On the issue of economic inequality, Americans are of two minds. On the one hand, we value opportunity over security, balancing a meager safety net (compared with other developed countries) with the promise of upward mobility for those with ability, gumption, and tolerance for hard work. The idea of opportunity itself suggests variability of outcomes, […]
Robert Keough
Posted inEconomy, Health Care
Economist David Cutler says increased life expectancy comes at a price and we havent figured out how many more years we want to pay for
Harvard economist David M. Cutler’s new book, his first, has a catchy, if somewhat threatening, title: Your Money or Your Life. The subtitle promises “strong medicine for America’s health care system,” and the book delivers on that promise in a number of ways. But the real dose of castor oil Cutler dispenses is for the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Down but not out
SPRINGFIELD, THE STATE’S third largest city and the metropolitan anchor of western Massachusetts, is in the soup. To say it is on the brink of disaster might be going too far. But to say it is a struggling third-tier city facing the same challenges as many urban centers across the state, while true, would not […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Its time for Romney to reform the correctional system
Pledging themselves to the cause of reform, Gov. Mitt Romney and his team have taken on a number of shibboleths in state government during their first year in office. From UMass to the courts, the Romney administration has raised legitimate questions about the way state government organizes and delivers vital services to citizens of the […]
Posted inEducation
Doubling down
WHETHER USED AS an income bracket, a collection of values and attitudes, or a state of mind, “middle class” is a pretty broad category. But at its core, middle class connotes material comfort born of personal responsibility. The luxuries associated with a middle-class lifestyle are contingent, the fruit of effort, not entitlement. And if financial […]
Posted inUncategorized
Sociologist Theda Skocpol worries that the demise of the Odd Fellows and the rise of advocacy groups leave citizens with nothing to do
Though the title was created for sardonic effect by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam, whose use of it always drips with sarcasm, here’s one small reason Harvard might well be considered the World’s Greatest University: In almost any grave scholarly dispute, disputants on both (or all) sides can be found right there on the Cambridge […]
Posted inEducation
Public higher ed deserves attentionand some respect
As viewed from the peanut gallery, the struggle over Gov. Mitt Romney’s government-reorganization plan has been a fascinating, if at times horrifying, spectacle. When the plan was outlined in the governor’s budget proposal, the Legislature’s first reaction–from a collection of House task forces that summarily rejected nearly every element, one after another–sparked references in my […]
Posted inUncategorized
Historian Jackson Lears reconciles the American work ethic with our attraction to every gambling scheme under the sun
It’s often said, better to be lucky than good, but in truth, most of us want to be both. Virtue may be its own reward, but who among the virtuous doesn’t want to hit the jackpot as well? Things start to get dicey, however, when we confuse good fortune with innate goodness. We start to […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Two books explore the achievement gap between white and minority students
Bridging the Achievement GapEdited by John E. Chubb and Tom LovelessBrookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, 236 pages. Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African-American StudentsBy Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard IIIBeacon Press, Boston, 176 pages. There was something almost surreal about the official reaction (expressions of relief) to and the press […]
Posted inPolitics
A transition of our own
There comes a time in the life of every young organization, firm, or company when the founder moves on. It is a time of anxiety, but also a milestone of maturity, evidence that the entity can stand on its own two feet. At MassINC, the parent organization and publisher of CommonWealth, that time has come. […]