Word: explainers
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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This article is designed to explain how to achieve the third answer to this perplexing problem by the use of the vague generality, the artful equivocation and the overpowering assumption...
...artful equivocation is an almost impossible concept to explain, but it is easy to demonstrate. Let us take our earlier typical examination question, "Did the philosphical beliefs of Hume represent the spirit of the age in which he lived?" The equivocator would answer it in this way: "Some people believe that David Hume was not necessarily a great philosopher because his thought was merely a reflection of conditions around him, colored by his own personality. Others, however, strongly support Hume's greatness on the ground that the force of his personality definitely affected the age in which he lived...
...Reduce the purchase of B-2 Stealth bombers from 132 to 75. But Cheney did not persuasively explain why the U.S. needs another expensive, as yet unproven strategic bomber at all when the Air Force already has the new B-1 bomber and the still reliable B-52. Moreover, in one of the traditional paradoxes of military procurement, slashing and stretching out the Stealth program will increase the per-plane cost from $530 million to $815 million...
Mammoth federal interest payments may help explain the strange politics of the federal deficit. Why have so many conservatives made their peace with it? The standard conspiracy theory is that they see the deficit as a way to hold down spending. But here is an alternative conspiracy theory: interest on the debt is a $179 billion social-welfare program for owners of capital, who tend to be conservatives. Or, at least, all those interest payments make the thought of the Government's going deeply into debt more acceptable to certain people than the alternative: that the Government might...
...lender. The share of all personal income that comes from interest payments has risen a quarter in the past decade -- from 12% to 15% (an estimated $688 billion in 1990). Dividends as well make up a slightly larger share than in 1980, wages a slightly smaller share. This helps explain all the figures showing that income inequality increased dramatically during the 1980s...