Author Archives: Bob Pierce, Jr.

Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry

From The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/japans-rent-a-family-industry

“Two years ago, Kazushige Nishida, a Tokyo salaryman in his sixties, started renting a part-time wife and daughter. His real wife had recently died. Six months before that, their daughter, who was twenty-two, had left home after an argument and never returned.

“I thought I was a strong person,” Nishida told me, when we met one night in February, at a restaurant near a train station in the suburbs. “But when you end up alone you feel very lonely.” Tall and slightly stooped, Nishida was wearing a suit and a gray tie. He had a deep voice and a gentle, self-deprecating demeanor.”

Wax Museum

Rory’s class will be hosting a “wax museum” of famous Californians.  Each student plays a role.  Who will Rory be?

Ronald Reagan

Gotta use some Reagan jokes.  Robert likes a few of these.

Econtalk: The High Cost of Cancer Drugs

Nice episode. Russ Roberts is talking with a very smart guy, seems to Robert Russ. Very restrained discussion that appreciates the complexity of the topic.

Can a life-saving drug be too expensive? What explains the high price of cancer drugs? Dr. Vincent Rajkumar of the Mayo Clinic talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the high price of cancer drugs–drugs that can cost an American with cancer $300,000 per year and require multiple years of treatment. Rajkumar explains how little a role market forces play in setting prices and what might be done to improve the situation.

 

The Desert 2018 (and Scary Mommy)