Obama says the unemployment numbers — down slightly — are good news. Critics say these unemployment numbers are mostly a reflection of the fact that more Americans are giving up on employment permanently, and therefore are no longer figured in … Continue reading
Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina says: ‘I can guarantee you in the Super Bowl this year the two coaches are not telling their teams to go out and work with the other guys because the other team has an … Continue reading
National Journal online reports: “According to the Congressional Budget Office, which released its new Budget and Economic Outlook report [last week], a 10-year repeal of the growth-rate formula that froze doctors’ rates [for Medicare reimbursement] at current levels would cost … Continue reading
Associated Press reports: “Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard began military exercises Saturday in the country’s south, the latest show of force after threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for tougher Western sanctions. The latest military maneuvers got … Continue reading
‘Life’s not fair! I’m gettin’ a raw deal!’ We hear it just about every day. Life is neither fair nor unfair. Only people can be fair or unfair. ‘Fairness’ presupposes a set of concepts (or ideas) about justice, grounded in … Continue reading
A reporter from a local Delaware paper asked for my comments related to recent charges against a local high school teacher who had a sexual relationship with a 17 year old student. Questions: What do you think drives or … Continue reading
Q: Your ideas on psychology and self-help make sense. I know they are rational, but I don’t always feel them. My logic is rational, but my feelings are not. What am I supposed to do? Just ignore my feelings? What … Continue reading
Several months ago, Obama referred to what he considers the essence of America: He said, “This sense of mutual responsibility — the idea that I am my brother’s keeper; that I am my sister’s keeper — has always been a … Continue reading
Dear Dr. Hurd: If you don’t mind suggestions on articles, have you ever written one on the evils of “enabling”? That is, the phenomenon where a person knows that what someone else is doing is wrong, sometimes morally, but will … Continue reading
A flat income tax — say, 15 percent for all Americans — is a brilliant idea. Right? No way. The flat tax proposal, in the economy as we know it, evades two very, very important facts. No proposal which evades … Continue reading
Conclusion of yesterday’s column. Rationalization # 3: ‘It’s OK to lie if the subject is nobody else’s business.’ This rationalization implies that if someone is violating your privacy, you have no other choice but to lie to them. If, in … Continue reading
Continued from yesterday’s column. It’s not enough to ask people, intellectually, if they subscribe to these rationalizations or not. They might say ‘no,’ they sincerely don’t agree with these statements. Yet they could still feel something different on the emotional … Continue reading