American - Writer | January 14, 1960 -
Kidney disease is a low-profile, unglamorous problem, a disease that disproportionately strikes minorities and the poor. Its celebrity spokesman is blue-collar comedian George Lopez, who received a kidney from his wife.
Virginia Postrel
WifeProblemPoorCelebrityDisease
Like Disneyland, luxury retailers have long had to figure out how to overcome customers' natural inertia. Unlike less pricey stores, they tend not to attract idle browsers who make impulse purchases.
LuxuryLongOvercomeIdleDisneyland
The intimate contest for self-command never ends, and lifetime happiness requires finding the right balance between present impulses and future well-being.
FutureHappinessBalancePresent
We know we need bosses and deadlines to help us get work done. But sometimes we can also use an external push to make us have a good time. In both cases, our future self will appreciate the help.
WorkGoodFutureTimeSelfPush
As a general rule, durable-goods production tends to be the most volatile sector of the economy. Since people usually have a stock of durables in use, when times get tight, they put off new purchases. What seem like small cutbacks to the end buyer translate into big swings for the producer.
PeopleSmallEndNewEconomyBig
As discomfiting as it is to both market optimists and policy activists, a certain amount of instability is inherent to the economy.
EconomyPolicyMarketInstability
The evergreen story of people in debt becomes even sexier in an economic downturn, when debts inevitably get harder to pay.
PeopleStoryDebtPayEconomicGet
If you default on your Visa bill, nobody comes to repossess your refrigerator or auction off your shoes. The biggest penalty you'll face is trouble getting future credit.
FutureShoesFaceCreditYouNobody
When credit is cheaper to use and easier to arrange, people do use more of it.
PeopleCreditMoreCheaperEasier
In a media culture, we not only judge strangers by how they look but by the images of how they look. So we want attractive pictures of our heroes and repulsive images of our enemies.
CultureJudgeMediaLookStrangers
In post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America, skeptical voters demand full disclosure of everything from candidates' finances to their medical records, and spin-savvy accounts of backstage machinations dominate political coverage.
MedicalPoliticalAmericaEverything
Like John Kennedy in 1960, Obama combines youth, vigor, and good looks with the promise of political change. Like Kennedy, he grew up in unusual circumstances that distance him from ordinary American life.
LifeChangeGoodYouthPolitical
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