Year: 2014
The Unappreciated Virtues of Low Prices
Former Joe Biden chief economist Jared Bernstein has a piece up at PostEverything extolling the virtues of the $20/hour wage rate paid to McDonald’s employees — and other fast food workers — in Denmark. The base pay for a fast-food worker in Denmark is $20, and the pay package includes considerable non-wage benefits, including five… Read more
Back to the Borderlands
I guess I’ve been too busy to blog. My day job has hit a busy period, and it’s been using up most of my mental energy. And when I do have time to goof off, I’ve been filling it by playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The original Borderlands was kind of a half-assed project build around… Read more
The First Rule of Everyone
Much has been written about the so-called First Rule of Law Enforcement, “go home alive.” But this line by ExCop-LawStudent gets it exactly right: I believe in the First Rule of Law Enforcement, but I also believe that our citizens have that same right to go home at the end of their day. That is… Read more
What If We Eliminated Plea Bargaining?
Scott Greenfield is complaining about people who propose simplistic solutions to the ills that infest the criminal justice system. This time it’s the Economist, and their solution is the ever-popular one of eliminating the problems of plea bargaining by eliminating plea bargaining. Scott’s not happy with that for the usual reason criminal defense lawyers aren’t… Read more
Greg Laden Illustrates the Case For a Carbon Tax
Science blogger Greg Laden is having trouble figuring out whether or not to install a solar electric power system in his home. I want to put a solar panel on my roof so that I am releasing less greenhouse gas into the environment. But then I hear that manufacturing solar panels causes the release of… Read more