"The Return of the State: The New Investment Paradigm"

To save America--indeed, the global economy as a whole--the private/public sector balance has to shift, and the neoliberal economic model on which the country has been based for the past 25 years has to be modified. In this new working paper, Marshall Auerback details why the role of the state needs to be reemphasized. The abandonment of a mixed economy and corresponding diminution of the role of government was hailed as the "rebirth of individualism," yet it caused rising inequality and the decline of median wages, and led to the widespread neglect of public goods vital to its citizens' welfare. Meanwhile, the country ran through the public investment it had made from the 1930s to the 1970s, with few serious challenges from policymakers or mainstream economists. The neoliberal model was also aggressively exported: the "optimal" growth strategy for all emerging economies was supposedly one that emphasized limited government, corporate governance, rule of law, and higher levels of state-owned and -influenced enterprise—in spite of significant historical evidence to the contrary. Not even the economic wreckage in Mexico, Argentina, Thailand, Indonesia, and Russia seemed sufficient to challenge, let alone overturn, the prevailing paradigm. That is, until now: in reaction to the financial crisis, many governments—led by the United States—are enacting massive economic stimulus packages and taking a central role in promoting economic growth strategies. This reemergence of state-driven capitalism constitutes a "back to the future" investment paradigm, one that is consistent with a long and successful pattern of economic development. But once we get beyond the pothole patching and school repairing, what industries can be pushed forward using public seed capital or through Sematech-like consortiums? What must be brought to the fore is the need for a new growth path for the United States, one in which the state has a significant role. There are already indications that the private sector is beginning to adapt to this new, collaborative paradigm.

"What Happens if Germany Exits the Euro?"

Like marriage, membership in the eurozone is supposed to be a lifetime commitment, “for better or for worse.” But as we know, divorce does occur, even if the marriage was entered into with the best of intentions. And the recent turmoil in Europe has given rise to the idea that the euro itself might also be reversible, and that one or more countries might revert to a national currency. The prevailing thought has been that one of the weak periphery countries would be the first to call it a day. It may not, however, work out that way: suddenly, the biggest euro-skeptics in Europe are not the perfidious English but the Germans themselves.

"Banks Running Wild--The Subversion of Insurance by "Life Settlements" and Credit Default Swaps"

Oblivious to any lessons that might have been learned from the global financial mess it has created, Wall Street is looking for the next asset bubble. Perhaps in the market for death it has found a replacement for the collapsed markets in subprime mortgage–backed securities and credit default swaps (CDSs). Instead of making bets on the "death" of securities, this new product will allow investors to gamble on the death of human beings by purchasing "life settlements"--life insurance policies that the ill and elderly sell for cash. These policies will then be packaged together as bonds—securitized—and resold to investors, who will receive payouts when the people with the insurance die. In effect, just as the sale of a CDS creates a vested interest in financial calamity, here the act of securitizing life insurance policies creates huge financial incentives in favor of personal calamity. The authors of this Policy Note argue that this is a subversion--or an inversion--of insurance, and it raises important public policy issues: Should we allow the marketing of an instrument in which holders have a financial stake in death? More generally, should we allow the "innovation" of products that condone speculation under the guise of providing insurance?

A Century of National Park Conflict: Class, Geography, and the Changing Values of Conservation Discourse in Maine

Conservation interests have been promoting the creation of a national park in Maine’s North Woods for over one hundred years. Past park proposals featured Mt. Katahdin, the Allagash River, and the greater North Woods region, and each inspired fierce debate amongst Mainers. Most recently, Maine’s North Woods have been gripped by a fervent debate surrounding a proposal by Elliotsville Plantation, Inc. to create a small national park to the east of Baxter State Park. What can the national park controversies of northern Maine’s past teach us about the most recent debate? In northern Maine, the national park controversies played out predominantly along the lines of class and geography. Further, these social and geographic dynamics manifest through value conflicts that transcend mere economic concerns. However, economic development arguments increasingly dominate the public justifications of both park supporters and opponents, uniquely framing the current debate. The near-exclusive focus on economics in the most recent debate narrows both sides’ collective engagement with the more complex value dynamics that linger below the surface and in some ways carry over from the region’s historical park debates. Adam Auerbach is a 2016 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, where he studied environmental studies and American history. This piece is an abridged version of his honors thesis of the same title, available online at http://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/181/. He has held positions as an environmental educator in Colorado employed at Rocky Mountain National Park, Chatfield State Park, and Boulder County Parks and Open Space

"Toward True Health Care Reform: More Care, Less Insurance"

The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world, yet its system produces inferior outcomes relative to those in other countries. This brief examines the health care reform debate and argues that the basic structure of the health care system is unlikely to change, because “reform” measures actually promote the status quo. The authors believe that the fundamental problem facing the U.S. health care system is the unhealthy lifestyle of many Americans. They prefer to see a reduced role for private insurers and an increased role for government funding, along with greater public discussion of environmental and lifestyle factors. A Medicare buy-in (“public option”) for people under 65 would provide more cost control (by competing with private insurance), help to solve the problem of treatment denial based on preexisting conditions, expand the risk pool of patients, and enhance the global competitiveness of U.S. corporations—thus bringing the U.S. health care system closer to the “ideal” low-cost, universal (single-payer) insurance plan.

Catastrophe Testimony: Bearing Witness to the Epistemological, Existential and Moral Chasm Between Survivors and the World

Catastrophe testimony is the testimony of survivors of traumatic experiences involving deliberately inflicted physical and psychological violence. In this dissertation I examine the testimonies of survivors of rape, torture and imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. My objective is to explore how such testimonies bear witness to the epistemological, existential and moral chasm between survivors and the world - those who have no lived experience of being the victim of such catastrophic experiences. In Part One of the dissertation, I describe the origins and theme of the dissertation, and my overall aims. in Part Two i explore the epistemological chasm, reviewing the 'classical' reductionist and anti-reductionist accounts of belief justification and knowledge creation, and more recent epistemic-agent centred accounts, notably Inference to the Best Explanation and Virtue Epistemology. I find none of these 'informational' accounts can be adapted to permit the evaluation of non-propositional testimonial content. the epistemological chasm thus equates to that part of what is revealed by testifiers in their testimony which cannot be be justifiably believed or become known through the application of accepted epistemic rules and practices. In Part three of the dissertation I begin my exploration of the existential and moral chasm between survivors and the world with a discussion of memory and especially episodic memory. I then consider specifically the evaluation of catastrophe testimony primarily by psychologists and psychotherapists, and also by historians and socio-political theorists. Finally, in Part four, which is the core of the dissertation, I examine how selected survivors see themselves and judge the world through their testimonies, and also how societies, and specifically perpetrator societies ,respond to their findings. Parts Three and Four of the dissertation enable me to delineate the nature and extent of the existential and moral chasms between survivors and the world. I conclude that the epistemological, existential and moral chasm between survivors and the world is a matter that should continue to concern us, but not a problem which can be solved

Just How Testimonial, Epistemic, Or Correctable Is Testimonial Injustice?

This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this recordIn her book Epistemic Injustice: Power & the Ethics of Knowing, Miranda Frickerargues that there is a distinctly epistemic kind of injustice, which she calls testimonial injustice, resulting from identity-prejudicial credibility deficit – identity prejudic causing a hearer to give a deflated level of credibility to a speaker’s word. Sheargues that testimonial injustice is correctable through hearers developing a capacity for self-correcting for it within a virtue-epistemological framework. In this essay, I examine Fricker’s argument, and conclude that Fricker’s exposition of identity-prejudicial credibility deficit is sound, but that she has not demonstrated either that testimonial injustice is a distinctly testimonial phenomenon or that identity-prejudicial credibility deficit is a distinctly epistemic phenomenon, or how a virtue-epistemic framework might be successfully employed as a corrective methodology. I further suggest that her conception of testimony as distinctly evidential is too narrow to be applied to everyday instances of identity-prejudicial credibility deficit, and should be reconfigured within a broader framework

Method and apparatus for shadow aperture backscatter radiography (SABR) system and protocol

A shadow aperture backscatter radiography (SABR) system includes at least one penetrating radiation source for providing a penetrating radiation field, and at least one partially transmissive radiation detector, wherein the partially transmissive radiation detector is interposed between an object region to be interrogated and the radiation source. The partially transmissive radiation detector transmits a portion of the illumination radiation field. A shadow aperture having a plurality of radiation attenuating regions having apertures therebetween is disposed between the radiation source and the detector. The apertures provide illumination regions for the illumination radiation field to reach the object region, wherein backscattered radiation from the object is detected and generates an image by the detector in regions of the detector that are shadowed by the radiation attenuation regions