The topic of income inequality has received a lot of media attention, primarily because it has been a feature of president Obama’s recent speeches, including this week’s State of the Union. It’s a shame, because as a metric it’s pretty lousy for both determining sound policy prescriptions and measuring their success. It’s easy to illustrate […]
Archives for January 2014
Who killed bipartisanship in Washington DC?
Democrat Patty Murray, one of my own senators, and Republican Paul Ryan showed some rare leadership in negotiating a bipartisan budget that passed both houses of congress in December. It was far from a perfect piece of legislation and it was done under duress. However, it provides an example of the sort of leadership Washington […]
Minimum wage raises hurt the poor and unemployed
Minimum wages are back in the headlines as a result of initiatives in states, proposals in some cities, as well as efforts by President Obama to raise the federal rate. The way to think about whether or not raising the minimum wage is a good idea is to consider who is supposed to benefit from […]