points of interest: the downright offensive/ridiculous edition

1. globally-glorified Chilean miners denied pay for (underutilized/wasted?) time trapped underground

2. exporting Tuskegee... somehow an apology just doesn't seem to cut it

3. the source of Obama's failures has been realized: his "anti-colonial worldview." Of course, this makes perfect sense; what could be less American than a revolutionary disposition towards colonialism...

4. Pat Robertson finds Yoga "really spooky."

A scientific risk analysis for terrorism?

While fingering through a stack of used and outdated magazines at the gym yesterday, I came across a Newsweek article written by Fareed Zakaria, which posits that the American political, military, and psychological response to 9/11 has proven excessive. The subtitle of his article, available online here, is indeed rather candid: "It's clear we overreacted to 9/11." At this point, I imagine his argument strikes most readers as commonsensical, perhaps even banal. Yet we continue to pour resources into a multiplicity of wars, occupations, and covert "counter-terrorism" operations. Likely, the general level of hysteria required to justify this profligacy persists because there remain both: (1) enough people genuinely frightened of a broadly conceived "terrorist threat", and (2) enough people who retain an interest in its perpetuation. It follows then that if both of these groups could be eliminated, a change in policy might be more likely. For this project, I have a useful starting point: applying scientifically-tested risk-assessment techniques to the putative threat of terrorist attack.

In fact, Zakaria's article reminded me of a study I read in Foreign Affairs last Spring, which employed just such risk-assessment techniques in an analysis of the threat posed by terrorism. The article is available here.

To illustrate the thrust, consider the following quotes:

"Over the last several decades, academics, policymakers, and regulators worldwide have developed risk-assessment techniques to evaluate hazards to human life, such as pesticide use, pollution, and nuclear power plants. In the process, they have reached a substantial consensus about which risks are acceptable and which are unacceptable..."

"...Typically, risks considered unacceptable are those found likely to kill more than 1 in 10,000 or 1 in 100,000 per year..."

"...There is a general agreement about risk, then, in the established regulatory practices of several developed countries: risks are deemed unacceptable if the annual fatality risk is higher than 1 in 10,000 or perhaps higher than 1 in 100,000 and acceptable if the figure is lower than 1 in 1 million or 1 in 2 million. Between these two ranges is an area in which risk might be considered "tolerable...""


Now, lest this scientific language strike you as intolerably detached, keep in mind this kind of analysis' importance to formulating public policy in almost every regard: e.g. speed limits, medical regulations, workplace safety requirements, etc. Thus, it seems entirely appropriate to apply such an approach in the similarly safety-oriented endeavor of ensuring our collective defense from terrorist attack. But what do we find when looking at the risk presented by terrorism in a deliberately unemotional, empirical, and quantitative manner? This:



To quote the authors: "annual terrorism fatality risks, particularly for areas outside of war zones, are less than one in one million and therefore generally lie within the range regulators deem safe or acceptable, requiring no further regulations, particularly those likely to be expensive. They are similar to the risks of using home appliances (200 deaths per year in the United States) or of commercial aviation (103 deaths per year). Compared with dying at the hands of a terrorist, Americans are twice as likely to perish in a natural disaster and nearly a thousand times more likely to be killed in some type of accident. The same general conclusion holds when the full damage inflicted by terrorists -- not only the loss of life but direct and indirect economic costs -- is aggregated. As a hazard, terrorism, at least outside of war zones, does not inflict enough damage to justify substantially increasing expenditures to deal with it."

Perhaps its true that a picture (or a table) is a more eloquent communicator than any string of well positioned words. Still, I feel like articulating the question -- "should we frantically ramp up our counter-home-appliance measures?" -- in its stark preposterousness is worthwhile.

The full article is not to be missed.

Harlem RBI

There is a non-profit organization located not far from where Danie and I live called Harlem RBI, whose objectives since its founding in 1991 have been to educate and empower local youth through after school programs that combine academics and athletics. In total, the organization conducts 6 programs spanning ages 6-8 to 17-21. Its namesake comes from its approach to supplementary education, which fuses learning and college preparation with recreational baseball. The programs offered are free, with registration merely administered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The organization runs summer programs as well as year-round after school programs, in which daily activities are divided between the academic and educational, and the athletic. Far from functioning in its more common and more simple manifestation, the athletic component is consciously utilized to teach socially beneficial lessons in teamwork, mutual support, long-term trust, and community-building. The latter is also pursued through community service programs organized by the older age groups, as well as the organization's leadership. As illustration, the baseball field pictured above is not only one of the primary fields used for the program's athletic component, it is the site at which a formerly garbage-filled empty lot in East Harlem was renovated to its current condition by Harlem RBI. The park has since become a hub for community activities.

One of Harlem RBI's programs is the REAL (Reading and Enrichment Academy for Learning) Kids program for kids ages 9-12. Its goals are to: Improve attitudes toward reading; Maintain or improve reading skills over the summer to avoid summer learning gap; Improve ability to avoid and/or resolve conflict; Improve speaking and listening skills; Gain knowledge about nutritional health; and to Improve physical health and engage in daily physical activity. Its self-pronounced framework is to "use the power of team activity to help youth develop academic, social and emotional skills." The program boasts impressive statistics regarding its successes in improving participants' literacy rates as measured by state and city standards. Programs are administered by dividing participants into "teams," each of which is led by a pair of Harlem RBI staff members dubbed "Learning Coaches." These teams compete in intra-Harlem RBI baseball leagues while also functioning as the educational component's classes. The Learning Coaches similarly function doubly as baseball coach and academic teacher (as well as youth mentor, nutritional advisor, lesson-planner, etc.).

And I'm thrilled to announce that I am the proud S.E. (spousal equivalent) of a recently-hired 2010-2011 Harlem RBI Team Leader. After a rigorous application process requiring a letter of intent/resume/reference list, group interview, individual interview, in-person demonstration of a hypothetical ice-breaking exercise, and written interview examination -- completed by over 100 applicants -- Danie was hired by HRBI for the upcoming school year's REAL kids program. I could not be more excited for, or more proud of her. She is on cloud 9.

For a short video profile of the organization taken from local news coverage, check the 'WHO WE ARE' video on the lower-left part of their homepage.

Mid-September

This image plots all of the trees felled by the storm that blew through last Thursday. In case you didn't hear, Thursday we had a strange and severe, albeit brief, storm that included a couple of tornadoes. As you can tell, Manhattan was largely spared any serious damage, at least vis-a-vis Brooklyn and Queens. Danie and I had walked into our apartment from grocery shopping mere moments before it blew through our neighborhood, which was really lucky for us and for the dryness of our apartment. Thanks to everyone who sent me emails checking on us!

All of a sudden I realized I'm in the third week of the semester and I haven't been blogging much. I'm determined not to slip into that neglectful behavior again this Fall, so a quick update:

School is off to a roaring start. I am enjoying my classes and my course work very much, which is good because it's just about all I do now. I've cut down on working at the restaurant to 2 or 3 shifts a week, but my time still feels pretty constrained. Full time graduate study just really isn't very accommodating when it comes to other activities, be they social or occupational. I've also begun my research project with Third World Network on the G20's impending Seoul Summit Agenda.

Danie has been working quite a bit, and she's also been doing volunteer work at the ASPCA. She's also added bikram yoga to her exercise regimen, and has recently been seen going from yoga to the gym and vice versa. The lady's fitness is impressive.

The city is a veritable beehive of activity this time of year. With the UN back in session and the semester underway, the lineup of speakers and political-cultural events is almost overwhelming. This week Bolivian President Evo Morales is speaking in town, though I won't be attending because I have class. A week from tomorrow former Argentinian President, current Secretary General of MERCOSUR, and current first Gentleman of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, will be speaking at my School, and fortunately Danie and I'll be able to make that discussion. I think one could get a comprehensive education in international affairs by simply attending all of the public lectures, discussions, and conferences being held this time of year. If only I didn't have classes...

WTF Friday*

A fabulously cheeky blog I follow called 'Wronging Rights' has a weekly feature they call 'WTF Fridays', in which they link absurd, bizarre, and opprobrious news stories from the week. Today, I'd like to nominate one story for WTF Friday recognition:

1. With near mind-numbing effrontery, BP tells Congress that if it passes legislation that bars the company from getting new offshore drilling permits, it may not have the money to pay for all the damages caused by its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm actually speechless.

let the wild rumpus begin

As of yesterday, the Fall semester has begun. I had the first session of my first two classes last night, and tomorrow evening I'll have my third. I know many of you are also getting underway with new school years and I wish you the best of luck.

The summer came to a quick close, though it was not without its celebrations. Last week I visited California and it was really great to see so many of you before starting another semester. Here are some pictures from the visit.

After returning home this weekend, I had to work a couple of shifts at the restaurant. It will be interesting getting readjusted to school while also working there; hopefully they'll continue to be as flexible with my schedule as they've been thus far.

Sunday evening Danie and I went out for dinner and drinks to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of Fall. Having been apart for a week, it was really nice to get out for some fun together before starting a busy week.

This Thursday Danie and I will be going to my University's Convocation ceremony. Otherwise we're just working, getting organized, and starting classes. As the semester unfolds, I'll continue carving out time for blogging. My goal is to be better about it than I was last year. So, you can expect to hear from me soon!

The Nielsen Family's NY Visit

Earlier this month Danielle's entire family came to New York. While Wendy and Ryan had both visited us individually, it was the first trip for Bob and Jake, and Jake's first time ever seeing New York. As such, we started with a marathon tour of the city.

On their first day in town, Danie took the family through Central Park, to the top of the Rockerfeller center, through lower Manhattan to Battery Park, and to the East Village for dinner. By the time I got off work that night, everybody had already gone back to the hotel room to crash, except Jake who was staying with us in our apartment.

The next day we set off on foot again, this time as six. We started out walking through the Chelsea market and the highline, and then we meandered through the beautiful bending streets of the West Village. After grabbing lunch at one of our favorite spots on West 4th, called Red Bamboo, we walked up through the Village to Union Square where we took the Subway down to the Staten Island ferry. The (free) ferry goes right past the Statue of Liberty and has unrivaled views of the financial district, so it’s a fun thing to do when touring the city.

Our last day in Manhattan, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then walked through Central Park. That evening, we went to dinner in Times Square and saw the Adams Family on Broadway. The show’s cast and wit were hysterically funny, and Broadway always provides a feast for the senses. I really don’t think there exists a less-than-spectacular Broadway musical.

After three days in the city, we departed by train for a week in Long Island. Bob and Wendy generously rented a house that was sandwiched between the ocean and a bay. We spent the next few days relaxing, reading, working on a surprisingly challenging puzzle, playing board games, swimming, and sitting on the beach. The best part was just having a sustained period of time in which we could catch up and spend time together at a relaxed pace. As it had been over a year since we had all spent time together like that, it was really wonderful to reconnect.

In all, it was very meaningful and extremely memorable vacation. I am really grateful to have had the opportunity to spend time with the whole group at once, and again would like to extend my thanks to Bob and Wendy for planning and financing the trip. It is the sad reality that as we all get older and busier, coordinating schedules becomes far more difficult. The upside, however, is that when we manage to make a trip like this one happen, it is something we all deeply appreciate.

For pictures from the trip, click here.

points of interest

1. Why the floods in Pakistan are not receiving the same attention that the earthquake in Haiti did

2. Speaking of Pakistan's popularity, can you place it on a map? A terrific interactive map of the Middle East (hat tip to my Grandpa Martin)

3. Despite sanguine media/BP/government reports stating otherwise, University of Georgia researchers conclude that 79 percent of the oil released into the Gulf of Mexico has not been recovered

4. a wonderfully thought-provoking and seriously disturbing chart

5. "Dude, it's just a mosque"

6. the changing American consumer

Summer Update #3

As July comes to a close, the blog is set to celebrate its first birthday. It seems only appropriate then to update its loving followers (are there any left?) on the summer's progression.

Danie and I have both been working quite a bit, but, as you might suspect, we're managing to have more than our fair share of fun as well. Here's an eclectic collection of pictures that have been taken at some point during the last month or so while we were out gallivanting around the city. Notable activities so documented include: the world cup semi-finals and finals, and a Dave Mathews Band concert.

Meanwhile, the topics of research for my associateship/internship have remained relatively consistent since the last update. I've moved from small and medium sized enterprise development to issues involving microfinance and programmatic approaches to serving communities impacted by HIV/AIDS via migratory labor, all still under the umbrella of Corporate Social Responsibility. My seniors are still in rural Mozambique, which makes their near daily emails that much more impressive.

Danie's had a relapse. That's right, she's back on Craigslist. She just found five levels of Rosetta Stone Spanish for only $50, or about 8% of the market price. When she hits the list she does it right. Living in New York, speaking only one language is just short of being an openly embarrassing deficiency. As such, Danie and I are both working on picking up a second in the short-term before hopefully moving on to a third before too long. The restaurant has been immensely helpful for me in this regard, as it provides a regular opportunity for practice.

Otherwise, Danie and I are looking forward to her family's visit next week. We'll be in the city for a couple days, after which we'll spend a week together upstate. As their impending arrival approaches, the days can't pass quickly enough; Danie and I are so eager to share our lives out here with the whole crew at once. Expect pictures and blogs to follow.

points of interest

1. Medical study finds that following the US bombardment of Fallujah in 2004, infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

2. Paul Krugman on the incipient efforts to revise the last Bush presidency's historical record.

3. While some are celebrating Israel's concessions to 'ease' its blockade of Gaza, I can't help but think it long overdue when looking at the (partial) list of items prohibited from entering the territory.

4. A study here in New York finds that calorie posting has not had an impact on people's eating habits.

5. Puzzled? A compelling explanation from two behavioral economists.

the problem with blogging late at night...

...is that you might forget to put in links you've set aside specifically for that post...

thus, as an addendum to my previous post, here are two thoughtful discussions of the inveterate sexism displayed by Nike's marketing campaigns:

1. On the Write the Future ad.

2. On the Thank you to the US Men's Nat'l Team ad.

points of interest: World Cup edition

1. the World Cup's carbon footprint

2. Glenn Beck on the World Cup

3. Beck not validated by the actual American viewership.

Eduardo Galeano wrote in Soccer in Sun and Shadow: "Years have gone by and I've finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good soccer. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: 'A pretty move, for the love of God.' And when good soccer happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don't give a damn which team or country performs it."

Personally, I find this brand of cosmopolitan appreciation very compelling. In that vein, fans of the beautiful game have to be happy with Spain's success.

summer update #2

My apologies for the two-week hiatus, things have been a little hectic around here. Last week I started training at my restaurant while still working on research assignments for my internship. Actually, the research demands have been scaled up as the center's senior staff's impending trip to Mozambique approaches. Though the amplification coincided a bit inconveniently with the server-training, I made it through the week with my head above water, and I'm expecting things to mellow a bit now as I find a rhythm.

I also met with the US contingent of Third World Network last week for an interview/meeting. It went really well, and I'm scheduled to meet with the organization's Beijing-based Director this week while she's in New York. I'm going to be working with TWN on a paper on international economic governance and the G20 that will be published just before the heads of state summit in Seoul this November.

In spite of the busyness, Danie and I are enjoying the summertime. Last week we saw McCoy Tyner, Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding, and Francisco Mela play together in a star-studded quartet at SummerStage. We've also become regulars at the most well-endowed (high-definition-TV speaking) Irish pub in our neighborhood, as it tends to attract the most enthusiastic World Cup fans in our neighborhood. However, this Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be watching the semi-final games at more nationally-invested and culinarily-suitable venues.

That is in fact what we were doing the day the picture above was taken. On a mutually-shared day off, Danie and I went down to the South Street Seaport and caught the England-US match at an English pub. As you may deduce from our attire and/or general merriment, this was before the weather turned, for lack of a better word, disgusting.

Danie and I have since been compelled to hook up our air conditioner. We held out for a long time but when we became aware of each others' consciousness (and sweatiness) last Sunday night around 2am, we decided enough was enough. The next evening (last Monday) we barricaded ourselves in our room, which, by our estimates, was roughly 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the rest of the apartment. Thankfully the heat wave broke after Monday, and the rest of the week was beautiful. Unfortunately the heat and humidity one-two punch is back in full force this week, and accordingly, so is our AC-based hermitry. I'm not excited about our imminent energy bill.

points of interest

1. A new interactive calculator from the Center for Economic and Policy Research illustrates the effects of several different policy options on the debt burden that the United States will face in 2020. (notice that even in the baseline case (President Obama's proposed budget), the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio in 2020 will be less than the current debt-to GDP ratio for many countries)

2. An insightful follow up on questions of the much-discussed federal deficit

3. What the BP oil spill would look like where you live

4. oil-spills/disasters that get less attention: Nigerian edition

5. affordable retirement locations

6. watch an 8-month year old baby react to cochlear implant activation. This blew me away

Summer Update #1

Seeing as we're already halfway through June, I thought it important to give everyone a brief update on how the summer is shaping up. Other than a week of heat and humidity towards the end of May, the weather here has been beautiful. Although we get pretty erratic swings, with some days warm and sunny and others cool and breezy, the temperature seems to hover around the mid-70s on most days. It's really quite nice. Opportunely, Danie and I just discovered a wonderful little park on the East River that is only a five minute walk from our apartment and is a prime spot for late-afternoon lounging. Just writing that makes me feel guilty.

Of course, it's not all sunbathing and pleasure reading. I've just finished my second week as a research associate (glorified intern) at the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, or, as I'll be calling it from now on so as to avoid carpel-tunnel, the Center. I spent most of last week getting caught up on a project the Center is working on with the government of East Timor regarding its plans to develop an offshore natural gas field. However, this week my research mandate shifted because that project is stalling (just do a google search for: Timor, Woodside, and Australia to find out why) and because the deadline for another project we're working on with the government of Mozambique is quickly approaching. A contingent of the Center's senior staff is headed to Mozambique the week after next, so until then I'm researching successful programmatic approaches to promoting small- and medium-sized enterprise development as a means of alleviating rural poverty through private sector growth and employment creation. I think the biggest challenge so far has been deciphering (and keeping track of) the multitude of acronyms, most of which are in Portuguese. Although my own research interests are not usually so private sector oriented, my work this week has been very interesting from an ethnographic standpoint. Plus I now know more about manual cashew processing methods and Mozambique's export-oriented nut industry than I did before. Hmm, maybe there's a blog topic in there somewhere...

In other news, I landed another job this week. Most importantly, this one is paid! -Aphorism alert- Third time's the charm! After catching wind that one of her restaurant's sister restaurants was hiring, Danie got me an interview with the manager. While I'd like to say that I nailed it, I think his totally sincere, yet noticeably skeptical remark that "[he'll] be happy if [I'm] half as good as Danielle" probably speaks for itself. I'm just thankful to have such nice coattails to ride.

Otherwise, Danie and I have been enjoying following the World Cup. Since we don't have a TV, we've really appreciated the thorough online coverage of this year's tournament. We've also taken to planning our workouts around important matches since our gym has what our apartment does not. Of course, for the truly important matches, we consult this map and then search out an appropriate venue.

Danie has her third closing shift in a row tonight but, thankfully, a day off tomorrow. Keep an eye out for a weekend post...who knows what kind of mischief we'll get into with a Friday afternoon off :)

points of interest

1. internal Pentagon memo: Afghanistan to become the "Saudi Arabia of Lithium." I suppose that about does it for an exit plan. All-to-revealing sentence of the day: "The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development."

2. how much less entertaining would the news be if it were covered by political scientists rather than the band of hysterical pundits currently tasked with the job? See the answer here.

3. priceless, yet poignant, irony courtesy Humble Oil (to become Exxon).

4. why are American college students taking longer to earn their degree? a new paper finds: "that declines in collegiate resources in the less-selective public sector increased time to degree...[and] increased hours of employment among students, which is consistent with students working more to meet rising college costs and likely increases time to degree by crowding out time spent on academic pursuits."

5. a possible solution to Arizona's racist legislation?

World Cup Update

For those of you who listened to Teju's and Tony's comments on the highly essentialized narratives about Africa that are being promulgated during the World Cup, the image to the left can serve as exhibit A. The image was released by ESPN before the tournament began as an example of what their World Cup studio would look like. You can see the Cup itself situated on what appears to be a pile of rocks? And then we see the desertic and bucolic landscape, punctuated with the quintessential African umbrella tree, under the unobstructed sunset. You don't have to strain yourself to find more examples, merely tune in to ESPN's coverage if ever during the next month you find a free moment.

A couple brief updates to my last post:

1. Raj Patel writes about slum-clearing and a slum-dweller resistance movement in South Africa, and is then interviewed about it.

2. Inequality, unemployment, and the evisceration of civil rights in the tournament's host country. It's definitely a bad sign when anybody starts a sentence: "At least under Apartheid..."

UPDATE: Danielle just brought my attention to this positively-Lion King like introduction to the US-England highlight reel.

World Cup 2010 Edition

Tomorrow the World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg. Always highly anticipated, this year's World Cup has received some additional fanfare because it marks the first time an African country will host the tournament. While there is plenty to read about when it comes to pure soccer analysis, I thought I'd point to a few sources of discourse for those who might be interested in exploring the sites at which politics, economics, colonial legacies, and sport intersect.

First, if you have time, I highly recommend watching this video of a round-table put on by the Media & Culture concentration in my graduate program last month, which discussed the historical and political importance of Africa's first World Cup. The discussants were Sean Jacobs, a professor in my graduate program, Time Magazine senior editor Tony Karon, Austin Merrill, who writes the Fair Play blog for Vanity Fair, and writers Binyavanga Wainaina and Teju Cole. Sean and Tony are both from South Africa and Binyavanga and Teju are from Kenya and Nigeria respectively. As such, this is a good opportunity to gain insight into a handful of thoughtful perspectives on the World Cup's locational importance, four of which belong to people whose identity is at least partly African. If you don't have time to watch the entire clip, you should not miss Teju's comments at the following time marks: 19:24; 38:30, 48:20, 50:56, and 1:19:50. Also, Tony's comments at the 27:00 and 51:30 minute marks are very interesting.

Second, Tony Karon has an excellent piece here on immigration, citizenship, and the fungibility of nationality in international soccer.

Also, here is a fun report that provides an economic, political, and sporting profile for each of this year's participating countries. It also has some more general discussions of the tournament, previous World Cups, etc. If you can ignore the enmity you may feel upon realizing who authored the report (or, if you're like me, the revulsion you feel when you come across the ideological exaltation of macroeconomic stability), the report is definitely worth a scan.

For a very interesting history of soccer in South Africa itself, including its role in the ANC's anti-Apartheid insurgency, don't miss this article.

Finally, for those interested in international development and the much-discussed potential development impact of hosting the tournament, I recommend looking for the documentary film Fahrenheit 2010 on your netflix or blockbuster account.

In this vein, I'll end with a quote from Planet of Slums, which really is a must-read. Davis reminds us that "in the urban Third World, poor people dread high-profile international events -- conferences, dignitary visits, sporting events, beauty contests and international festivals -- that prompt authorities to launch crusades to clean up the city: slum dwellers know that they are the 'dirt' or 'blight' that their governments prefer the world not to see."

Oil Spill Update

A couple of relevant updates to my last post:

1. Researcher at the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a member of the government’s Flow Rate Technical Group, Ira Leifer, says of the broken well's daily flow rate: "there’s no reason to disbelieve BP’s worst case and that it could be very large, in the 100,000-plus range, for a freely flowing pipe, which it clearly appears to be."

2. ProPublica is reporting a series of internal BP investigations over the past decade warned senior BP managers that the oil company repeatedly disregarded safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident. The reports described instances in which management flouted safety by neglecting aging equipment, pressured employees not to report problems, and cut short or delayed inspections to reduce production costs. A 2001 internal report noted that BP had neglected key equipment needed for an emergency shutdown, including safety shutoff valves and gas and fire detectors similar to those that could have helped prevent the fire and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf. See the article here.

deregulation: the policy agenda that brought you the recession unveils new oil spill edition

By now, I'm sure the epic BP oil spill has saturated your consciousness. As the broken well continues to spew somewhere around 60,000 to 70,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day, I thought I would share with you a couple of thoughts. I have no interest in reinventing the wheel, and the issue is obviously being covered very extensively. However, it seems to me that a disturbing truth has been overshadowed by the endless industry-government and partisan finger pointing which has characterized the majority of the discussions regarding questions of accountability. That truth is that during the last 30 years, both the Democratic and Republican parties have unquestioningly supported policy agendas of deregulation, which has effectively left extractive industries about as regulated as the financial sector.

In the last eight years, the federal government has conducted four training exercises to test the industry's capacity to deal with major spills. Amazingly, one conducted in 2002 actually simulated a deep-water leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It turns out all four exercises highlighted a serious lack of capacity to effectively deal with such an oil leak, moving the involved federal officials to report their concerns. Their primary concerns were regarding:

• coordination and communication between the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, especially involving the process for naming a National Incident Commander (NIC) to take charge of the crisis;

• a slow or inaccurate flow of information from the industry, particularly caused by companies’ desire to protect proprietary information and officials’ tendency to exclude industry representatives from the government’s command center; and

• a lack of expertise and modern technology for closing a spewing oil well leak and containing a slick through controlled burns and dispersants.

Sound familiar? Clearly, the exercises' findings have been substantiated. Yet the report also claimed that the needed safety measures and coping technologies would not be developed by the industry without the government requiring it do so. The report asserted: “Without requirements in place to require use of new response technologies they will not be developed and deployed adequately.” The logic is obvious. Developing new response technologies is expensive and may forever be unnecessary; thus, there is not a strong business case to make for their development. In economic theory, situations like this are referred to as "market failures," defined as circumstances in which a market incentive structure does not yield the most appropriate decisions or behaviors. Unfortunately for those to whom overly-simplistic ideology is appealing, it turns out the so-called 'free-market' does not always and everywhere function perfectly. If you weren't persuaded by the financial meltdown, perhaps the remarkable inability to stop the devastating oil leak provides a valuable site at which the virtues of deregulation may be reconsidered.

I'm reminded of a book written by economist and director of policy research at The Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Research, Jeff Madrick, which opens:

"It is conventional wisdom in America today that high levels of taxes and government spending diminish America's prosperity. The claim strikes a deep intuitive chord, not only among those on the Right, but also among many of today's Left. It has become so obvious to so many over the last thirty years, it hardly seems to require demonstration any longer. It is apparently so widely accepted by the public and rolls of the tongues of policymakers from both parties with such fluency that one would think the evidence needn't even be gathered."

Madrick continues: "Federal deregulation also reflects such attitudes about government. The lax federal oversight under George W. Bush has taken an increasingly obvious toll, most notably in the credit crisis of 2008 with hundreds of billions of dollars of losses accrued at major financial institutions, but also in areas such as food and drug safety, airline traffic and safety, and most tragically with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But few Democrats acknowledge how much they themselves contributed to a weakened regulatory attitute in the United States. Deregulation began to gain influence with the Nixon Administration in the early 1970s, but Jimmy Carter was a sincere believer and, aside from airline and trucking deregulation, which were arguably sensible, gave financial deregulation a decided push. Under Clinton, much of the New Deal regulatory apparatus designed to restrain financial market excesses was formally and proudly eliminated in 1999, though de facto erosions of the famed Glass-Steagall restriction were underway for a decade."

"Today, an ideological antagonism toward government in the United States has deeply undermined the nation's capacity to deal with rapidly changing times. These changes include rising competition around the globe, a marked worsening in wage growth and widening of income distribution since the 1970s, the rapidly rising costs of health care, an aging population, and the need for ever-more years of education."

Perhaps to this list we should add natural disasters, like the Gulf oil leak. These excerpts point to the fact that, today, politicians from both parties appeal to the inveterate free-market-small-government ideology held by so many Americans. As we continue to confront the effects of three decades of deregulation, we would be well served to replace ill-understood ideology with rigorously tested policy analysis.

As Madrick writes, "the lesson is that pragmatic government should prevail over any categorical or typically ideological dismissal of the uses of government."

The case for regulating certain private-sector activities to ensure the broader public good may never have been so robust.

On Commenting

Quite a few of you have expressed some frustration with the blog's commenting procedure, so I have adjusted the process a bit in hopes of making it easier to engage. By default, the blog's host (google) requires that anybody wishing to comment on a blog sign up for a google account. Setting up a google account is fairly simple, but experience thus far has shown that this requirement has discouraged many from sharing comments. Because I want to facilitate more dialogue and get more feedback from readers, I've adjusted the process through which you may comment on posts.

So, going forward, you will no longer need an account with google to post a comment. Now when you wish to comment on a post, click on that post's title (for example where it says 'On Commenting' above in orange); then scroll down to the bottom of the post and you will find a text-box titled 'post a comment'; write your comment in the box, and then go to the drop down menu directly below that says 'comment as:', select the 'name/url' option, and then type your name in the 'name' space (you don't need to type anything for url). Please note that while there is an 'anonymous' option, I will not accept comments from anonymous sources and your comment will be deleted. I feel this is important for dialogue and also for accountability. Please be sure to take credit for your comments then!

If you already have a google account, you can still use your account for commenting; simply choose your google account from the drop down 'comment as' box.

And remember, I've relaxed the commenting regime because I hope to hear from more of you :)

points of interest

In the spirit of filling in the gaps between substantive posts, I thought I'd introduce a new type of entry in which I merely advert to various points of interest I've come across during the past couple of days. The topics to which I will point in such posts will vary greatly; however, they will also likely reflect my own interests. Please feel free to comment on the articles themselves, or on any biases I reveal in the selection process. While I don't intend for these to be the most serious of posts, dialogue is always welcome. Thus, without further ado:

1. Remember Haiti? Issue-attention cycle on news coverage of disasters. (enlarged version of that truly fantastic graph)

2. Nixon's profound reasoning behind drug war policy.

3. A very cool new google-map color-coding the world according to its level of 'touristiness'

4. The impending diplomacy dilemma at the World Cup

5. While many have questioned Sarah Palin's English proficiency, the editors of Vanity Fair have provided a particularly visible illustration. I'm reminded of an article I came across during her vice-presidential bid.

6. Do calories count if I drink them? A wonderful feat of photography confirming it does.

A Healthy Dose of Frivolity

As many of you have surely heard, my parents came out for a visit last weekend and we had a blast. By day, the four of us traversed the city, even exploring a few corners that Danie and I had yet to visit; and by night, we toured Manhattan's superlative cocktail destinations. Throw in a couple of exquisite late-afternoon cheese plates and you get a pretty good idea of how we spent the long weekend.

The morning after their arrival, we took the train up to Columbia University (on the Upper West Side), where one of my internships this summer is based, and then continued northward to The Cloisters, an appendage of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that's located near the northern tip of Manhattan. That evening we went down to the West Village for drinks and dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Mercadito, that's widely renowned for its chupes (margharitas with a kick) and guacamole samplers. After dinner, we went to a small jazz club just south of Washington Square park.

We started the next day with a walk through Central Park. After running out of parkland and bumping into midtown, we took the train to Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn that's home to a 'hip' young crowd as well as innumerable enticing sidewalk cafes and used book vendors. After having some lunch, we took the train back into Manhattan and meandered through Chelsea Market and the Highline. Then, with dusk approaching, we made our way down through the West Village where we had no choice but to dutifully observe the one-drink-max rule as we toured the neighborhood's exceptional bar-lounge scene. Well, at least until we got to Temple Bar.

The next day, we visited The Frick Collection, a mansion-turned-museum on the Upper East Side. Then we walked across Central Park to the Upper West Side, where we caught a show at the American Museum of Natural History's (awesome) Hayden Planetarium. After the planetarium, we grabbed some fresh fruit from the farmers market and a few cheeses from Dean & Deluca, and went back to the apartment for a mellow evening.

On the last day of the visit, we took a leisurely pace. Danie and my Mom went out for manicures/pedicures in the morning, while my Dad and I hung out at the apartment. Then that afternoon we visited a couple of local thrift stores before heading to the East Village for the evening to celebrate their last night in New York. The combination of renovated speakeasies and authentic Indian food made for another fantastic night.

The next morning, our collective vacation came to an abrupt end. Danie had to go to work, and an hour later my parents took off for the airport. All of a sudden the apartment felt rather empty and quite a bit bigger than it had in a few days. Though New Yorkers frequently lament their small living spaces, my appreciation for good company remains much deeper than my appreciation of square footage :)

For visual augmentation, check out these pictures.

Thanks again for everything Mom and Dad, it was so great to have you out.

love,
Cam

Revisiting the Political-Economy of Food

Some of you may remember a post I wrote last summer that reviewed a handful of books written about the political, social, economic, ethical, and health issues surrounding the contemporary industrial food production system. I received a number of thoughtful responses to the post, which led me to believe that it is a topic many of you have an interest in. This, of course, makes sense, since many of you eat.

As such, I thought I'd share this Michael Pollan article from The New York Review of Books. It provides both a concise overview of the salient questions I discussed in my earlier post, and a useful review of some recently published books for those of you looking for summer reading.

Another book not mentioned but likely worth a read is The End of Overeating. (Disclaimer: I have not yet read this. It is, however, fast approaching the top of my reading list)

When reading these books, it is important to actively resist the fatalism that can come from studying entrenched structural problems. If you find yourself feeling discouraged, remember: "The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall." -EG

School's Out

Greetings from late spring time in Manhattan. Today it's 94 degrees but it will be back down to 70 by Friday. You might say we have fairly erratic temperature swings here. Anyway, June and July are supposed to be beautiful months, so Danie and I are excited to experience our first summer in the city. Having arrived in August last year, we just missed the myriad festivals, concerts, and events that New York plays host to each summer before the humidity of August arrives and the bourgeois accordingly depart.

I finished the Spring semester last week and it feels great to have the first year under my belt. I'm glad to have the break, but both my classes and my professors were so interesting that the semester's end also brings with it some mild sorrow. This, of course, does not detract from my exuberance at having finished all of my term papers. It's been really nice not waking up at 5:30 everyday during the last week!

I won't be taking any classes this summer but I have a full-time internship at the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment. Also, I am going to be working with an NGO named Third World Network on a research project focusing on the new G20 agenda and its impact on developing countries. The details still have to be worked out but I was tentatively asked to author or co-author a formal report for the organization. I'm really excited about both opportunities, and I think they'll make for a very engaging summer.

Otherwise, I apologize for having neglected the blog during the Spring. I'm planning on being quite a bit more active on here during the summer; hopefully it will make up for the paucity of entries during the past few months. The summertime is supposed to be pretty exciting here, so I'll use the blog to keep everyone updated on all of the mischief we manage to get into. I'm also planning a series of retrospective blogs on important things that happened this Spring.

Check back soon for a post (complete with photos) on my parents visit this last weekend.

until then,
cam

A walk in the park

Compare this picture to the one I posted here.

This last weekend we experienced NYC's 4th biggest storm ever. The snow never let really let up from Thursday till Saturday. On Sunday, Danie and I put on our boots and went for a walk in central park. You can check out our pictures here. Apologies for the duplicates and disappointingly high number of pictures of me relative my more photogenic lady.

I just finished midterms, which feels really nice. Now it's time to get started on designing my research topics. Meanwhile, Danielle just got another job with AIDS Walk NY, a local non-profit organization that puts on an annual fundraiser for HIV programs and services in the tri-state area. She's very excited to be doing outreach and community organizing for the cause.

Just a quick update, I hope everyone's doing well.

My first "Snow Day"

It's official, though maybe not that interesting: I've had my first "snow day." This past Wednesday, 10 Feb 2010, my University was closed and my class canceled for the severe weather NY was experiencing. In some places (like this car) I think we accumulated close to a foot. Anyway, growing up in California I thought Snow Days only happened in cartoons so I thought I'd let anyone like me know they're actually real.

The weather calmed down towards the end of the week and we've settled into a relatively mellow pattern of 30-degree day after 30-degree day. Danie's gotten really tough. Now when it's sunny she goes for runs in the park. Yes, the same girl that used to wear sweatshirts during the summer in Sacramento if she happened to be sitting in the shade now hops over snow-sludge in spandex with a smile just because it's sunny.

The semester has started at breakneck speed for me, but it's going well. I'm taking three classes again: 'Development Economics', 'Comparative Development Experience', and 'Transnational Corporations, Justice and Rights'. I'm also taking a Spanish class again and I'm continuing my research assistantship, so I'm plenty busy. Actually, Danie will also be taking Spanish again this Spring. Superwoman.

The week before last Wendy was out for a visit and we had a great time. It was really fun to see the mother-daughter duo take off each morning in matching "puffy-coats". Unfortunately I had just started school so I wasn't able to take part in all of the shenanigans, but the ladies had a blast and let me tag along whenever I could. As soon as Danie uploads her pictures from the trip I'll have her post some on here.

Until then...

Thoughts on the US response to Haiti

This weekend, President Obama asked former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to coordinate the American relief effort to Haiti. The irony of this duo's selection troubles me deeply. First, though it was George H. W. Bush who was in office when Aristide was first overthrown by a US sponsored coup in 1991, Clinton delayed Aristide's return, and then only authorized it once an agreement was reached on economic policy reforms - e.g. capital and trade liberalization - which led to the proliferation of sweatshops in Haiti. Secondly, George W. Bush was President when the US overthrew Aristide for the second time in 2004 and forced him into exile, where he remains today.

Aside from their personal histories of authorizing breaches of Haiti's sovereignty, both Clinton and Bush have notable blemishes on their development and relief records. Again, I'll start with Clinton. In an interview with Foreign Policy this past December, Clinton said one of the "smartest, most penetrating thinkers" he knows is David Brooks, a NYT op-ed columnist who this week has written about Haiti's "progress-resistant cultural influences", advocating a development strategy predicated on "locally led paternalism". For me, that Brooks's writings, full of hubris and racism, are guiding Clinton is more than a bit disconcerting.

And George W. Bush an expert on relief efforts? There's one word that I cannot get out of my mind: KATRINA

If you are personally moved to help, I commend you. But please do not do so without a basic assessment of the agencies through which you are attempting to do so. Being an informed donor is absolutely critical. For some direction, this guide is terrific.

Less covered questions on Haiti

By now, I imagine you have read about the devastating earthquake in Haiti this past Tuesday. Since Tuesday, much of the media focus has been on Port au Prince - the country's capital - where poorly constructed homes, schools, churches, hotels, the main political buildings including the Presidential palace, and even the prison were demolished. In the intervening days, most of the city's surviving inhabitants have lived on the streets and in open areas, a space they share with thousands of corpses. Unknown numbers of people remain buried in the wreckage, and it has been reported that, emanating from underneath, the sound of screaming is constant. Since Tuesday, mainstream media outlets have repeatedly charged Haiti's history of political instability and (urban-centered) poverty as local factors severely exacerbating the quake. Undoubtedly, the situation before Tuesday's disaster was tragic and rightfully commands attention. (For a visual illustration, this video is sufficient.) However, the questions that have been less attended to are those concerned with the sources of the country's political instability and penury. That is, as one analyst asked, "Why were 60 percent of the buildings in Port-au Prince shoddily constructed and unsafe in normal circumstances, according to the city's mayor? Why are there no building regulations in a city that sits on a fault line? Why has Port-au-Prince swelled from a small town of 50,000 in the 1950s to a population of 2 million desperately poor people today? Why was the state completely overwhelmed by the disaster?" Thus, to understand fully the roots of Tuesday's catastrophe, Haiti's social and political history requires consideration.

Once France's most productive colony, Haiti won its independence from the French in 1804 after a bloody 12 year war, and in doing so, became the only country in history to be born of a slave revolt. However, facing military threats and refusal of diplomatic recognition, Haiti agreed to compensate France for its 'lost property' in 1825. The amount adjusted to current dollars: $21 billion. This debt took its toll. Haiti did not pay off the debt until 1947, and in many years was forced to direct over 80% of government revenues to servicing it. (This would be akin to the British demanding payment from the newly-independent American colonies following the Revolutionary war.) When considering the country's destitution, remembering that it took Haiti until only 60 years ago to pay off this 'independence debt' is important.

Insofar as debilitating foreign interventions are concerned, the 20th century was equally unpropitious for Haiti. The anti-communism logic of the Cold War moved US foreign policy makers from 1957 to 1986 to support the successive Duvalier dictatorships. Despite absolutely brutal rule, a Caribbean counterweight to Castro was more important to the US than Haiti's state sponsored terror. During the 1970s and 1980s, Haiti complied with US-led, IMF and World Bank free market economic reforms, which, due to the required removal of agricultural subsidies, transformed Haiti from a net exporter of sugar, rum, coffee and rice to a country entirely dependent on imports and foreign aid. Unable to compete with US subsidized industrial agriculture, rural farmers were forced to move to urban centers in search of industrial jobs. Hence the urban population explosion and emergence of megaslums.

After a mass movement in the late 80s successfully removed the second Duvalier dictator from power, populist Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president in free and fair elections. However, his land reform and market regulation efforts made him unpopular with the US, and in 1991, an American backed coup removed him from the presidency. Three years later, amid growing international discontent with the reigning military government, Aristide was reinstated by a US led international effort. In return however, Aristide agreed to an economic agenda predicated on the privatization of state-run electricity and phone enterprises, as well as further cuts in tariffs. As it became clear that Aristide would not fully implement the economic agenda which Haitians refer to as the "plan of death," he again lost popularity with US policymakers, and again was overthrown by a US sponsored coup. The succeeding presidents have been far more agreeable to free market economic reforms, which has resulted in such deep deregulation as to render the government effectually obsolete. As a result, the country is governed in large part by UN peacekeepers and NGOs which act only in a band-aid-esque manner, unable to address the structural roots of poverty and instability.

In an article published in 1997, Hazard geographer and Wilfrid Laurier University Professor Kenneth Hewitt coined the term "classquake" to characterize the highly uneven distribution of seismic risk in most cities. Discussing the 1978 earthquake in Guatemala City, Hewitt confirms nearly all of the "59,000 destroyed homes were in urban slums built in ravines, above and below steep, unstable bluffs, or on poorly consolidated young fluvio-volcanic sediments. Losses to the rest of the city, and among more expensive homes, were negligible, since they occupied much more stable sites." Given the extraordinary vulnerability of slums and resource-poor cities in the face of natural disasters, perhaps one of the best ways to prevent crises like the one facing Haiti is to focus on alleviating the kind of severe poverty underlying Haiti's catastrophe. A reasonable starting point might be to cancel unsustainable external debt, stop rural immiseration, discourage rapid urbanization, and prevent the building of mega-slums. Though this may seem like a tall order, it is actually quite doable. My hope is that this brief historical outline conveys that the larger problems Haiti faces were created by misguided political and economic policies, and thus can be undone by sagacious ones. Debt cancellation should be an immediate priority. The cessation of multilateral loans conditioned on free market economic reforms should follow. Instead, development and humanitarian assistance in the form of grants and Official Development Assistance (ODA) should be given generously. With international financial assistance, the government of Haiti should re-consolidate its authority as an economic regulator, job creator, and social service provider. Land reform and mass public housing projects would probably also be helpful. In sum, given our inability to prevent earthquakes, I think it would be wise to work on preventing the kind of social and economic destitution that made this quake so overwhelmingly destructive.



For further reading on the linkages between international economic policies and the emergence of mega-slums and mass urbanization, I strongly recommend Mike Davis's 'Planet of Slums'.

Copenhagen's residual value

In 1774, British author, Member of Parliament and 4^th Earl of Oxford Horace Walpole made the irreverent observation that "Africa is, indeed, coming into fashion." It seems to me that this sentiment retains relevance today. From the proliferation of celebrities-turned-advocates to growing commercial participation in activism campaigns, American popular culture appears to have had its surface-level consciousness penetrated by the plight of the continent’s inhabitants. Disappointingly, this often materializes in a dimension deficient in accurate or adequately researched information. Modern iconoclast and NYU Professor of Economics, William Easterly has written prolifically about contemporary aid practices, especially the more overtly questionable ones. His discussion of Bono’s (RED) corporation, widely recognizable due to its extensive partner licensing to other prominent corporations like Gap, Starbucks, American Express and Apple, exemplifies both the dubious information commercial campaigns often disseminate as well as the lucrative motivations they have to engage narratives of charity. The exemplary case of Starbucks shows how companies capitalize both on Africa’s current cachet as well as the highly consumptive American culture. It’s now conceivable to ‘save’ Africa simply by continuing, or perhaps even amplifying one’s excessive consumption. This is delightfully convenient (who doesn’t love to shop?) and simultaneously elides the complex historical context, not to mention culpability, in which the crises at hand are embedded. Such an inanely sanguine approach to poverty reduction is reminiscent of former President Bush’s 2006 stimulus package promotion imploring us to fulfill our duty as economic stimulants by getting out to “go shopping more”. That worked well…

The point here however, is not simply to critique some of the mainstream attempts to ‘help’ Africans for their condescending and ill-researched approaches. This task has been adequately attended to by others. What I want to do is highlight an important linkage which has not received much attention but might better channel the charitable energies discussed above. The desire to help Africans is indeed very decent, and it is for this reason that those who have the resources required to do so should be guided in an appropriate direction. So, for those wanting to ‘do something’ for Africans, I applaud your selflessness and believe I have some suggestions you might appreciate.

Columbia Professor of Anthropology Lila Abu-Lughod has taken up issues of international charity and humanitarianism, and is thus of assistance. When discussing ways in which socially conscious individuals living in the North can effectively help their counterparts in the South, Abu-Lughod encourages “asking how we, living in this privileged and powerful part of the world, might examine our own responsibilities for the situations in which others in distant places have found themselves…and how we might contribute to making the world a more just place.” To this I might add that to help somebody, it may be prudent to start by determining what it is exactly they want, and then to work with them to achieve or obtain that outcome. This kind of cooperation and solidarity avoids the pitfalls of unintended condescension and arrogance which so often impels critiques of charities. So, if one wants to help Africans, as many today seem to, an appropriate starting point would be an inquiry as to what Africans may want help with. Of course, a continent comprised of 53 countries and over a billion people will produce nearly as many opinions and aspirations. However, in the midst of this multiplicity, The Copenhagen Summit has offered a rare opportunity which will undoubtedly excite anyone interested in determining the priorities of many Africans. Due to the unambitious objectives set by the US and European countries regarding carbon emission cuts and allowable global temperature increases, the African negotiating bloc walked out of, and thereby suspended, negotiations both during the Copenhagen Summit, as well as at the Summit’s preceding meetings a month earlier in Barcelona. Anyone concerned with the plight of Africans is clearly troubled by the fact that the US-EU proposed limit of a 2 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures translates into 3-3.5 degree increase in Africa; a rise that will aggravate current droughts and water shortages already facing the continent, in turn endangering an additional 55 million people with hunger and up to 600 million with deficient water supplies. Given the US and European countries’ culpability in creating the climate crisis, the cruel irony that its effects are felt strongest in the global South should further impel empathetic individuals to seek environmental justice for poor countries.

So, while Africa has become a conspicuous focus of innumerable pop-culture campaigns, these too often ignore the outcomes Africans themselves deem important. A more collaborative approach to aid would likely engender preferable outcomes as they would be more relevant to the lives of those ostensibly being targeted. To this end, Copenhagen offers a unique opportunity. African leaders were given a platform on which they could express their development priorities, literally giving anyone wishing to help them explicit targets to work towards. The conclusions to be drawn then, are: 1.) anyone wanting to ‘help or aid’ up to half of Africa’s population should begin by reducing their own environmental impact and should then push their government to adopt more ambitious environmental conservation objectives; and 2.) even those who did not before think they had the ability to ‘help or aid’ Africans now find themselves in the position to do so simply by considering the ways in which their own lifestyle negatively impacts the environment (big cars, big houses, excessive consumption of meat, excessive consumption of material goods, etc.) and then changing those aspects of their lifestyles.

No longer will buying a T shirt or cup of coffee suffice; if you want to have a positive impact on the lives of Africa’s inhabitants, or at least not have an expressly negative one, it’s time to rethink your approach to aid. Rather than assume you or your charity of choice knows what is best for Africans, perhaps listening to what they themselves report they need is a preferable approach. Speaking in Copenhagen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said "We are facing impending disaster on a monstrous scale … A global goal of about 2 degrees Celsius is to condemn Africa to incineration and no modern development." It seems to me that interested parties will take this statement solemnly.