It is very difficult to talk about the economy and the steps the government is taking to fix the economy without at least a rudimentary understanding of how the economy works. One of the best explanations I’ve seen was an article written more than 10 years ago by Noble Prize winner Paul Krugman. One... »

I believe there’s an emerging space in the news industry for data visualization. Not as a supplement to the written word but as the primary source of information. Data visualization techniques, if done right, can go a long way toward addressing the bias and oversimplification that is or appears to be in many written-word... »

Many sources have reported that the housing bubble was spurred by a significant increase in investment in the housing market. The US housing market was seen as a safe place to invest money at a reasonable rate of return. When the financial wizards abused a method to diversify risk and applied it to home... »

Several sites have been airing a snippet of William Shatner’s new TV show “Raw Nerve“  where he interviews Rush Limbaugh. The part making the rounds is where Shatner asks Limbaugh about health care. It starts like this: Shatner - “Here’s my premise and you agree with it or not: If you have money, you are... »

The unemployment rate has ticked up again and there’s a round of articles discussing it. One in particular (FlowingData.com) shows a map of the US color coded with the unemployment rate by county. I’ve reproduced that chart below, if you click on it you will be taken to the original website. But this is only... »

The health care debate has been very vigorous, both in the country and on this website. The Right claims the US has the best health care system in the world. This belief is undoubtedly due to the very low government involvement in US health care system. More government involvement or at least more restrictive... »