Debating Meritocracy

Attacking ‘merit’ in the name of ‘equity’ is a prescription for mediocrity

George F. Will observes:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/25/attacking-merit-prescription-mediocrity/
“A meritocratic society has less discord than a society that abandons meritocratic principles. Equity, pursued through government-driven allocation of social rewards, drenches society with bitter distributional conflicts because wealth and opportunity are allocated by political power according to shifting standards contested by competing factions. Allowing the market to articulate preferences, without seeking to decide — who will decide who the deciders are? — the preferences’ moral worth, promotes domestic tranquility”.

Meritocracy, Not Democracy, Is the Golden Ticket to Growth

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-16/china-knows-that-meritocracy-is-the-key-to-boosting-economic-growth

The Perils of Meritocracy
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-10-27/mervyn-king-on-the-perils-of-meritocracy 

Vaccination Debate - Legal and Social Issues

Vaccine Mandates Are Lawful, Effective and Based on Rock-Solid Science
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccine-mandates-are-lawful-effective-and-based-on-rock-solid-science/
 
‘Breakthrough’ Infections Do Not Mean COVID Vaccines Are Failing
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/breakthrough-infections-do-not-mean-covid-vaccines-are-failing/

HIPAA, the health privacy law that’s more limited than you think, explained
https://www.vox.com/recode/22363011/hipaa-not-hippa-explained-health-privacy
 
What is the HIPAA Privacy Rule? A health law scholar explains
https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-hipaa-privacy-rule-a-health-law-scholar-explains-164925 

The Anti-vaccine Con Job Is Becoming Untenable
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/vaccine-refusers-dont-want-blue-americas-respect/619627/
What is going on here? Sociology suggests that pundits and policy makers have been looking at vaccine refusal all wrong: It’s not an individual problem, but a social one. …
Pandemics, by definition, are collective problems. They propagate and kill because people live in communities. As a result, addressing pandemics requires understanding interpersonal dynamics—not just what promotes trust among people, but which behaviors convey status or lead to ostracism. …
In Missouri and other red states, vaccine refusal on partisan grounds has become a defining marker of community affiliation. Acceptance within some circles is contingent on refusal to cooperate with the Biden administration’s public-health campaign. Getting vaccinated is a betrayal of that group norm, and those who get the shot can legitimately fear losing their job or incurring the wrath of their families and other reference groups.

Require the vaccine. It’s time to stop coddling the reckless.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/30/require-vaccine-its-time-stop-coddling-reckless/ 

Comparing Healthcare Systems

Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-Income Countries
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2021/aug/mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly
 
Related:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/05/global-health-rankings/ 

Pandemic's Impact on Business Travel

Will business travel ever be the same?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/08/04/business-travel-recovery-pandemic/

India’s Religious Kaleidoscope

Among India's Believers
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pew-india-survey-religious-tolerance-and-segregation-by-shashi-tharoor-2021-08
A recent nationwide, multi-faith public-opinion survey has found that Indians value both religious tolerance and co-existence, on the one hand, and religious exclusivity and segregation, on the other. But this apparent contradiction, although astonishing to many, is in fact not entirely surprising. 

Politics and Policies

The eviction moratorium exacerbates America’s institutional disarray
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/04/eviction-moratorium-exacerbated-americas-institutional-disarray/
 
Americans have had it with vaccine refusers and anti-mandate politicians
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/04/americans-have-had-it-with-vaccine-refusers-anti-mandate-pols/ 

Student Loans - A Debt Trap

A Crimson Tide of Debt
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/public-universities-debt/619546/
Instead of propelling students into the middle class, many public institutions such as the University of Alabama are leaving them saddled with large loans. 

How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe by Josh Mitchell
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/books/review/the-debt-trap-josh-mitchell.html