Economy
This posting is Part I in a series of postings about economic thoughts. The excerpts in this posting are taken from Thomas Sowell’s book Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy and define what is economics. Chapter 1: What is Economics? Virtually everyone agrees on the importance of economics, but there is far less…
There are still many people who persist in propagating the myth that the Great Depression represented a failure of the capitalist system that could only be solved by active government intervention in the economy. Like all myths, the empirical data does not support that belief even as the belief has continued to reside in the…
Jon Coupal and Richard Rider have written Private and Public Sector Unions are not Equal, in which they say: …When government watchdogs ask reasonable questions about the wisdom of promising high pay and lavish pensions that are far above what is available to most private sector workers, union leaders accuse critics of being “anti-union.” In…
Follow along to understand the problem with the Marxist philosophy(*) espoused by Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Stephen Fortunato in Wednesday’s Projo. 1. Start in a place where Marxists and non-Marxists can find common ground. People get compensated differently for the work they do and there’s not always a strong correlation between some quantity like…
I have never understood the logic of the “living wage” argument, where certain organizations – like ACORN – seek to have government agencies mandate new and higher wage rates. Such people believe that higher wages must be realized and that they can only be achieved by government fiat, not by the ability of the market…
In an earlier posting, I introduced a book entitled The New New Left: How American Politics Works Today by Steven Malanga and a review of the book in the Claremont Review of Books. The core theme of the book was described by one reviewer as “American politics is not about [political] parties, it is about…
We frequently hear phrases like “the government should do something about that.” Do any of us really know what that phrase truly means? Moreover, do any of us really think the government is capable of doing something constructive about the numerous challenges across a society? (If so, why do most government programs fail to meet…
Earlier this week, Marc asked why Rhode Island’s casino proponents are taking such a convoluted route towards changing the state constitution to legalize gambling…Instead of writing a clean, concise line or two saying something like, oh, I don’t know….”gambling does not have to be state-operated”, we have this: “Approval of this amendment to the state…
Walter Williams, once again, cuts through all the political posturing about the rationale for lobbying reforms in his latest editorial: …Whatever actions Congress might take in the matter of lobbying are going to be just as disappointing in ending influence-peddling as their Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known as the McCain-Feingold bill. Before we…
Secretary of State candidate Guillaume de Ramel helps advance a point I began making at the end of last week (h/t RI Future)…I write today to strongly support legislation (2006 H 6718) that will incrementally increase the minimum wage in Rhode Island from $6.75 to $7.40 by January 1, 2007. Your committee members and House…