Trying to understand how Minnesota became “above average” since World War II is one of my intellectual passions. I just finished Citizen Swain: Tales from a Minnesota Life by Tom H. Swain (with Lori Sturdevant) and came away with a much improved understanding on how Minnesotans accomplished this feat. At the center of it was active civic engagement by men and women who moved between the public … [Read more...]
Yesterday in Iowa, Senator Marco Rubio joined the discussion about the value of the liberal arts. According to Inside Higher Education, Rubio made the same point in the past: "'So you can decide if it's worth borrowing $50,000 to major in Greek philosophy,' The Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reported Rubio as saying. 'Because after all, the market for Greek philosophers has been very tight for … [Read more...]
The New York Times reports that China "on Tuesday sharply devalued the country’s currency, the renminbi, a move that could raise geopolitical tensions and weigh on growth elsewhere." Why? What's the big deal about changing the value of a currency by two percent? Three reasons: 1. The value of the renminbi relative to the dollar is part of what determines the price of Chinese imports in the … [Read more...]