The Contemporary Crisis in Mormon Faith and Its Social Bases

Mormons are leaving the LDS Church in record numbers, according to recent press coverage. Though much of the story attributes the inactivity or loss of members to the internet and their learning historical and other material that contradicts their ideas of Mormonism, there is undoubtedly much more to the story. 

Surplus Yo Momma, an Argument with Krugman on Economic Development

New York Times columnist and Nobel Laureate, Paul Krugman made an observation today about China that has resonance far beyond China. If taken as a guide for planning--which it is--then it upsets people around the world and has serious consequences for global development. 

While discussing the economic crisis China faces that, he argues, will be disastrous for the world, Krugman mentions the development model China has followed and quotes “an old insight by the economist W. Arthur Lewis, who argued that countries in the early stages of economic development typically have a small modern sector alongside a large traditional sector containing huge amounts of ‘surplus labor’ — underemployed peasants making at best a marginal contribution to overall economic output.”

Bolivia, Snowden, and Empire in a Rapidly Changing World

The world is changing rapidly and dangerously. Fallout from the Snowden affair shows portions of that change that should make Americans sit up and take notice.  

Global stability depends on checks and balances on power in the relationships among countries as well as a fragile set of norms, often called International law, established through treaties. Both have been thrown out of whack, at a time when the world’s institutions are stressed.