One of the deadliest fires in American history happened on the night of May 28, 1977, at the Beverly Hills Supper Club outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. I wrote about this fire in my book because it was a case study in how groups behave in disasters. People struggled to stay with the people with whom they had arrived. The guests became largely passive and obedient, while the waiters and cooks did the vast majority of life saving. Darla McCollister, who had her wedding at the Club that night, was kind enough to share her…
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What makes Warren Buffett’s brain different?
I just got done talking to Greg Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University Medical Center. Fascinating guy, and he has a new book out called Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently. Worth a look. And by the way, when are we going to get some neuroeconomists working for the government--or for cable TV? These people understand how the brain makes decisions in times of anxiety. Turns out to be very different from what we might expect… More on that coming soon.…
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Here’s a story I wrote for Time.com about one reason why American voters did not back a bailout with the same fervor as American leaders. Putting aside the more important (and much harder) question of whether the bailout was a good idea, this is a case study in how we perceive risk.
Note to European politicians: If you want people to support a dubious legislative bailout, you have to get very specific and personal with the public.
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I was in the National Press Club lobby this afternoon when the news broke that the House had failed to pass the bail-out package. I sat there staring at the wall of TV monitors with a group of stunned reporters, no one sure what to do next. One screen showed the Congressional vote tally going up; the one next to it showed the Dow going down, down, down.
Despite the sense of foreboding in my office here in DC, I am still not convinced the bail-out package was the right response. The whole thing reminds me too much…
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My colleagues at Time, Karen Tumulty and Massimo Calabresi, have written a story that details what officials are afraid will happen without a bailout. Nicely done.
On Sept. 18, Paulson and Bernanke laid out the dark scenario for stunned-silent congressional leaders: a stock-market crash, businesses going under, unemployment soaring, consumers unable to get so much as a car loan, banks failing so fast that they would quickly drain the federal deposit insurance fund--and with it, countless people’s life savings. And unlike the chain reaction that came over the course of weeks and months in 1929, this…
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Listening to US officials warn of a fiscal crisis, I am struck by how much they sound like officials on the brink of a disaster or a terrorist attack. In both cases, the official instinct is to say less rather than more. This is a mistake.
We hear vague warnings of impending doom--but no details. We are expected to follow orders--and support a $700 billion bail-out package--without knowing what will happen if we don’t. And now the proposed bail-out plan is vague, too.
No one can predict the future. But it is obvious that Treasury Secretary…
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I’m headed up to NY on Thursday for the anniversary of 9/11. For reasons I don’t quite understand, I’d rather not be there on that day. Any other day but that one. I was living in Manhattan on 9/11, and I maintain a deep affection for the city. I love the train ride up, the happy-cup coffee I’ll get on the street when I arrive, the rush of consumption and conversation and humanity.
But to see it up close on that day is always a little raw. It’s hard to know what expression to put on your face.…
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I did a short piece for Time this week on the new book, The Obama Nation, by the guy who co-wrote the 2004 hit job on John Kerry, Unfit for Command. Both books were bestsellers.
I didn’t like it, I think it’s safe to say. Let me know if I was too subtle.
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