Daily Read - 2/5/10

An interesting article from last November in the Guardian (UK) discusses whether the Playpump (pictured) is an efficent solution for water problems in Africa or just a clever marketing gimmick.  Children play on a merry-go-round, which pumps water into the raised tower.  Some critics say it is "over-reliant on child labour."

In President Obama's address at the National Prayer Breakfast, he "applauded Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and other faiths that are responding to the earthquake in Haiti. He said such compassion should be harnessed for everyday disasters, like hunger and poverty. He also said that liberals have started to embrace the idea that religious groups and other private efforts can play a major role in fighting social problems…There is an "increasing recognition among progressives that government can't solve all of our problems, and that talking about values like responsible fatherhood and healthy marriages are integral to any antipoverty agenda.""  I hope he's right, particularly in light of recent comments from Obama's Office of Social Innovation.  (Philanthropy.com)

Philip K Howard, of Common Good, has an editorial in the WSJ. He thinks when Obama said "Let's try common sense" in the State of the Union, he really meant more laws. "Government is out of control, schools are out of control, health-care costs are out of control, lawsuits are out of control—because law has supplanted the responsibility of people needed to keep them in control."


Charles Krauthammer in today's Washington Post says "don't the Democrats see that clinging to this agenda will march them over a cliff? Don't they understand Massachusetts?"  He argues the Democrats are sticking to their agenda because many of them believe "(1) The people are stupid and (2) Republicans are bad. Result? The dim, led by the malicious, vote incorrectly."  Obama says he has not explained health care clearly enough, even after 29 speeches. (I thought he had "a gift"?)  Krauthammer also says liberals believe in the "moral hollowness of conservatism," while liberals "act in the public interest."

Of course, you can find commenatators on the left who say Republicans think Democrats are stupid and are only motivaed by politics.  Thus, the rise of the tea party movement and others who are sick of both sides.

Somehow I missed this one earlier this week: "Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Sunday that 2005's Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans," since it forced the failing school system to start over from scratch."  He later apologized.  (Politico)

Obama's budget has some optimistic projections for economic growth going forward.  Perhaps he should plan for the worst, based on the chart below, an analysis of past budget projections, from downsizinggovernment.org (here)  However, Paul Krugman says not to worry - deficit fearmongering is only politics.  Perhaps, as Obama says, the worst is behind us.  Robert Reich argues for "The Necessity of Obamanomics" on the editorial page of the WSJ, given the "big picture" (he doesn't mean the big picture below).  On the other hand, the Economist thinks "Mr Obama’s budget reveals a road-map to fiscal catastrophe" and "the cuts the president has proposed are comically insufficient."  Moody's Investors Service, which provides credit ratings, said "Unless further measures are taken to reduce the budget deficit further or the economy rebounds more vigorously than expected, the federal financial picture as presented in the projections for the next decade will at some point put pressure on the Aaa government bond rating." (quoted here)