The Sunday edition of the New York Times ran a long piece on social safety net programs. There are a lot of gems in it, and I would recommend reading the whole thing. With that said, I was troubled by one aspect of the article. In parts of the piece, the author talks about financing… Continue reading Confusion about old-age entitlement programs
Frustrations with traditional journalism
More and more I turn to political blogs to find interesting information, data, and analysis — not newspapers. There are many reasons for this: blogs are more targeted to the issue areas I track, they are often shorter, and their analysis is usually deeper. On top of all of that, the way journalists are taught… Continue reading Frustrations with traditional journalism
Corporate taxes at record low, profit margins at record high
The right-wing canard that corporations are buckling under high corporate taxes has always been misleading. Although the U.S. has a 35% corporate tax rate, few if any corporations actually pay that statutory rate. In reality, the United States has the second lowest ratio of corporate tax revenues to GDP in the entire 34-country OECD. In… Continue reading Corporate taxes at record low, profit margins at record high
Reclaiming John Locke from libertarians
Libertarians have long been partial to what they believe to be John Locke’s theory of property. On first glance, this is understandable: the snippets of John Locke that are most often taught seem very libertarian in nature. In his Second Treatise of Government, Locke ostensibly argues that when an individual mixes their labor with an… Continue reading Reclaiming John Locke from libertarians
Perhaps class consciousness exists after all
Leftists of all stripes have historically seized upon a romanticized notion of class consciousness. Campaigners, theorists, and supporters talk about the working class as having unified interests and a consciousness that tends towards resistance of bosses and the wealthy. Identity politics of various sort smashed through this simplistic notion on the left. Identitarians pointed out… Continue reading Perhaps class consciousness exists after all