Some web links I found to be of interest:
In his latest book, the author of The Black Swan says that forecasting and risk measurement do not work. Instead what is needed is the ability to benefit and grow from volatility, errors, and disorder. Similar to how bones need stress to become stronger, stressors are needed in politics and economics and eliminating them makes these systems weaker.
The British environmentalist Mark Lynas, an early figure in the fight against genetically modified organisms (GMO), now supports genetically modified food. He says: I discovered science, and in the process I hope I became a better environmentalist.
In recent years the cost of generating electricity has decreased while transmission and distribution costs have increased. And it looks like the trend will continue because of a decline in transmission infrastructure investment.
Different activities vary in how much of success depends on skill versus luck. In any case, statistical reasoning is hard.
After the Clinton tax surpluses, Republicans feared we would not have enough debt and the federal government would grow.
The big phone companies (AT&T and Verizon) collude with the big cable companies (Comcast and Time Warner) to limit competition between wireless phone and wired internet services.
Ezra Klein discusses with Janet Rosenbaum actual gun policy in Israel and Switzerland, both of which are often used to defend gun ownership in the United States but seemingly should not.
Both Democrats and Republicans receive obscene amounts of money, but more than determining who wins, it determines what gets discussed during campaigns and what the winner will do after being elected.