Minimum wages are back in the headlines as a result of initiatives in states, proposals in some cities, as well as efforts by President Obama to raise the federal rate. The way to think about whether or not raising the minimum wage is a good idea is to consider who is supposed to benefit from […]
NPR Report on T-Shirts Exposes What Others Have Written About For Decades
National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Planet Money” team just wound up a series about what goes into making a t-shirt, which I caught on my evening commutes. It followed the t-shirt from the fields where the cotton was grown, to where it was spun in Colombia, to the factory in Bangladesh where it was stitched together. […]
40 best books for toddlers, preschoolers (and their parents)
Reading to your toddler or preschooler is a rich and rewarding experience. It opens up conversations, expands vocabulary and introduces new worlds. But I’ve found that accidentally choosing a poorly written or illustrated book can make story time a lot less fun. And beware the book you loathe, but your child loves and wants read again and […]
America: The Selfish State?
From the pre-blog archives, this op-ed of mine appeared in Australia’s major daily newspaper, “The Australian”, on May 10, 2004. America: the selfish state? A dispassionate examination of the US shows that recent criticisms are unfair, maintains Nicholas Kerr The recent abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and other incidents in the Iraq war have provoked an angry […]
Let’s stop supporting the slaughter of wildlife with subsidies and mandates
A report out today estimated that more than 600,000 and as many as 900,000 bats were killed by wind turbines in the United States in 2012 alone. It’s well known that wind farms slaughter birds, including rare and endangered ones, on a large scale. But until this report came out, I had no idea bats were […]