I read an interesting article in the New York Times the other day.  The headline was “New Campaign Shows Progress for the Homeless” and the sub-headline quote was “Cost -benefit analysis may be the new expression of compassion”.  OK, lets read this.

 A little known, formally dormant, office in the Federal government called the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has, in the last few years, launched a major initiative to reduce the number of homeless living on the streets by providing free housing. Evidently, the catalyst of this effort is a man named Philip F. Mangano, a Bush appointee who …

Earlier this week there was a report on the rapid growth of broadband high-speed internet hook-ups during the last year. The numbers are impressive and speak to the widening demographic and economic base of broadband users.

According to a survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, broadband adoption increased 59% among households with incomes between $30,000 – 50,000 from March 2005 to March 2006. It increased 40% in households earning less than $30,000 and increased 121% in black households. This is incredible growth in economic and demographic segments that had here to fore been lagging far …

[Regular readers of this blog have read a lot about recent, current and coming disintermediation.  Whether it be the travel business, stock brokerage, media, real estate or insurance it is clear that in this major historical period of transformation, the Internet has brought about clear disintermediation.  Practically any industry will have some structural change due to this phenomenon.  What we will now start to look at from time to time is larger cultural and political institutions that may well be ripe for disintermediation to some degree in the next ten years.]

In 1831 the national nominating convention started to replace the …

Science fiction can be extremely thought provoking, particularly to one who thinks about the future.  There are novels that are fantastical and take place centuries in the future in galaxies ‘far far away’, populated by weird creatures and other worldly landscapes.  Then there are the many novels that are more conceptual, set slightly in the future on planet Earth that posit interesting social views and visions of how humanity might live and be governed; far enough ahead to allow a disconnect from current reality, but close enough to current day that they seem possible.  It is these novels that can …