In terms of return on investment, English Language Learning is just as important as investment as pre-K, yet, as Conor P. Williams points out at TPM Cafe today, it doesn’t get nearly as much time, money or attention.
Today at TPM Cafe Book Club, The Leading Indicators author Zachary Karabell looks into the power of inflation and that pesky Consumer Price Index indicator: “given that cost-of-living adjustments in wages and benefits are often pegged to inflation, the CPI may be the leading indicator that most directly impacts our everyday lives. It was never intended to carry such weight.”
Join us for a live author chat (sub. req.) with Karabell on Friday at noon.
A House oversight hearing about the IRS scandal today was supposed to be Chairman Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) moment in the spotlight. But he was completely upstaged by Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat, leading Issa to cut off his microphone and adjourn the hearing. We have the video and story here.
“Ready for Hillary” is ready to mow you down.
If you plan to run for president.
This is sort of fascinating as a history guy but somewhat terrifying as a human. It’s all very 1914ish. CNN (which is wildly outclassing the other cable nets on this story) just had a guy doing a live shot from a boat in the Bosphorus trailing a Ukrainian Navy vessel heading up the strait toward the Black Sea. This follows at least two Russian Navy vessels who did the same thing earlier in the day.
Even Arizonans support gay marriage: 49 yes, 41 no.
Lindsey Graham: Path to Ukraine invasion began at Benghazi.
I’ll come out and say it: We need more Congressmen like Mel Reynolds. Or at least more ex-Congressmen like Mel Reynolds. Last month we heard that after serving time in the slammer in the 90s for sex with an underage girl and bank fraud Reynolds had landing on his feet and was working as an expat mogul in Zimbabwe with an alleged sideline as a producer/director of gonzo porn. Now he’s hiding out in South Africa to avoid a secret Zimbabwean death squad which he says is out to kill him.
Do you remember when President Bush’s political adversaries starting ragging on him during the first days after 9/11? Or during the first days of the invasion of Iraq? Me neither. Whatever you think of the holder of the presidential office, if you are actually concerned about the nation’s welfare you don’t go on TV mocking him and saying he’s weak.
Zachary Karabell author of The Leading Indicators, points out some failures of a favorite economic indicator: “GDP goes up after natural disasters because of the rebuilding, but hurricanes, tornados, droughts and earthquakes are hardly a healthy recipe for economic growth.”