1. 2012 in Charts, Congressional polarization, health care spending quickens, median incomes decline (NYT)
2. De-worming medication may kill biting bed bugs (NYT)
3. A writer claims that US Universities’ research output is useless by producing an example from Shakespeare (Bloomberg)
4. Stock returns grow in 2012, bond returns are unchanged, but isn’t that what bonds are supposed to do? (Bloomberg)
5. Why we drink champagne on new years (Bloomberg)
6. Gaijin language teachers sustain an 11 month strike and (amazingly) win (Japan Times)
7. Why capitalism is moving away from the market stifling, paternalistic conservatism(NYT)