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Feel Good Friday: Basketball and Friendship

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Feel Good Friday: Basketball and Friendship

In Syracuse Nation, we are all still reeling from an early exit from the NCAA tournament.  Although I’d like to forget about basketball for awhile longer, this edition of Feel Good Friday brings a heartwarming story a high school basketball team and friendship.  I should note: this is a story lowers your spirits (cancer), before raising them. 

Here is a description of this Steve Hartman story from the CBS website: 

Steve Hartman meets a high school basketball team in North Carolina that decided to play one game for someone other than themselves … and when the game came down to the wire, something remarkable happened.

 

The Economics & Psychology of Scarcity & Poverty

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

The Economics & Psychology of Scarcity & Poverty

Why do poor people make poor decisions? Are they poor because they are stupid, or are the stupid because they are poor? Apparently, there is research to suggest that latter. Recently, the BBC’s Analysis program interviewed Princeton psychologist Eldar Shafir about the economics and psychology of scarcity and poverty. 

Here is a description of the episode from the BBC’s website: 

Jo Fidgen interviews Eldar Shafir, professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, and co-author of Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much in front of an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. Jo will explore the book’s key idea: that not having enough money or time, shapes all of our reactions, and ultimately our lives and society.

The Economics & Psychology of Scarcity & Poverty

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

The Economics & Psychology of Scarcity & Poverty

Why do poor people make poor decisions? Are they poor because they are stupid, or are the stupid because they are poor? Apparently, there is research to suggest that latter. Recently, the BBC’s Analysis program interviewed Princeton psychologist Eldar Shafir about the economics and psychology of scarcity and poverty. 

Here is a description of the episode from the BBC’s website: 

Jo Fidgen interviews Eldar Shafir, professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, and co-author of Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much in front of an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. Jo will explore the book’s key idea: that not having enough money or time, shapes all of our reactions, and ultimately our lives and society.

Is Talking About Social Class Classless?

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Is Talking About Social Class Classless?

Recently, the BBC’s debate programme, Moral Maze ran an episode about social mobility and social class.  

Here is a description of the episode from the BBC’s website: 

What place should class have in Britain today? If you’ve been living in hope of creating a society where the moral character of a man is judged by his actions and not the colour of his old school tie, you may have been sorely disappointed over the last week or so. Too many toffs in the cabinet and patronising adverts about the pastimes enjoyed by hardworking people might suggest that for our politicians at least, it seems class still matters. There was a time when a person’s class was defined by their job, but that’s become much more tricky since the demise of large scale industries like coal mining. It hasn’t though stopped many people from defining themselves as working class – and claiming a Prolier-than-Thou kind of moral superiority, – even though by most measures like income, education and profession, they’re anything but. We’ve all experienced that kind of reverse snobbery, but how many of us would be comfortable in a socially mixed group of saying they were middle class and proud of it? Let alone upper class? It was Alan Clarke who famously dismissed his fellow Conservative MP Michael Heseltine as the kind of person “who bought his own furniture”. Not all of us are blessed with his patrician perspective, so what should be the modern indicators of class? Is our obsession with class a sign of our deep sense of fairness and desire for a more open society, or a prejudice that should be consigned to the dustbin? Or is the problem that we need more subtle categories? Beer and bingo? Bolly and ballet? Class on the Moral Maze.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Melanie Phillips, Claire Fox, Michael Portillo and Matthew Taylor.

Witnesses are Kate Fox, Owen Jones, Alwyn Turner and James Delingpole.

Waiting for the Next Step

/ David Kailer / Leave a comment

The situation in Russia is still a point of great tension in the international community. Only a few weeks ago, Russia was removed from the G8, a prestigious group of developed countries, which promptly renamed itself the G7 to highlight Russia’s departure.

According to CNN, Secretary of State Kerry has recently concluded talks with the Russian Foreign Minister aimed at finding a “diplomatic” resolution to the tensions between Russia and its neighbor Ukraine. According to Kerry, Russia’s allegations that it is in support of Ukrainian independence is undermined by an increase of Russian troops at the border. The Secretary of State pointed out the contradiction in his talks with Foreign Minister Lavrov.

According to the article, “Kerry said Russia and the United States agreed to work with Ukraine on several issues: the rights of national minorities; language rights; the demobilization and disarmament of provocateurs; a constitutional reform process; and free and fair elections monitored by the international community.” National minorities may play a key role in determining how this conflict is resolved. The primary rhetoric coming from Russia prior to the “annexation” of Crimea was that Russia was intervening on behalf of the Russian minority in that region. As we have covered previously, the situation within Ukraine is not much better than the trouble waiting on its border.

Kerry also stressed the importance of including Ukraine in any further conversations between Russia and the United States regarding that nation. While Lavrov was on record recommending a “federal” structure for the new government in Ukraine, Secretary of State Kerry insisted any decisions about Ukraine’s government should be made by the people of Ukraine rather than outside forces.

CNN summed up the recent history by writing that “[t]he United States and the European Union have already imposed two rounds of sanctions on Russia, including visa bans and asset freezes for some of Putin’s inner circle. The West has threatened tougher sanctions targeting Russia’s economy if Moscow sends more troops to Ukraine. Russia has drawn up countersanctions, barring senior U.S. officials from entering Russia.”