it is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man’s blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. – albert einstein

> Romney hammered Gingrich in the debates, and then carpet-bombed him with negative advertisements. 68 percent of the ads that ran in Florida were negative spots attacking Gingrich, and Romney’s only positive ad was a Spanish-language spot that aired 15 times in total. While this gloves-off approach may have tarnished Romney’s image with swing voters, it helped reassure the many conservatives who were attracted to Gingrich because they want a no-holds-barred fighter for the fall campaign.

(via [Gingrich 2012? Going, Going, Gone — campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com — Readability](http://www.readability.com/m?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcampaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2012%2F02%2F01%2Fgingrich-2012-going-going-gone%2F))

I love it when complex issues can be reduced to language that, while simple, contains all the complexity.

Joe Stiglitz is unhappy with the ECB. He says, “The ECB’s behavior should not be surprising: as we have seen elsewhere, institutions that are not democratically accountable tend to be captured by special interests”:

via Economists View.

As you notice your mind trying to grasp for substance. The idea that prolonged unemployment is caused by..  prolonged unemployment. It isn’t quite that bad but very close. The logic avoids any mention of what labor does that owners/maagers would want to hire it. It is typical of the avoidance technique for the purpose of “analysis”.

The analyses discussed here suggest that weak labor demand is the primary explanation for prolonged unemployment duration observed in the recent recession and recovery. The weak recovery of employment is similar to the jobless recoveries that followed the 1990–91 and 2001 recessions. This suggests that the labor market has changed in ways that prevent the cyclical bounceback in the labor market that followed past recessions. The shift towards jobless recoveries probably reflects a reduction in temporary layoffs during cyclical downturns. Stricter market incentives to control costs in the face of stiff domestic and international competition may also be factors. In addition, anecdotal evidence suggests that recent employer reluctance to hire reflects an unusual degree of uncertainty about future growth in product demand and labor costs. These special factors are not readily addressed through conventional monetary or fiscal policies. But such policies may be able to offset the central obstacle of weak aggregate demand.

via FRBSF Economic Letter: Why Is Unemployment Duration So Long? (2012-03, 1/30/2012).