Robert de Neufville
Contributor, Big Think
I lecture and write about politics and philosophy. I hold degrees in politics from Harvard and Berkeley, and have studied complex systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Other interests include theoretical physics, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and the game of Go. You can find me on Twitter at @rdeneufville.
Anyone who drives a car knows that gas prices are going up. The average price of gas in the U.S. hit a seasonal record high in February. Crude oil prices […]
The largest economy in the world is likely to stay slow even though the recovery finally seems to be gaining momentum. This has nothing to do with our current economic crisis and everything to do with long-term demographic trends.
America may not love unions—certainly not the way some countries do—but it doesn’t hate them either. Yesterday, I wrote that unions play an essential role in a healthy economy by […]
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg—himself a billionaire captain of the newspaper industry—has a novel perspective: maybe unions are good for business.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s remarks last week were in keeping with his ongoing effort to restructure the armed forces and create what he has called a “truly 21st century” military.
More than two years after the financial crisis, unemployment remains at 9.0%. Even as corporate profits rebound, the economy is still barely adding enough jobs to keep up with the […]
The 2012 presidential election is going to be the most expensive ever, thanks to the Citizens United court ruling.
Montana State Representative Joe Read doesn’t deny global warming is real. He just thinks it is we’re not causing it—and that it’s a good thing anyway. That’s why the Republican […]
What is does the U.S. government actually do? Ezra Klein has an answer. Klein says that when you look at what the U.S. government spends its money on, it’s clear […]
The largely unregulated capitalism of the 19th century meant terrible conditions for many ordinary Americans and was a source of social unrest that threatened to bring down our economic and political system.
With federal judges retiring at the rate of one a week—and being replaced nowhere near that fast—101 of the 854 seats on district and circuit courts are currently vacant. Can democrats and republicans make nice and fill this gap?
Will anyone run against Barack Obama? With the 2012 election still almost two years away, it’s obviously still early. But at this point in the previous election cycle—with Bush a […]
Many of the fastest growing states—like Nevada, whose population grew at a brisk 35.1%—are also states with large Hispanic populations.
After a series of protests against Tunisia’s repressive regime—sparked by high unemployment and rising food prices—forced its longtime leader Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, President Obama declared […]
Presidents generally cover a lot of ground in their State of the Union addresses. But they really can only sound one theme—or call on the country to do one thing—without […]
On Wednesday, Republicans and a handful of Democrats in the House voted to repeal last year’s health care reform bill. Repeal won’t get pass the Senate—although Republicans insist the vote […]
President Obama’s numbers are up. After averaging less than 47% percent approval for his second year in office, Obama’s approval is now up to 50% again. By an 8 point […]
Last year, Chauncey DeVega asked a great question: how would we see Sarah Palin if she were black? As much as we might like to pretend otherwise, blacks in America are […]
Last week, I was sharply critical of the way Sarah Palin handled accusations that she was in some way to blame for the Tucson shooting. It is easy to understand […]
The health care reform bill is still unpopular. Almost no one is completely happy with the compromise bill right now. A recent Gallup poll found that 46% of Americans want […]
Sarah Palin is not to blame for the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). As I wrote on Monday, she cannot be held accountable for the actions of an obviously […]
Gun control and drug policy are important issues, but it’s dangerous to read too much into a single tragedy. It isn’t fair to suggest that Republican rhetoric was in any way responsible for Jared Loughner’s attack in Arizona.
On New Year’s Day, a bomb exploded outside a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, killing 21 people and injuring 79 more. It was the deadliest terrorist attack […]
Nobody in Congress really cares about the deficit. Sure, everyone would love to cut the deficit as long as it doesn’t mean having to cut any programs they like. What […]
It’s a new year in Congress. With the start of the 112th Congress the Republicans have assumed control of the House. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) became the new Speaker of […]
Since I’ve run out of blog ideas—and have New Year’s Eve parties to get to—today I’m just going to post some of the things that people who are more interesting […]
Since I’ve run out of blog ideas—and have New Year’s Eve parties to get to—today I’m just going to post some of the things that people who are more interesting […]
Do we pay top executives too little? That, as Tyler Cowen points out, is the question raised by a recent paper by Bang Dang Nguyen and Kaspar Meisner Nielsen. The […]
Happy holidays! Every year as I range across the web in search of news and ideas I come across a few articles that stand out as exceptionally worth reading. Today […]
Happy holidays! Every year as I range across the web in search of news and ideas I come across a few articles that stand out as exceptionally worth reading. Today […]