Academic Perspective

A little over a decade ago, around 1996, the world believed that Apple Computer was on its deathbed. The company lacked a marketing plan. Its less efficient computers were priced significantly higher than the competition. And by 1996, the company had fallen out of the top 5 in U.S. sales. Nearly 15 years later, on [...]

The New York Times broke a big story last month when it published its findings from a survey of Tea Party supporters. The “attitudes of those in the movement have been known largely anecdotally,” wrote Zerninke and Thee-Brenan, the authors of the exposé. The media depiction of the Tea Party hasn’t been particularly favorable, partially [...]

Take a moment to think about the past week in your life. What stress, if any, did you experience? What could have been the source of that stress? The American Psychiatric Association consistently cites one sweeping cause of stress in its national and focus group studies: feeling overburdened. Now reflect on your personal responses to that feeling [...]

“To make [one] covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain,” wrote Mark Twain in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, an American classic. The Bush administration’s approach to marijuana makes one thing clear: it did not heed Sawyer’s advice. Drugs are often a taboo subject. Very few are willing to [...]

“Our health care system is in need of major reform, but we need to go more in the direction of free enterprise and free market principles,” said Congressman Jimmy Duncan (R-TN). Tea party supporters, vocal opponents of what they call “ObamaCare”, echo the same sentiment: health care should be a free market. Democrats have taken [...]

The recent heavy snowfall in the Washington D.C. area has given rise to some alarmingly naive comments from conservative pundits and Republican senators. America has come to expect the kind of shaky logic being used from Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest of the conservative media cohort, but it is frankly distressing to hear Senators Jim [...]

Despite relatively mediocre reviews, Avatar has grossed slightly over $1.6 billion worldwide since its December 18th release. Less than a month later, virtually every major electronics company was showing off 3D televisions and Blu-Ray players at the yearly Consumer Electronics Show. Just as 2009 could be called the year of Twitter and the iPhone, 2010 [...]

With a new president, Barack Obama, Congress set out to tackle the president’s two biggest goals: to repair the economy and pass healthcare reform. A year later, new healthcare bills have been passed and the economy is on its way to recovery. But all these changes happened with no shortage of fanfare. 2009 was marked by raucous healthcare debate, media controversies, and economic turmoil. [...]

2009 was not exactly the most memorable year. If anything, it’s notable for being one of the gloomiest years of late. Bank accounts are drying up, foreclosures are through the roof, and unemployment is the highest its been in nearly three decades. In all parts of the world, there aren’t many who can look back [...]

Since it became clear that the U.S. was in the midst of an economic recession in 2008, the federal government has invested trillions to promote economic stability and, eventually, growth. These investments can be classified into two primary categories: bank bailouts and broader economic stimulus. [...]