"The debate over the impact of 'austerity' policies on economic well-being is raging once again, fueled in part by the discovery of errors in a much-cited study by Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff of how national indebtedness impacts economic growth. As in previous rounds, however, basic economics has taken a back seat to high-powered statistical examinations of national income accounts." (05/23/13)

"The great surplus enabled by trade and specialization, as anthropologists tell us, was a necessary change for permanent cities; civilization to develop. It also permitted a phenomenon that could not exist prior to such surplus: the state. Among all of the competing theories about the process of early state formation, anthropologists generally agree that organized government as we know it was only possible after, and because of, this great surplus in wealth. This means (my own conclusion) that the state is essentially parasitic." (05/22/13)