reliance on gas-guzzling vehicles, Kotkin praises Houston as one of America's great cities of opportunity and as a candidate to become one of America's great "world cities," much like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. To back up his claim, Kotkin presents a somewhat convincing historic panorama of entrepreneurs from the Allen brothers in the 1820s and Jesse H. Jones in the 1950s to the Colbert/Ball Tax Service, a present-day Houston success story.
Posted 5:37, 24 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Elliot Feldman
and edited by Brijit.
While it's been a popular pastime for Americans to make fun of French military ineptness, there is one area of warfare in which the French have proven themselves very successful -- counterterrorism. Gerecht and Schmitt explain in this succinct and informative piece that, due to an aggressive domestic surveillance program and openness to studying the causes of Muslim terrorism, the French might have the world's best counterterrorism model. In point of fact, the CIA and FBI decided to place America's premier counterterrorist liaison shop in Paris after 9/11.
Posted 4:46, 20 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Richard Laker
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
Christina Hoff Sommers, March/April 2008
Although more women than men are receiving PhDs in the United States, only 24 percent of the PhDs in physical sciences are held by women. Many feminists believe this number to be a travesty and are suggesting radical steps to raise this percentage, such as implementing quota systems for degrees in fields that are dominated by males. Hoff Summers ferociously attacks this “solution," analyzing studies accusing science programs of being gender-biased and finds them to be unscientific and unconvincing. Summers argues that using quota systems to create more female scientists is both sexist and potentially hazardous to scientific progress.
Posted 4:44, 20 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Jaime Welch
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
Arthur C. Brooks, March/April 2008
Americans gave $295 billion to charity in 2006, with 33 percent of donations going to religious institutions. Each dollar contributed provides a $15 increase in GDP, Brooks states, showing that conservatives, low-income families, and religious persons give most generously. Europeans, when compared with Americans, invariably volunteer more and give at lower rates. Brooks points out other surprising facts in the readable, question-and-answer format. However, the author unabashedly uses his data to lobby against government-sector redistributive policies. The European example, he argues, shows that government invasion into charities reduces citizens' generosity and overall economic benefits.
Posted 4:38, 20 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Bethany Stotts
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
Laura Vanderkam, March/April 2008
The average CEO salary has increased six-fold since 1980, and Americans have become increasingly offended by these “astronomical payouts.” NYU Professor Xavier Gabaix argues that the increases can be logically explained by market forces: CEO pay dips in time of recession -- with some exceptions -- and “astronomical payouts” can be found in all high-profit-margin industries, including the sports and film industries, he argues. Vanderkam plays devil's advocate, demanding hard answers from self-described “non-ideological” Gabaix and pointing out several exceptions to his model.
Posted 4:29, 20 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Bethany Stotts
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
Victor Davis Hanson, January/February 2008
There are an increasing number of incidents in the "war on terror" in which our economic and military prowess prove useless -- for example, a $500,000 military robot is easily destroyed by a $10 IED, while a suicide bomber can destroy massive amounts of infrastructure and personnel. Devoting the first half of the article to military and non-military technology advancements resulting from WWII and the Vietnam War, Hanson provides a one-dimensional discussion about the detrimental effects of globalization. A historian himself, Hanson offers no solutions to this dilemma, and only devotes two paragraphs to his thesis.
Posted 3:33, 17 January 2008
This abstract was written by
Bethany Stotts
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
The American, January/February 2008
The header for this interview with Dole Food Company CEO David DeLorenzo states that DeLorenzo believes that "there's no contradiction between making profits and respecting the environment." But the interview itself reads more like a puff piece portraying Dole as a socially and environmentally responsible global corporation, as they only ask DeLorenzo a few tough questions -- and those are cushioned at that.
Posted 2:45, 17 January 2008
This abstract was written by
Elliot Feldman
and edited by Brijit.
Subjects/Tags:
in The American
by
Stephen Goldsmith, January/February 2008
When government does a lousy job of performing its inherent functions, writes Goldsmith, the only hope may be to call in outside experts -- even at the risk of reducing government's customary role. While Texas and Florida have struggled in their attempts to marry the private sector to government, the state of Indiana has found success (and savings) in outsourcing, contracting IBM to help repair their broken Family and Social Services Agency. Indiana's government/private sector hybrid is proof, Goldsmith persuasively argues, that government can (and in some cases ought to) abdicate its time-honored duties. While convincing, Goldsmith admits his bias towards outsourcing at the outset.
Posted 2:33, 17 January 2008
This abstract was written by
Matt Munkacsy
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
Charles Euchner, January/February 2008
Peter Ueberroth's aggressive marketing made the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics a financial success, and today his daughter Heidi is trying to apply his tactics to the NBA. Her ultra-ambitious goal is to make basketball more popular worldwide than soccer. She talks of the NBA brand being as well-known as Coca-Cola, be it through televised games, licensed sportswear, or video games. The NBA is already claiming 300 million fans in China, double the estimated soccer audience -- and one survey even claims one-ninth of the world's population plays the game. Euchner's subject matter is interesting, but he appears to lack the skepticism to produce a truly convincing business study.
Posted 2:27, 17 January 2008
This abstract was written by
John Lister
and edited by Brijit.
in The American
by
Stephen Moore, November/December 2007
The richest 5 percent of Americans pay 50 percent of the nation's annual income tax. Is this fair? Not according to Moore, who contends that the tax system has become more, not less, equal over the last few years. Moore writes that Bush's tax cuts have improved the economy and decreased the burden on average Americans. While many readers might not buy his argument, Moore provides statistics and certainly makes a case for the "overburdened" wealthy.
Posted 2:54, 16 November 2007
This abstract was written by
Patricia Popovitch
and edited by Brijit.