Stable Genius Liberal

Rand Paul, You Failed Econ 101. Supply, Demand and the Minimum Wage

Two decades ago, both coffee and water were virtually free. Starbucks raised the price of coffee dramatically, leading to every main street and corner in America offering Starbucks coffee at $2 or more per cup. Now you need to go to a government-subsidized McDonald’s or Walmart to get a cup of coffee for a buck. Over the same time period, pricey water in little bottles became ubiquitous.

I see no reason to believe that Senator Paul is actually concerned about unemployment when he opposes increases in the minimum wage. It’s just the best counter argument he has laying around.

Basic Economics Has a Liberal Bias

People to the left of econ 101 will typically invoke the phrase “political economy” to explain why, for example, econ 101 underrates labor unions. Conversely those to the right of econ 101 will instead invoke the phrase “public choice” to explain why, for example, econ 101 overrates utility regulation. But in both cases the critics are saying the same thing, namely that the moderately liberal policies advocated by introduction to economics textbooks are ignoring certain realities of institutional design, practical politics, power dynamics, etc.

That is 100% spot on. I just do not see how it fits in with his title. Maybe I am missing something but it reads like Yglesias is making the mistake of confusing economics with a morality play.

1.8 Million Definite Militia Members to March on DC, Install New Government #MotherJones

Harry Riley has a dream. On the morning of May 16, somewhere between 10 and 30 million (estimates vary) God-fearing patriots will assemble in Washington, DC, for what Riley, a retired Army colonel from the Florida panhandle, is calling “Operation American Spring.” They’ll protest outside the White House by day and set up in campgrounds and RV parks outside the city by night. They won’t leave until President Barack Obama, along with Attorney General Eric Holder and congressional leaders of both parties, resign and appear before a specially convened investigative tribunal for further disciplinary action—a polite version of a tea party coup. It’s not likely to happen—but two former Fox News personalities have endorsed the endeavor.

I doubt its more than a few hundred.

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View my latest photo on Flickr: http://flic.kr/u/RhFpf/aHsjRhwVtX robocop looks like Batman

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Obama and the NSA theweekmagazine: More editorial cartoons

2014 Gates Annual Letter: 3 Myths That Block Progress For The Poor

2014 Gates Annual Letter: 3 Myths
That Block Progress For The Poor

Bill Gates discusses global poverty. Well written. Worth a read.

The Undeserving Rich

conservatives seem fixated on the notion that poverty is basically the result of character problems among the poor. This may once have had a grain of truth to it, but for the past three decades and more the main obstacle facing the poor has been the lack of jobs paying decent wages. But the myth of the undeserving poor persists, and so does a counterpart myth, that of the deserving rich.

I’m waiting on the right wing responses to this. I’m guessing the same old crap about taxation and gubmint.

Derp Pirate Roberts

Mr. Green had “died of asphyxiation/heart rupture” while being tortured, nob explained. Dread Pirate Roberts replied that he found the images disturbing, but that he did not have any other choice.
“I just wish more people had some integrity,” D.P.R. wrote.

DPR was acting exactly how critics of far-right libertarians suggest people in his position would act.

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What Happens When the Poor Receive a Stipend?

What precisely did the income change? Ongoing interviews with both parents and children suggested one variable in particular. The money, which amounted to between one-third and one-quarter of poor families’ income at one point, seemed to improve parenting quality.

…

That “helps parents be better parents,” she said.

Turns out that giving poor people money helps then escape poverty.