Paul Krugman has generated quite a bit of buzz with two recent blog posts (I, II). In the posts, Krugman notes that labor’s share of income has recently been falling, and that this throws cold water on the usual education story. If the gains of productivity increasingly go to capital, then what matters is not… Continue reading Inequality, education, and predistribution
Author: Matt Bruenig
Some musings about freedom and right-to-shirk laws
So I already wrote about right-to-shirk (aka right-to-work) laws, and made the basic freedom of contract argument. By its functional operation, right-to-shirk laws prevent two parties (a union and an employer) from agreeing to certain terms. I am not actually interested in the argument itself; I just raise it to mock the hypocrisy of libertarians… Continue reading Some musings about freedom and right-to-shirk laws
Nicholas Kristof is an irresponsible moron
I had the extreme displeasure of reading Kristof’s long Sunday piece on out-of-control rural Kentuckian welfare cheats. According to some random person Kristof met in Kentucky, a bunch of people there try to make their kids really stupid and illiterate so that they can claim them as disabled and collect mountains of government cash. And… Continue reading Nicholas Kristof is an irresponsible moron
Note on Community Reinvestment Act
It is easy to forget, but when the financial crisis first hit, there was a pet theory being floated out by conservatives that this was all caused by the Community Reinvestment Act. The Community Reinvestment Act prevents certain banks from using redlining and other racially discriminatory lending practices. Not surprisingly, conservatives have never been big… Continue reading Note on Community Reinvestment Act
Bryan Caplan argues against property ownership
I know it is low-hanging fruit, but I found myself really tickled at a recent post from Bryan Caplan. So Bryan Caplan doesn’t care about poor people and doesn’t think people should have to “give” to them. He also thinks that we should allow immigration because not doing so would hurt poor people. This seems… Continue reading Bryan Caplan argues against property ownership