Earlier this week, The Heritage Foundation released a report purporting to detail the costs of granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants. This report set off a flurry of wonky debates, with both conservative and liberal commentators criticizing the methodology and assumptions used by the report’s authors. The discussion that sprung up around this report followed the… Continue reading Why discussions of government benefits are so wrong
Author: Matt Bruenig
Policy Shop: College Grads Take Bad Jobs That Once Went to Non-College Workers
New post at Policy Shop. Excerpt: This is not because all of the jobs being created in the wake of the recession are those that require college-degreed workers. In fact, around 44 percent of the job growth last month came in the retail and hospitality/leisure sectors, sectors traditionally open to those without a college education.… Continue reading Policy Shop: College Grads Take Bad Jobs That Once Went to Non-College Workers
Some MOOC points
I enjoy the MOOC debates. It is one of the few topics that causes very smart people to make arguments that they would laugh away were someone to make them in other contexts. Being personally involved or affected by an issue will do that to you I guess. As I’ve written before, I don’t really… Continue reading Some MOOC points
Policy Shop: The Oregon Medicaid Success
New post at Policy Shop. Excerpt: The second theory is that Medicaid is uniquely inferior among health insurance plans, and that is what causes it to be ineffectual. The right-wing has been pursuing this theory for a while, claiming that the low reimbursement rates in Medicaid basically make it inoperative as insurance because providers do… Continue reading Policy Shop: The Oregon Medicaid Success
Youth debt levels falling
There is a story out there that young people are facing escalating levels of debt. The student debt crowd is specifically fond of this story. But it isn’t so. The above graph comes from a recent Fed report that primarily set off a swarm of discussion about mortgages and car loans. More interesting to me… Continue reading Youth debt levels falling