Economy

Clothes display in a retail store

Psst, Democrats: the key to higher wages is a strong economy and domestic workforce.

By Justin Katz | July 15, 2021 |

Of course, then government can’t take direct credit for handing out money. Newsmax reports that employers across the country are thrilled to be finding teens willing to take entry-level jobs: As the U.S. economy bounds back with unexpected speed from the pandemic recession and customer demand intensifies, high school-age kids are filling jobs that older workers…

For Hire sign

Seasonally adjusted employment shouldn’t be going down in Rhode Island, but it is.

By Justin Katz | July 15, 2021 |

As you see headlines today and tomorrow about how Rhode Island’s unemployment rate went down a tenth of a percentage point, keep this in mind, from an RI Dept. of Labor and Training press release just out this morning: The number of employed Rhode Island residents was 506,600, down 500 from May. Last June there…

Richard August & Derek Amey on State of the State

State of the State: Is Inflation Coming?

By Richard August | July 14, 2021 |

With money flooding the economy at the same time supply channels are struggling to meet demand, the public is having to become familiar with concepts like inflation and modern monetary policy.

Vincent Van Gogh Tree Roots

Elorza’s view of poverty perfectly encapsulates progressives’ error.

By Justin Katz | July 14, 2021 |

No doubt many smart progressives would spot Democrat Mayor of Providence Jorge Elorza’s error in thinking, but this statement, as quoted on GoLocalProv, perfectly summarizes the progressive approach to policy: “If there’s one thing that causes poverty, it’s the lack of money,” said Elorza of the program that is currently funded through private donations —…

SpaceX launch

Billionaires’ toys are an encouraging advance, not a travesty of privilege.

By Justin Katz | July 12, 2021 |

In a time of cultivated resentment (and leaving as a separate question whether something in our system is unjustly permitting individuals to collect monopolistic billions), we should take this as a leading edge toward the future: Two billionaires are putting everything on the line this month to ride their own rockets into space. It’s intended…

Chart of extreme poverty since 1850

Private aid is great, but freedom is better.

By Justin Katz | July 8, 2021 |

Rachel Sharrett’s essay for the American Institute for Economic Research on the advantages of using private charity to help the disadvantaged is an interesting read, but the eye-catcher comes at the end.  Explaining the chart used for the featured image of this post, Sharrett writes: The bottom line is, aid has never been and will…

Bankrate's map of best states to retire

RI’s surprisingly good ranking for retirement raises important considerations.

By Justin Katz | July 7, 2021 |

Bankrate has published its “The best and worst states for retirement 2021” and as indicated in the featured image of this post (if you look closely), Rhode Island does pretty… not terribly, coming in at twentieth among the fifty states. As is often the case with these more-broadly-construed rankings, the key conclusions are to be…

Black man reviewing business trends

A public-private partnership focused on businesses by race is inherently destructive.

By Justin Katz | July 7, 2021 |

Attitudes may be changing rapidly on this (or at least the mainstream narrative may be), but the partnership between the administration of Governor Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Foundation focusing on minority-owned businesses is destructive to our state.  From an RI Foundation press release by Chris Barnett (emphasis added): “Supporting and growing our small…

American flag in a field at sunset

A reminder of America’s value to the huddled masses on Independence Day.

By Justin Katz | July 3, 2021 |

If you’re interested in some good Independence Day listening that reminds you indirectly of the innate goodness of the American project, give a listen to Russ Roberts’s interview of University of Chicago Economist Bruce Meyer, who specializes in the study of poverty.  As the episode summary says, the “conversation also addresses broader challenges around measuring…

Map of payday lending rates by state

Beware overconfidence that the morality of issues like payday lending is obvious.

By Justin Katz | July 2, 2021 |

The map used for the featured image of this post comes from an article by Ian Donnis for The Public’s Radio titled, “As some states clamp down, Rhode Island still embraces payday lending with the equivalent of a triple-digit interest rate.” The implied opinion behind the headline pretty well sums up the framing of the issue…