Economy

Fictional movie poster for Day of Reckoning

Politics This Week: Day of Reckoning!

By Justin Katz | March 18, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz explore who can expect days of reckoning in Rhode Island.

Suburban house with a slot machine on the side

We react to increases in housing prices in exactly the wrong way.

By Justin Katz | February 28, 2024 |

Lance Lambert, who appears to be a reporter on the housing beat, shared a table of increases in housing prices in the 50 largest metro areas.  As the following snip from the table shows, Providence experienced the third-largest increase over the past year: Various contextual points are important to remember.  Metros can vary in size,…

A water drop and ripples

The cause of the young-adult suicide drop is less important than the cause of its resumption.

By Justin Katz | February 24, 2024 |

Armand Domalewski asks an important question, when he observes a quick decrease in teen and young adult suicide after 1994, which held until about 2008 and in 2017 exceeded its previous high: The more important question, though, is what has been happening since 2007/2008. Having graduated high school in 1993, I’d speculate that the drop…

Men discuss box of garbage in a dark shop

People who want to think for themselves are not the target of national Democrats’ talking points.

By Justin Katz | February 15, 2024 |

Among my frustrations with social media in recent years has been the way my streams become filled with content in which I have minimal interest — like Democrat propaganda — because people share it in disbelief.  The frustration is primarily with the realization that people apparently believe in completely incompatible realities, which is what motivates…

A water drop and ripples

We’re in desperate need of basic economic lessons around here.

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2024 |

Economically illiterate activists are laying the groundwork to make housing harder to find, and make life worse, in Rhode Island: This is how economics works.  The rent goes up to reflect the real value of the property.  Other property owners see the value of their space and reconsider their usage. For example, instead of renovating…

An old man contemplates a pit expanding to consume a city

Politics This Week: Distracted by Disaster

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz lament the lack of focus on the basics in RI government and media.

A water drop and ripples

Wind farm problems show the danger of progress without a unifying belief.

By Justin Katz | January 5, 2024 |

Politicians have forced people in the Northeast to invest heavily in wind energy by means of our electric bills and taxes, and more problems are appearing: The linked article is worth reading: Equinor, along with its joint venture partner BP, has agreed with NYSERDA to cancel the contract for the project, citing rising costs due…

A man freaks out about a plastic bag in a tree in an urban park

Short memories and an urge to dictate have brought Rhode Island a plastic bag ban.

By Justin Katz | January 5, 2024 |

Honestly, I expected the COVID experience to put an end to the high-school-civics-project of banning single-use plastic bags, but stores’ bag dispensers now sit empty, and Rhode Islanders have another reason to lean toward shopping in Massachusetts or online. In Rhode Island, our legislators have a chronic difficulty understanding consequences and the availability of alternatives. …

The RI State House in the middle of a plantation

A recipient society produces the government plantation.

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2024 |

So much of Rhode Island’s predicament can be explained by incentives.  People who rely on government for their prosperity, for instance, have a great deal of incentive to manipulate the processes thereof, whereas our community lacks institutions with incentive to counterbalance them politically.  Something similar and related — though much broader on a social scale…

Dan McKee as a cartoon fantasy knight

Politics This Week: Living the Fantasies of the Powerful

By Justin Katz | December 27, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss various fantasies of the ruling class in RI and the U.S.