Ben Bradley

This comes via Blackberry message to my Atlantic colleagues, whom I've asked please to post it. On my last reporting trip to rural China before our long-planned repatriation from Beijing to DC later this month, I discover that the place I am visiting has neither internet connections nor net cafes. For more on several outstanding topics, or if you sent me an email in the last, oh, year and wonder where it went, next time to stare at the inbox is maybe Monday US time… More »

Blue ribbon panels are great, just be sure you've got a Pabst Blue Ribbon panel to communicate outside the policy community. More »

If I had to make tough choices with a NASA budget, I'd make sure the scientific research continued, even if it meant canceling the human space flight projects. This is heresy to many at NASA, I know. More »

Once desired, suburban and ex-urban communities with cul-de-sacs, McMansions, and long commutes could be on their way to becoming the blighted and abandoned communities of tomorrow. More »

The impact of the recession continues to be extremely uneven by gender, race, class, and occupation. The April unemployment rate for whites was 8 percent compared to 11.3 percent for Hispanics, 15 percent for blacks, and 17.2 percent for black men. More »

One hopes the commission to investigate the causes of the current depression will devote more attention to formulating intelligent, constructive recommendations for reform than the 9/11 commission did. (It would be nice if we could occasionally learn from our mistakes.) More »

For all the naval-gazing done by us print guys about ourselves—namely the decline of newspapers amid catastrophic revenue declines—local broadcasters have been similarly creamed, even if they suffer with less attention. More »

The bailout worked. At a relatively modest, though by ordinary standards very large ($17 billion), cost to the government, the auto companies were kept out of bankruptcy until the acute psychological phase of the economic crisis had passed. More »

What cannot and should not be ignored is the ongoing epidemic of HIV/AIDS -- an epidemic that is as severe right here in the nation's capital and nearby Baltimore as it is in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa. More »

Restructuring Chrysler is a daunting task.By the end of this month, the automaker must persuade creditors to trim its massive debt, renegotiate how it will pay for the union's retiree health benefits, battle state franchise laws to quickly close dealerships and complete an alliance with Fiat. Otherwise, the government cuts off its loans.As Chrysler's deadline draws nearer, more and more analysts are doubting that the automaker has enough time to meet those targets. More »

It has now been twelve weeks since my administration began. And I think even our critics would agree that at the very least, we've been busy. In just under three months, we have responded to an extraordinary set of economic challenges with extraordinary action -- action that has been unprecedented in both its scale and its speed.I know that some have accused us of taking on too much at once. Others believe we haven't done enough. And many Americans are simply… More »