A great number of students in the United States take on debt when they attend university. This upsets many, and so ideas about how to eliminate student debt altogether have proliferated. Here I summarize the main ones, argue in favor of a universal income-based repayment scheme, and raise some objections to equity financing schemes. 1.… Continue reading A survey of student debt elimination ideas
Author: Matt Bruenig
US social mobility in one chart
The excellent Pew Economic Mobility Project is out with its latest numbers on US social mobility. This chart sums up the current state of US social mobility the best: For those unacquainted with the terminology, the chart reads like this: The left column details the eventual economic outcomes of children born into the bottom 20%… Continue reading US social mobility in one chart
Liberal equality is inevitable, so what now?
This post originally appeared on Oklahomans for Reproductive Justice. At this point, it seems like liberal equality for GLBTQ individuals is virtually inevitable. The long-run Gallup polling on public opinion towards gay marriage has shown a gradual — and more recently punctuated — increase in support. Support for gay marriage is up in all demographic… Continue reading Liberal equality is inevitable, so what now?
Workplace coercion and the capability approach
I wrote about the recent blog battle concerning workplace coercion and libertarianism in a prior post. My take is that all discussions of procedural liberty devolve into meaninglessness up against the reality of scarcity. So long as scarcity is real — and it is — liberty-infringing coercion is literally impossible to avoid. Therefore, those who… Continue reading Workplace coercion and the capability approach
The explosive LIBOR scandal
Of all the bank malfeasance that surfaced in the last decade, the LIBOR scandal developing in the UK right now dwarfs them all. In essence, a number of banks conspired to manipulate interest rates in order to make certain financial positions pay off. I worry that the level of abstraction involved here is so great… Continue reading The explosive LIBOR scandal