When you are in the discourse for as long as I have been, you start to spot certain patterns of discursive behavior. One such pattern is that groups of people who are loosely affiliated in some way will create and then reinforce myths and misinterpretations about individuals and institutions that don’t make any sense. What’s… Continue reading Alarmgate
Response to Douthat on Two-Parent Families
Ross Douthat had a response to my response to the various promotional pieces about Melissa Kearney’s new book. Douthat’s response is generally OK but, in addition to clarifying my point, I do want to respond to one part of Douthat’s piece here, as he says something that has been annoying me for a while but… Continue reading Response to Douthat on Two-Parent Families
Doing the Marriage Thing Again
Melissa Kearney is promoting a book where she dares to speak a truth that nobody else is brave enough to say: marriage and two-parent families are very good. So stigmatized is this view that in the last three days alone, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post (twice) have featured pieces promoting… Continue reading Doing the Marriage Thing Again
Oliver Anthony and Distributive Justice
It seems like everyone in the country is talking about this song from Oliver Anthony. The song contains a few lines about the distribution of income that most of the commentary has focused on. I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day Overtime hours for bullshit pay … ‘Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s… Continue reading Oliver Anthony and Distributive Justice
Winship’s Mental Block on Taxes
Late last year, I laid out in a very clear way why universal benefits cost less than means-tested benefits and why people who think otherwise are simply getting mixed up in accounting definitions rather than dealing with economic realities. In the first part of this argument, I iterate through three successive policies that go like… Continue reading Winship’s Mental Block on Taxes