Fri, Oct 20, 2017
Mr. Beat recites the President's cabinet positions along with the year each department was created, it's budget in people and dollars and the current office holder. Then he turns to the cabinet level positions followed by an honorable mention of a few of the hundreds of federal agencies.
Fri, Jan 19, 2018
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military defense alliance born of the Cold War that now (2017) consists of 29 countries including several from its formal rival Warsaw Pact. Mr. Beat explains NATOs history and notes the pros and cons of the organization as the value of its continued existence is debated.
Fri, Dec 7, 2018
In this opinion piece Mr. Beat contends the Electoral College is an anachronism born of compromise to ensure the continuance of slavery and prevent regional dominance in the early United States. After explaining how it currently works he itemizes the aspects he feels are unfair to voters.
Fri, Sep 18, 2020
Mr. Beat shares the many, many similarities between Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit. Michigan and the relatively few differences. Most significantly both cities were industrial powerhouses until the 1950s when manufacturing started moving to other countries. Both cities are now in recovery mode attracting technology companies with their low cost of living.
Fri, Aug 6, 2021
Governments are generally divided into two types; democracy and authoritarian. Both date back to the dawn civilization but democracies today are the most common type of government having recently displaced authoritarian oligarchies for the lead. There are several types of both democracies and authoritarian governments.
Fri, Aug 27, 2021
There are so many kinds of taxes that there are many categories to organize them; eleven categories by Mr. Beat's reckoning. But that not the whole story, different taxes may have different effects by being progressive of regressive or by discouraging behavior. And then there's the matter of tax exemptions.