Assorted Links for the day

Let's start the day out on some climate-change related causality. There's this article in the times of India which quotes a breakthrough study which claims that the antarctic ice cap was created by decreasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere some 34M years ago. More evidence that CO2 helps warm the planet. Another article to throw at the face of the so called 'climate change skeptics' - not that they know how to read...

Here's an article on various socio-economic indicators in the USA. Note how the median household wage falls in the bush terms, but goes up in the Clinton terms? Looks like this is giving some ammunition to the progressive side of the asile - considering that the per-capita income went up in the bush years, but the median household income did not. What does that mean? The rich have become richer, while the poor have not.

Of course, let me add my standard disclaimer. Americans are plenty rich anyway, and I think that they must reduce their average household income if they want to reduce their ecological footprint - that's the most sure-shot way to do it. But this must happen across the board, not just the poorest of the poor.

India's Child labor dilemma. Ought Indians be stopped from employing young children as domestic help, or will these kids just die of hunger if their employment halts? Is there something to be said for regulating the child labor market. Ought sweatshops be cheered? (Al-la-Nicholas Kristof).