The “Big Government” Mythology

How Big Is the Federal Government?

The federal government is larger than conventional budget measures suggest. Many tax preferences are effectively spending programs. Adding these spending-like tax preferences to federal outlays and receipts makes the government appear about 4 percent of GDP larger. The 1986 tax reform cut these benefits, but they have since rebounded to a larger share of GDP than before. Using this broader meas...

Big pharma and the UK Government.

15 Wellcome Trust. Death of a serviceman: will a study of a 50-year old death help us safeguard medical ethics in these troubled times? 18 Page WF. Long-term health effects of exposures to sarin and other anticholinesterase chemical warfare agents. Elevated frequency of sister chromatid exchanges of lymphocytes in sarin-exposed victims of the Tokyo disaster 3 years after the event. 21 Abou-Doni...

The Philosophy of Mythology

The Plant in the Mythology

Plants played an important role in the mythology of Baltic tribes. The plants are mentioned in the sources of religion and mythology, mythological sagas, fairytales, proverbs, believes and magical rituals. In the written sources the worshiping of natural objects as well as phenomenons (sky-lights, earth, fire, water, thunder, plants, animals and even rocks) are often mentioned. The worshipings ...

The Mythology of Game Theory

Non-cooperative game theory is at its heart a theory of cognition, specifically a theory of how decisions are made. Game theory's leverage is that we can design different payoffs, settings, player arrays, action possibilities, and information structures, and that these differences lead to different strategies, outcomes, and equilibria. It is well-known that, in experimental settings, people do ...