Over at In These Times, United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard has an opinion piece in which he purports to explain "Why the GOP Really Fears Minimum-Wage Hikes." Republicans in America suffer a crippling anxiety. It’s the terrible fear of corporations paying poor workers too much. I don't have any special claim to understanding why Republicans do the things they do, but … [Read more...] about An Argument From Envy
Economics
Plenty of Blame to Go Around for the National Debt
I spotted this awful meme image on Facebook, from the Being Liberal page:Aside from the poor grammar and gratuitous attention-getting reference to 9/11, its implications about the history of our national debt are just plain wrong. On 9/11 we were attacked. Immediately after military expenditures doubled. Do you recall the Bush administration seeking added taxes or … [Read more...] about Plenty of Blame to Go Around for the National Debt
Poor Ain’t Stupid
Poor people get a bad rap.I'm not talking about accusations of welfare fraud, and I don't just mean politicians who call them "moochers" and "takers." I'm talking about the people who think that if they were born poor, they could do better. They believe most poor people could move into the middle class if they just had a better work ethic and made smarter decisions. You … [Read more...] about Poor Ain’t Stupid
Sequestration — Bring It On
I've been reading President Obama's helpful guide to the things that sequestration will force the goverment to cut (the link is to the Illinois version) and I've realized that most of the cuts from sequestration fall into two categories:The first category consists of cuts that would be pretty damned awesome:...Illinois will lose about $587,000 in Justice Assistance … [Read more...] about Sequestration — Bring It On
Obama Wins, Markets Do Something
It's easy to make fun of "up-down" financial market reporting, which is why I do it. Every day, some poor fool pretends to understand why thousands of investors made millions of of decisions about billions of dollars and boil it down to a single cause, such as "profit taking," "hunting for bargains," or "declining investor confidence in the wake of yesterday's Treasury … [Read more...] about Obama Wins, Markets Do Something