Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

It has become a source of some amusement in the media that the burgeoning hedge funds have become a core source of funds for the leading Democratic presidential contenders (while also pouring money on the top Republican candidates). Prominent locals in Greenwich, Connecticut, where many hedge fund managers reside, now brag about candidate scuff marks…

The United States Since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2007) is a superb short work from Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. In a couple hundred pages, Baker covers enormous territory, reviewing the rightward shift in U.S. politics, the sharpening of inequality (and underlying causes), U.S. unilateralism in global affairs, and much…

Well, at least he’s not a war criminal. George Bush’s new selection to head the World Bank, Robert Zoellick has that over his predecessor, Paul Wolfowitz. But can’t the world demand a slightly higher standard? The selection process for chief of the World Bank, which claims to be the world’s preeminent anti-poverty institution, is preposterous.…