Marc Comtois
Jennifer Rubin reports that “Al Sharpton announced that he would be opposing the EFCA and mobilizing the African American community against it.” Additionally, some of Sharpton’s concerns–and that of other African-Americans–were explained in a discussion on Sharpton’s radio show with African-American small-business owner Sylvester Smith and Charlie King of the National Action Network (the civil…
It’s not a stretch to say things are tough all over this year, worse than most. Yet, whether it’s good times or bad, the one constant is that we will see news stories detailing the annual end-of-year (ie; right around Christmas) Poverty Institute study aimed at tugging at our wallets heartstrings. (They alternate the publication…
Considering everything, Arne Duncan looks like a decent selection for Education Secretary. Dan Lips explains: Mr. Duncan is known as one of a handful of innovative, reform-minded big city schools chiefs. How that will translate to the national level remains to be seen. Conservatives should be heartened that Mr. Duncan recognizes the need for local…
In his most recent column, Ed Achorn cites information from Investors Business Daily, which states that “U.S. automakers pay their average worker just over $70 an hour in total compensation, compared with about $45 an hour for Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and other transplants.” However, the way the information is presented has led to some confusion.…
Driving into work and listening to NPR (yup, really) I heard this story about Obama’s nationwide “Change is Coming” house party meetup things (there were some in Rhode Island, too). My first thought was: “It’s the holiday season, and these people have no better way to spend their Sunday than regurgitating Obama talking points at…
One of President-elect Obama’s solutions to fighting poverty is to “raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011.” In their forthcoming book Minimum Wages, M.I.T. professor David Neumark and William L. Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board make the following conclusions (PDF): First, minimum wages reduce employment opportunities for less-skilled workers, especially those…
I’ve been preoccupied with several matters (work, family, volunteering) and have had little chance or time to ponder, much less post, about the news of the day and the like. It occurs to me that, to the regular (ie; non-political) person, this is the norm. There is plenty to worry about and deal with before…
As Justin points out, The Poverty Institute’s Kate Brewster seems to be basing much of her “more taxes, increase spending” argument on the work of Peter Orszag and Joseph Stiglitz. Brewster states that they’ve determined that “tax increases on high earners are less harmful than spending cuts.” True enough and plausible, but that isn’t exactly…
Seriously? A new mileage fee. The $150-million plan would not include it, but the $300-million plan would impose a half-cent-per-mile fee, raising an estimated $50 million per year. But officials said yesterday that they expect to eliminate the transfer of some sales tax revenue to the transportation system, proposed elsewhere in the report. Raising the…