james_nicoll

Which is worse to be ear-wormed by?

debgeisler

Google Inc., the California-based search engine giant, said it is offering free WiFi service at a number of airports, including Logan International Airport, from now until mid January as a "holiday gift" to travelers.

smofbabe

Well now, I suppose at this point you should know that I am also assuming the duties ordinarily filtered by his sense of decorum and dignity. This will result in some spectacularly bad dancing, as well a fair amount of drooling. I may also stand over a bowl of chips and shovel them into my mouth with the same glassy-eyed stare one sometimes sees on a particularly unintelligent dog or cow. But fear not! If I should overstep some social convention, you may inform me in any way you see fit without fear of consequence, as my charge will have no recollection of it the next day.

james_nicoll

Resolved: John Tory should become the next leader of the federal Conservative Party of Canada

james_nicoll

John Tory leads the pack of undeclared candidates for mayor of Toronto by a wide margin, according to a new poll by Angus Reid Strategies.

Of decided voters, 46 per cent said they would vote for Mr. Tory, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, who came a close second to David Miller in the 2003 mayoral race. Ontario Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman polled a distant second, with 21 per cent of decided voters saying they would pick him.

james_nicoll

Take the United States, which wasn’t damaged in the war. Take per capita real GDP. Give hostages by taking data from 1950 to 1980, which means including the 1980 recession, but stopping at 2007, so that the current slump isn’t included. Then here’s what you get:

Growth in per capita real GDP from 1950 to 1980: 2.2 percent per year
Growth in per capita real GDP from 1980 to 2007: 2.0 percent per year

Oh, and if we look at real median family income instead, we get:

Growth from 1950 to 1980: 2.3 percent per year
Growth from 1980 to 2007: 0.7 percent per year

Sorry: there’s no measure I can think of by which the U.S. economy has done better since 1980 than it did over an equivalent time span before 1980. It may be something you’ve heard, it may be something you’d like to believe, but it just didn’t happen.

Actually, no. Productivity data here (zip file). Labor productivity rose an average of 2.3% per year from 1950 to 1980, 2.0% from 1980 to 2007.

But there’s more to the story. Postwar productivity growth had three eras: a period of rapid growth from the late 40s to the early 70s, then a big slowdown that lasted until the mid 90s, then an acceleration that continues to this day.

debgeisler

Arbitrator rejects case against Glenn Beck parody site, agreeing with the defense's argument that only a staggering moron would believe it. Beck points to his audience, nodding furiously.