The biggest Kickstarter in the world is still Congress. From This American Life:
I needed to bring in ten to fifteen thousand dollars a day [for two years]
Think about that. One congressman. $10K-$15K a day to get reelected. Not to build something. Not to create infrastructure. It's to run ads to buy votes from people that do not understand what they vote for.
Another great one about the return on investment for a giant corporate tax break called the American Jobs Creation Act1:
It's a feel good story about reaching beyond limitations and finding new potential. But I think it highlights how much a society loses by not creating an inexpensive route into higher education. Is there any downside to getting an education other than debt?
By way of Kaush's Journal
Am I the only one that wants more political writing from Andy Ihnatko?
A good set of definitions to keep in mind during election season but I also run into these daily.
An interesting analysis and browser plugin for determining political bias of properly referenced articles.
Capitalism will always win at the expense of democracy. After all of the SOPA/PIPA wrangling, RIAA was handed control of the US internet by ISPs instead of the government.
The Research Works Act is dead. As with SOPA and PIPA, I attribute this to the existence of an open and unfettered internet. The major publishers of scientific papers paid big money to pass this legislation. It was mobilization of a large number of academic institutions and professors that killed it. I, personally, do not believe this could have been accomplished in such a short amount of time without the internet.
Half of all Fortune 500 companies and federal agencies are infected with DNSChanger malware according to a Verge article.
I sure feel more secure that so much money is spent on busting straight-A students for a gram of pot rather than on protecting federal infrastructure.
BBC has a story about the rise of tent camps around America.
For some people, austerity is the unescapable burden of being born poor. By way of BoingBoing
From Techdirt. Let's all remember what the FTC is really for.
