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Is New York City Entering a Pension Death Spiral like Chicago?0
- Economics
- December 11, 2018
As bad as the situation in Chicago is, with a public pension system 42 billion in the red, New York has even worse exposure. Its standings include 65 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, 100 billion in unfunded retiree health care, and a city debt of approximately 50 billion – for a grand total of 215
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The Authenticity of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Gran Torino’0
- Culture
- December 11, 2018
Clint Eastwood made his name with a squint, a glare, a snarl, and a few well-chosen one-liners. His vigilante loner has served him well in films from the spaghetti Westerns, the Dirty Harry franchise, Unforgiven, PaleRider, and more. All these roles are summed up in Walt Kowalski—the main character in the 2008 film Gran Torino —a film Mr. Eastwood directed and
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What’s the Best Way to Deal with a ‘Political Animal’?0
- History
- December 10, 2018
G. K. Chesterton was that rarest of political animals. He was a fellow of firm views and well decided certainties. But he was also someone who always treated those of differing views and certainties with fairness and kindness. (We could use many more of his type these days, couldn’t we?) How did Chesterton manage to
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Harvard Study: Gender Pay Gap Explained Entirely by Work Choices of Men and Women 0
- Culture
- December 10, 2018
“Gender pay gap is worse than thought: Study shows women actually earn half the income of men,” NBC announced recently in reference to a report titled “Still a Man’s Labor Market” by the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which found that women’s income was 51 percent less than men’s earnings. The “Gender Pay Gap” Isn’t What You
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Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Solid Advice for the Holidays 0
- Culture
- December 10, 2018
Lin-Manuel Miranda is about as liberal as they come. As a major Broadway star, a rising Hollywood actor, and a frequent pop-up on all manner of late-night talk shows and channels, I guess that’s the natural path for the poor dude to follow. Despite his liberal tendencies, I personally think that Lin-Manuel’s twitter account
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Rome Burned and Nero Lost His Empire – What Will Happen to Europe this Century?0
- International
- December 10, 2018
You have doubtless heard the well-worn euphemism that Rome’s emperor at the time, the decadent and unpopular Nero, “fiddled while Rome burned.” The expression of course has a double meaning: Not only did Nero stroke his violin making music while his people suffered, but he was an ineffectual leader in a time of deepening crisis. Europe is burning again, today. Literally and
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