The President and leaders in Congress have been bandying about different ideas for reforming Medicare and Social Security. As one might expect in a deficit reduction showdown, these ideas uniformly seek to reduce the costs of the programs for the federal government. Of course, any time a politician or commentator mentions reducing the costs of… Continue reading The race and class dynamics of old age entitlement programs
Author: Matt Bruenig
Unemployed still suffering with nowhere to turn
Despite the two-year anniversary of the official end of the latest recession, around 14 million people are still unemployed, and the unemployment rate is at a staggering 9.2 percent. With the last couple of months having been monopolized by the high-stakes debt-ceiling theatre, this particular problem has been completely neglected with the exception of a… Continue reading Unemployed still suffering with nowhere to turn
The market is a distortion
Commentators and politicians of more conservative persuasions often criticize certain behaviors that they label as “market distortions.” Regulations, government spending, and progressive taxation are all said to distort the market because they change the economic incentives of certain behaviors. For instance, imposing fines on firms that dump poison into rivers distorts the market because if… Continue reading The market is a distortion
Education reformers are making teaching less attractive
Dana Goldstein has a worthwhile article on Slate today about the widespread breakout of cheating in schools that have adopted high-stakes testing models. These evaluation models — which are championed by the newest crop of education reformers — are plagued by a long list of conceptual and empirical problems, some of which I have detailed… Continue reading Education reformers are making teaching less attractive
The anti-libertarian nature of right-to-work laws
Right-wing libertarians tend to have a hostile relationship with organized labor. Labor unions have a long history of endorsing socialism, communism, and anarchism, all philosophies that libertarian capitalists vehemently oppose. Unions are also, by their very nature, collectivist organizations that primarily act to move the equilibrium price for labor higher than it would otherwise be.… Continue reading The anti-libertarian nature of right-to-work laws