Quick Read

Adraien Van De Venne's Allegory of Poverty

How many weeks do you have to work?

By Justin Katz | March 9, 2023 |

Oren Cass’s analysis of the weeks required to support a middle-class lifestyle for American Compass raises some interesting points.  The study focuses on the income of men and shows that the combined cost of food, housing, health care, transportation, and education surpassed the median male income in the mid-’90s.  By 2022, that income was about…

A disintegrating apple in a child's hand

Education reforms are meaningless in RI unless they include accountability.

By Justin Katz | March 8, 2023 |

An omission in Asher Lehrer-Small’s recent article about reforms spearheaded by the state Department of Education puts a spotlight on the reason I’m skeptical and fear the changes are yet another cover-up of incompetence that will put Ocean State students even farther behind.  The reasonable hook is this head-scratching finding of a problem that should…

Meerkat tells a secret

Always ask how “good government” reforms affect access and influence.

By Justin Katz | March 7, 2023 |

Perhaps the most-challenging thing about good-government reforms is that, for the most part, we’re seeking to develop and implement them on the basis of a shallow political and organizational philosophy.  Consider legislation that would change Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA).  Some of the adjustments make sense, but I’m not so sure about…

A child with hands over face.

Funny, the difference in misinformation analysis of parents and labor unions.

By Justin Katz | March 6, 2023 |

If mainstream media analysts and college professors weren’t overwhelmingly true believers of the Left, they could find fertile ground for analysis and lessons in the interaction of media, labor unions, and parents when it comes to Rhode Island schools.  Case study 1 comes in the form of an article by Alexa Gagosz of the Boston Globe,…

Gustave Courbet's The Stormy Sea (The Wave)

Apocalyptic demands for funding are too cost free.

By Justin Katz | March 3, 2023 |

Sometimes the lack of response to statements — I mean just an ordinary, slightly skeptical response — is striking.  Here’s Warren Town Manager Kate Michaud asking the U.S. Senate to protect the town from an apocalyptic future: “The data analysis concluded that by the year 2100, three hundred and six of the area’s four hundred…

A mural on a highway bridge

Could it be that the status quo’s defenders just don’t get the economics?

By Justin Katz | March 2, 2023 |

University of Rhode Island Economics Professor Len Lardaro reminds us of the magic by which the state makes its employment numbers look good: To me, the apologists for the status quo are the scariest part. Saying, “Oh, don’t worry. People are just retiring,” completely misses the point. If Rhode Islanders are retiring, shouldn’t their jobs…

Potions and skull

Junk science in service of trans ideology is an assault on truth.

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2023 |

One of the ways in which our society has gotten to its current predicament is a combined corruption of and overreliance on science.  Contrary to those who treat it as a source of existential truth, science is merely a process for answering questions.  My preferred formulation is that it’s a way of coming to agreement…

Racial conflict fist as a green light

History suggests that now is the time to start speaking up in Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2023 |

A broad review of history suggests that the time to stop a dangerous social or political trend is when the changes being implemented are relatively minor and the concerns are arguably still hypothetical.  At that stage, the general value of cooperation can overcome the preferences of this or that faction.  As the factions disregard the…

Surveillance cameras on a pole

Providence’s mugging visitors is a dumb (but typical) thing to do.

By Justin Katz | February 7, 2023 |

Although the bit has probably been recycled many times, the easiest version to find is a scene from L.A. Story, with Steve Martin.  A street ATM has two lines:  On the right are people waiting to take out cash; on the left are people waiting for their turn to mug them.  As Martin walks away with his…

A message in a bottle at the beach

Rhode Island Republicans need a new policy strategy.

By Justin Katz | January 30, 2023 |

Two stories in the news recently have been nagging at me in combination over the past week.  The first is the Republican response to Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s State of the State address, as delivered by Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz.  Here’s the part that resonates particularly oddly: Where McKee called for cutting…