AmericanDelusions

Free-market Ideology

Just Another Cost of Doing Business? – Pfizer’s $2.3 billion penalty and fine

September 4, 2009

Is $2.3 billion really a lot of money? The Obama administration is touting the action taken this week against Pfizer for illegal promotion of several of its drugs. The $2.3 billion sounds like a lot of money to me, and I suspect most people. Is it really a lot of --->> read more -->>

More Blather about Healthcare from “Experts”

June 16, 2009

Acknowledge the basic facts about how the healthcare system is working today. Yesterday in a radio interview, “How to conquer health care challenges”, with Professor Glenn Melnick from the Rand Corporation and USC, we were again offered up “expert” opinion that does not even acknowledge the basic facts about how the healthcare --->> read more -->>

A New Thought on Terrorism

December 6, 2008

An article in today’s NYTimes about cyber crime, malware, etc. suggests to me that another line of attack may be through the Internet against our utilities, telecoms, or financial institutions. There have already been massive attacks against whole countries with successful breakdowns that lasted for hours and days. Ukraine, Lithuania, --->> read more -->>

A New Thought on Terrorism

December 6, 2008

Mumbai, Boston and Terrorism

December 3, 2008

The arrival by small boat of the Mumbai terrorists reminds me of a persistent fear here. A small freighter or a large one loaded with containers will pull into Conley Terminal in South Boston and shortly thereafter a dirty bomb will go off. This will spread a small cloud of --->> read more -->>

Politics

Obama

November 5, 2008

I will not add to the comments that have flooded around the world last night and this morning. However this significant moment had to be greeted with more than silence.

Bush – the worst modern President

November 1, 2008

Since my entry this morning I have been thinking more about the Presidency and Bush. My knowledge of 19th century Presidents is a bit spotty. Certainly the names Buchanan, Pierce, Johnson and Grant pop to mind as less than top of the heap. But, for the modern era, post WW2, --->> read more -->>

Pondering at the Food Coop – the empire

November 1, 2008

November 1, 2008 So, here I am having coffee and my favorite lunch, a toasted bagel with peanut butter thinking about the approaching election. Finally this will conclude what has been an overly long campaign, but one with enormous pleasures. Assuming that Obama is not just a curiosity to all --->> read more -->>

Pondering at the Food Coop

November 1, 2008

North Korea – a visit to the “Axis of Evil” – book note

June 21, 2007

North Korea – a visit to the “Axis of Evil” Recently, in the context of some discussion of the Bush regime, my step-son Jonathan pointed me towards several books on Korea. He said that Bruce Cumings is simply the best author writing in English on Korea. So, a quick trip --->> read more -->>

North Korea – a visit to the “Axis of Evil”

June 21, 2007

Recently, in the context of some discussion of the Bush regime, my step-son Jonathan pointed me towards several books on Korea. He said that Bruce Cumings is simply the best author writing in English on Korea. So, a quick trip to the local library and I had this compact little --->> read more -->>

Book Note – Before the Dawn: recovering the lost history of our ancestors

February 27, 2007

Earlier this year I read Charles Mann’s 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and was rewarded with another reminder of how thin my understanding of our hemisphere’s history is and how much new knowledge is being added by multiple disciplines. Here was a whole new world to be --->> read more -->>

A New Age Now Begins: a people’s history of the American revolution – book review

January 31, 2007

Book Review: Page Smith, A New Age Now Begins: a people’s history of the American revolution. 2 vols., 1896pp. Index. Bibliographic note.(New York: Penguin Books, 1976.) This huge work on the American Revolution covers everything from the politics of the war in England to obscure interactions with Indian tribes in --->> read more -->>

The Healthcare Crisis

February 6, 2006

The healthcare crisis in the US is growing in severity and yet is not the subject of any real public debate. More than 44 million Americans are without health insurance, and almost 65 million will experience a lack of coverage during the year. Emergency rooms are the primary care provider --->> read more -->>

A Fog of War or a Fog of Ethics?

December 18, 2003

Through our friend Esther Hanig we attended a showing of Errol Morris’s new documentary, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara at the Kennedy Library in Dorchester MA on December 14, 2003. This documentary is an extended adventure into the historico-biography of Robert S. McNamara, --->> read more -->>

Greenland and Global Warming

June 2, 2002

an essay from the original markorton.com website: Greenland and Global Warming When I looked down into the Grand Canyon for the first time, I paused only for a moment at its immensity and moved right onto a more self-centered thought, “How tiny human history is in all of this, and --->> read more -->>

Economy

Enron, Trust and Malfeasance

January 29, 2002

January 23, 2002 (revised 1/29/02) The collapse of energy giant Enron over the last six months has produced a surprising level of outrage especially for a cynic like me. As this drama continues to unfold, I have been trying to understand how Enron structured their business and made money. Until --->> read more -->>

Economy

Enron, Trust and Malfeasance

January 29, 2002

Whose Opinion (Advice) Is This?

January 1, 2002

Whose Opinion (Advice) Is This? The Problem At a time when we are quite aware of the need for and value of transparency in the reporting of the activities of corporations (thanks most recently to the Enron affair), we could quite usefully extend this transparency metaphor to other parts of --->> read more -->>