David Harsanyi writing in The Denver Post responds:
According to Nobel laureate and raconteur Paul Krugman, Gov. Scott Walker and “his backers” are attempting to “make Wisconsin — and eventually, America — less of a functioning democracy and more of a Third World-style oligarchy.”
Now, it’s common knowledge that throwing around loaded words […]
Archive for February, 2011
Feb28th2011
Feb25th2011
“This is actually a pretty big issue in labor relations. You have a situation where employers are paying much more for compensation, but it isn’t making workers feel better compensated. Probably the best argument against allowing collective bargaining for non-wage benefits is this: it reduces the transparency of the employer-employee bargain. […]
Feb24th2011
“The question for states and cities is not whether “collective bargaining” is a basic undeniable right, but how much union power in the public sector is too much. Progressives talk as though it can never be enough–or, at any rate, that no union privilege, once extended, should ever be withdrawn. Conservative […]
Feb23rd2011
David Friedman gives his solution:
Let the two sides agree that both will support any cut that either supports, and both will oppose any increased expenditure that either opposes. The Republicans get to cut any expenditure that they disapprove of, the President gets to cut any expenditure he disapproves of, and […]
Feb22nd2011
“Almost everyone on both sides of the debate uses the term “collective bargaining rights” to mean the right of a union to bargain with an employer who must, by law, bargain in good faith. It also includes the right of a union to negotiate even for employees who don’t want to […]
Feb18th2011
“When people like Paul Krugman say that almost $900 billion in stimulus didn’t work because it wasn’t big enough, you have to wonder if an adequate Keynesian stimulus is even possible. Could any government anywhere borrow 15% of GDP or more to spend on temporary measures with the blessing of their […]
Feb17th2011
So far, from what I have read, it’s this guy. Seriously.
Feb16th2011
For the record, I support Obama’s plan to reduce the mortgage interest deduction for the wealthy:
As the part of the new budget, the personal itemized deduction phaseout would be re-instated for high-earning individuals. The phaseout is pretty complex, and essentially means that itemized deductions are phased-out at higher income levels. (I am […]
Feb9th2011
The Associate Press reports:
WASHINGTON – Electronic flaws weren’t to blame for the reports of sudden, unintended acceleration that led to the recall of thousands of Toyota vehicles, the government said Tuesday.
Some of the acceleration cases could have been caused by mechanical defects — sticking accelerator pedals and gas pedals that can become […]
Feb7th2011
Neal Gabler, writing in this months American Prospect gives a poignant view of presidents past:
Every president, whether he says so explicitly or not, approaches the presidency with a metaphor in mind. Theodore Roosevelt thought of his as a “bully pulpit” from which to educate the public. Franklin D. Roosevelt seemed to think […]
Feb4th2011
Their similarities:
The parallels are obvious: In both fields (1) we have systematically suppressed normal market forces; (2) the entity that pays the bill is usually separate from the beneficiaries of the spending; (3) providers of the services see the payers, not the beneficiaries, as their real customers and often shape their […]
Feb3rd2011
“The typical person in the top 5 percent of the Indian population, for example, makes the same as or less than the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American population. That’s right: America’s poorest are, on average, richer than India’s richest — extravagant Mumbai mansions notwithstanding.” — Catherine […]
Feb2nd2011
George Mason University economics professor explains:
Along the horizontal axis are within-country income percentiles running from the bottom 5% (1st ventile) to the top 5% (20th ventile). Along the vertical axis are world income percentiles.
The graph shows that the bottom 5% of Brazilians are among the poorest people in the world but the top 5% are […]
Feb1st2011
The Left vs Right Economic Model (aka Europe vs United States model)
Published by in Discrimination, Economics, Europe, Hispanics (Minority Issues), Inequality, Personal and Taxes. 6 CommentsMy good friend Jon asked an important question: why not prefer the European economic model vs the United States economic model? I didn’t want to bog down his comments section with a long response, so I thought I’d post my longer response here.
Basically, there are two paradigms, two “visions” of an economy. The first, is […]
