Politics & Current Affairs — December 12, 2011

American Recession Averted or Just Delayed?

A few months ago some said the U.S. was on the verge of a recession. Instead, the economy and efforts to renew stimulus are making headway. But for how much longer?

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

A few months ago pessimists predicted an imminent double-dip recession in the U.S. but instead the economy and stimulus renewal measures are making headway and the recent run of good economic data suggests the economy is growing at around a 2.5% rate, fast enough to create jobs for a growing population, but not fast enough to reduce unemployment.

What’s the Big Idea?

A stronger recovery probably would have started this year but for a run of bad luck: a post-Arab spring rise in oil prices, disruptions to global supply chains caused by Japan’s earthquake, and Europe’s deepening debt crisis. With the euro zone probably already in recession, America will struggle to keep up its modest growth next year. It could yet turn out that those forecasts of a seasonal recession were premature, not wrong.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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