All Posts Tagged With: "New York Times"
Urbanagora Friend Kiyoshi Martinez in NY Times
Check out today’s NY Times in the Technology section. You will find an important article, both because of its subject matter, web privacy, and because Urbanagora friend Kiyoshi Martinez is featured in it. Web Privacy on the Radar in Congress begins by introducing the subject and Kiyoshi:
Here are some things Internet users can discover about Kiyoshi Martinez, a 24-year-old man from Mokena, Ill., from some of his recent posts online. He watched “The Colbert Report” on Tuesday night, he likes the musician Lenlow and he received bottles of olive oil and vinegar for his birthday. Mr. Martinez has Facebook and LinkedIn pages, a Twitter account and a Web site that includes his résumé.
Reporters…Senseless
Many of you probably have heard about the recent deadly earthquake in China. I was looking at some photographs of the situation on the New York Times website. I came across this photograph of two boys trapped in the rubble. The caption for this photo is “Boys trapped under a collapsed building awaited rescue”
This photo of these two boys who are not being helped by the photographer reminds me of artist Banky’s rendition of a similar theme:
Let’s stop treating people–especially children–like news stories. They are humans–who are suffering and need assistance more than they need glamor shots.
Paul Krugman Betrays Pursuit of Truth in Economics
Dear Professor Krugman,
I respect economists because I see their field as the most humanitarian study possible, given their power to increase the over all wealth of the world, but especially of its poorest parts. That’s why I am dismayed by your increasing disinterest in staying above the muddy and dirty fray of common politics and statistical misguidance.
You recently wrote a post in which you touted the employment-population ratio as the best “guide” to how the employment market is doing. I feel that the picture you have painted is rather biased for an economist. Don’t you think that other variables are at play here that make that ratio an incomplete picture? Retired persons, because of the onset of the baby boomers, as a share of the population are increasing, which means that we can naturally expect that ratio to decline in the years ahead but that it won’t necessarily be a reflection on the health of the economy. Note that the BLS does not define the Employment-Population Ratio in terms of 16-65 year olds, instead it says: “The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population aged 16 years and over that is employed.”
You linked to a post that you wrote a couple of months ago in which you show a biased time sample selection. I presume you wished to influence your readers into thinking that the current ratio is at a historic low. Luckily for you, I love playing with BLS charts, below is the full chart dating back to 1948 (earliest possible year).
No single economic indicator can give an observer the full picture. So while you claim that “The official unemployment rate has been a deceptive indicator,” you regrettably chose to present data that is equally deceptive when viewed in isolation of other datasets.
For those interested, below is the historical data on the unemployment rate. Note that it is currently very low in historical terms and also note, as you do Professor, that this indicator does not paint the full picture.
Professor, you know probably 100 times more than I do about economics. It’s very possible that this entire post is full of errors, if so, I would encourage you or someone else to point them out. I am only a playground economist.
Regrettably,
Billy Joe Mills