Sure, food stamps are occasionally misused, but anyone familiar with business knows that the abuse of food subsidies is far greater in the corporate suite. Every time an executive wines and dines a hot date on the corporate dime, the average taxpayer helps foot the bill.
Conservatives are, I think, correct to highlight family stability as a fundamental issue that goes to the welfare of children as much as food stamps or anything else.
I have a one-question language test that people who have lived abroad do better on than those who studied in a classroom. Try my test yourself: In a foreign language you've studied, how do you say 'doorknob'?
One of my frustrations is that we in society generally have this bifurcation in how we see the world. That's probably a little less true with business audiences, but in general, there tends to be this view that for-profit companies are greedy, and nonprofits are noble. It's absolutely more complicated than that.
You will be judged in years to come by how you responded to genocide on your watch.
In America, we have subsidized private jets, big banks and hedge fund managers. Wouldn't it make more sense to subsidize kids?
Too often, wealthy people born on third base blithely criticize the poor for failing to hit home runs. The advantaged sometimes perceive empathy as a sign of muddle-headed weakness rather than as a marker of civilization.
A few countries like Sri Lanka and Honduras have led the way in slashing maternal mortality.
At some point, extra incomes don't go to sate desires but to attempt to buy status through 'positional goods' - like the hottest car on the block. The problem is that there can only be one hottest car on the block.
However imperfectly, subsidies for the poor do actually reduce hunger, ease suffering and create opportunity, while subsidies for the rich result in more private jets and yachts. Would we rather subsidize opportunity or yachts? Which kind of subsidies deserve more scrutiny?
The north of the Central African Republic is now a war zone, with rival armed bands burning villages, kidnapping children, robbing travelers and killing people with impunity.
Random violence is incredibly infectious.
You don't need to invade a place or install a new government to help bring about a positive change.
The fact that people will pay you to talk to people and travel to interesting places and write about what intrigues you, I am just amazed by that.
Individual storytelling is incredibly powerful. We as journalists know intuitively what scientists of the brain are discovering through brain scans, which is that emotional stories tend to open the portals, and that once there's a connection made, people are more open to rational arguments.
Zimbabwe has far fewer tourists than South Africa or Kenya, and there's less crime as well.
Just a little help, a small security force, a bit of food, can save lives.
It's maddening in my travels to watch children dying simply because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Most of the villagers were hiding in the bush, where they were dying from bad water, malaria and malnutrition.
Above all, we want Millennials to realize that they can have an impact on the world and that, in the course of empowering others, they can also empower themselves.
