democracyarsenal.org European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress. Wisconsin’s Budget Fight is Only the Beginning What you are watching in Wisconsin is your future. Since 2007, Americans have lost trillions of dollars in wealth. And ever since, we’ve been arguing about who should pay and who should be protected. Wisconsin represents the next — and most painful — round of the argument. During the good years, states and cities made retirement promises to their workers. Where did the trillion go? So, now a question: out of whose pockets should that trillion come? There’s no ready answer to the question. State workers have some valid complaints: states made contracts with them, they relied on the contracts, and now they expect the contracts to be honored. If there’s no ready answer, then how is the issue to be settled? In the New York Times this week, David Brooks offered a wise ideal : “The cuts have to be spread more or less equitably among as many groups as possible. Brooks describes exactly how the job of adjustment should be done. Bondholders have more muscle than mortgaged homeowners.
Hullabaloo The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan Design Observer: writings about design & culture Home News - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan The Dish is moving! In April, we'll be joining The Daily Beast. For me, it's a strange mixture of excitement and sadness. Sadness because the Atlantic has been a very special home for me and all the interns and staffers who have worked at the Dish. The more than four years that I've worked here have been the most rewarding, exhilarating and challenging of my career. I cherish my colleagues, their support and debate, and will miss them deeply. But there are some opportunities you just can't let pass by. We remain committed to the same principles from the very beginning: in no-one's ideological grip, in search of the truth through data and open, honest debate, in love with the new media's variety and immediacy, committed to accountability and empiricism and resistant to any single category of subject or form. Now we will ride a new Beast into a new decade.
Design Observer: writings about design & culture