Economy

A water drop and ripples

Always consider the complexity of any large-scale public policy, like government-funded vaccines.

By Justin Katz | October 29, 2021 |

Conservatives tend to emphasize reliance on the market not because it is a white patriarchal system designed to funnel money to them (which is so comical widespread belief in that proposition should be sufficient evidence that young adults are being maleducated).  Rather, the value of the market is that it is an independent mechanism to…

An empty kitchen area

A Rhode Island rental owner has discovered that the law is only that which is enforced.

By Justin Katz | October 29, 2021 |

We’ve heard quite a bit about the terrors of eviction during the pandemic and the government-driven closure of our economy, and the talk tends to imply that people who own rental properties don’t need the money — as if the rentals merely contribute side cash to big piles in their basements.  That perspective has informed…

A water drop and ripples

Private sector jobs were down in RI in September, partly owing to health care workers.

By Justin Katz | October 21, 2021 |

The RI Department of Labor and Training has changed the way it reports monthly labor information. But one notable observation is that the number of payroll jobs based in Rhode Island actually fell from August to September.  Total jobs went up, however, owing to big increases in state and local government jobs. The industries that…

Apartment buildings

The evicted mother’s story reveals much more that our society needs work on.

By Justin Katz | October 21, 2021 |

One difficulty with assessing sympathetic stories associated with public policy debates (and the reason advocates actively seek and promote them) is that they short circuit rational discussion about tradeoffs.  The position of seeming to lack sympathy is so uncomfortable that the public debate leaves important details unraised and, typically, the villain is assigned to be…

An empty restaurant

You can’t think too hard with the progressive sales pitch.

By Justin Katz | October 20, 2021 |

It’s hard to know how much to debate an essay like Greg Brailsford’s on his site Uprise RI. The entire thing is stale propaganda.  It’s a sales pitch.  He’s selling you something.  You can see it in every sentence.  It jumps out even in a side note about how he caught COVID despite being fully vaccinated,…

Raimondo with Jack Reed and Jim Langevin

The news media continues to embarrass itself and sell us out for Raimondo.

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2021 |

What an embarrassing puff piece from the Associated Press and run by WPRI.  You know that old line about discomfiting the comfortable?  How about skepticism about the powerful?  Yeah, not so much.  Instead, one can only wonder whether Raimondo’s people slipped the writer, Josh Boak, cash or promises or he’s just a cheap date who…

A water drop and ripples

Modern medicine will keep doing what it does if we let it.

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2021 |

Such stories as this one are among the first things to come to mind every time our political system lurches left: Over a decade ago, UCLA physician-scientists began using a pioneering gene therapy they developed to treat children born with a rare and deadly immune system disorder. They now report that the effects of the…

Machine Elements by Fernand Leger

The McKee-Matos 2030 plan is doomed for disaster (if it isn’t just political fluff).

By Justin Katz | October 18, 2021 |

Given it all to do again, I’d probably have studied systems engineering in college.  I love plans and planning.  But I loathe self-described “plans” like Rhode Island 2030, still in draft form from the so-called McKee-Matos Administration. The duo claims that they “launched RI 2030 to craft a vision both for the state’s economic recover as…

A floor chart spanning the floor and walls

Economic Storm Clouds Around the Planet

By John Loughlin | October 16, 2021 |

Tony Lemonde of Senior’s Choice Rhode Island talks open enrollment, Joel Griffith from Heritage talks inflation, Dean Cheng of the Davis Institute talks Chinese economics, and Sal Mercogliano of Campbell University talks supply chain problems.

A container ship

Modern Oncology, Supply Chain Challenges, and Parents’ Lawsuit Against the Governor

By John Loughlin | October 2, 2021 |

John Loughlin interviews Dr. Tim Shafman, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Brent Sadler, and Rich Southwell of the Parents’ Union.