As regular readers know by now, I am fairly skeptical of the Education Reform Movement. I am not convinced that the reforms advocated by this well-funded movement will actually work because I suspect that the real problem is economic inequality, not bad schools or bad teachers. But even if one believed that the policies pushed… Continue reading Education reform will not fix poverty or inequality
Left-neoliberalism in a nutshell
I use the phrase left-neoliberal from time to time but never bother explaining it. Given that my posts explaining different philosophical approaches to economic and political issues have proven more popular than I expected, I figure that readers might appreciate a brief post on the details of left-neoliberalism. Like the rest of the left, left-neoliberals… Continue reading Left-neoliberalism in a nutshell
On procedural and distributive justice (part 2/2)
Continued from part one. Distributive Justice Unlike procedural justice, distributive justice concerns itself with the distribution of goods within society, not the process of how those goods are distributed. Like procedural justice, distributive justice has right-wing and left-wing forms. On the right, distributive justice primarily takes the form of desert theory: society ought to be… Continue reading On procedural and distributive justice (part 2/2)
On procedural and distributive justice (part 1/2)
Generally, when people categorize economic and political philosophies, they do so according to a left-right spectrum. Writers group all of the philosophical arguments that tend towards right-wing conclusions together, and then do the same for philosophies that tend towards left-wing conclusions. Although helpful for some purposes, those actually interested in the philosophical moves in economic… Continue reading On procedural and distributive justice (part 1/2)
The 1% captured 93% of income gains in 2010
Mike Konczal has a post about the updated Piketty-Saez data on the distribution of income in the United States. According to the Piketty-Saez estimates, the top 1% of income-earners captured 93% of income gains in 2010. In more simple terms, 93% of the extra income generated by economic growth in 2010 went to the top… Continue reading The 1% captured 93% of income gains in 2010