Category Archives: Economy

Differentiation: A Job Growth Policy

Posted on February 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

When filling a position in an organization, the hiring manager is looking to find the best candidate for the job.  She is not looking for the most deserving candidate for the job.  Neither is she looking to even some perceived ratio of some undeserved population.  That is, maybe there are fewer long haired hippies in the corporate American culture than in the general American culture; it’s not the job of the manager to correct that woe.

Rather, she is looking for the candidate best suited for the job.  And to that end, she can, and should use, any tool or “discriminator” she has at her disposal.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Idiots on Parade, Life

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Bill O’Reilly: Wrong On Gas Prices

Posted on February 27, 2012 | 10 comments

 

Bill O’Reilly has launched a pretty big offensive regarding the price of gasoline.  He’s been on air several times extolling the administration to get ahead of the situation and take a leadership role.  Personally, I’m not sure that Obama has  had much influence on the price of gasoline today.  Prices are high today not because of supply and demand, policies where Obama is clearly wrong, but because of the tension in the Middle East.  Specifically with Iran.

Given the nature of the world market there is no wonder that gasoline prices are going up.  And fast.

But O’Reilly loses me on his solutions.

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Posted in Economy, Energy, Government, Liberty, Politics: International, Politics: National, Republicans Can Be Leftists Too

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Cars Are Not Airplanes And Other Things That Are True

Posted on February 26, 2012 | 7 comments

So, I have to tell you how hard it was to resist the temptation to go down the obvious post title on this one.

It was really really hard.

There, now ya know.

But really, cars and airplanes are not strictly the same thing.  And, for that matter, neither is the making of cars and the flying of airplanes the same thing either.  However, companies that make cars and companies that fly airplanes ARE kinda the same.  Same in enough ways that they make for useful comparisons.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Elections 2012, Government, Politics: National

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Are You Smarter Than A Three Year Old: Inequality and fairness

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 5 comments

It’s no secret Obama is going to bang the “It’s not fair” drum this election.  Hell, he’s been bangin’ it since LAST election.  He’s continually calling for the rich to “pay their fair share.”  He can’t rub two speeches together without mentioning that everyone should play by the same rules.  Even more, he continues to claim that the richest among us have been doing exceptionally well in the economy while the rest of us are seeing wages stagnate for the last 30 years.

Don’t forget that it isn’t true:

 The claim that the standard of living of middle Americans has stagnated over the past generation is common. An accompanying assertion is that virtually all income growth over the past three decades bypassed middle America and accrued almost entirely to the rich.

The findings reported here—and summarized in Chart 8—refute those claims.  Careful analysis shows that the incomes of most types of middle American households have increased substantially over the past three decades.

So if it isn’t true, why does Obama continue to bang this drum?

Because he thinks that we think it’s true.

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Posted in Economy, GINI, Middle Class, Politics: National

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Unemployment Benefits: Incentives Matter

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 4 comments

I’ve argued time and time again that incentives matter.  And why people think this wouldn’t apply to the incentive not to work is beyond me.  But now there is evidence of just how strong that incentive is: via Dan Mitchell

The extension of UI [unemployment insurance] is found to have a positive and significant impact on the national unemployment rate…. The UI benefit extensions that have occurred between the summer of 2008 and the end of 2010 are estimated to have had a cumulative effect of raising the unemployment rate by .77 to 1.54 percentage points.

That seems pretty significant to me.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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Wages, Middle Class And Stagnation

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 1 comment

I’ve been aware, politically aware, since about 2006 or 2007.  That’s when an interesting tidbit caught my attention:

The 2008 Presidential election would be the first in a long time where neither a sitting President or Vice President would be running.

The race would be wide open.  I began to  pay attention, and I was hooked.  And since then I have heard a steady dull roar about the fading middle class.  I’ve heard that the richest among us have been getting richer while the rest of us have experienced wages that remain flat.

The world would have us believe that for most of us, wages have experienced stagnation.

Is it true?

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Middle Class, Politics: National

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Michigan Tax Policy: Reducing Rates Expanding The Base

Posted on February 9, 2012 | 2 comments

It doesn’t matter who’s doin’ the takin’.  If your property is being confiscated even as you grow it, you are going to either quit working so hard to make more property, hide that property better or move to a place where that property won’t be confiscated.

The fact that the government is taking that property doesn’t matter; at some point people just reach a limit and slow down.

So what happens when the confiscation stops?  Growth occurs.  Witness Michigan.

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Posted in Economy, Politics: National

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Youth, Labor, Recessions and Minimum Wages

Posted on February 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

One of the most frustrating aspects of being conservative is that it’s too easy for the other side to fall back on a “you hate X” where X is any group that you are really, in fact, trying to assist.

An easy example to consider is a school child and her homework.

When I was a teacher I could very easily “give” the student an A on her blank homework.  However, I felt that it would do her more good in the short term, the long term and in other character building aspects if she actually worked for and earned that grade.

In today’s liberal dialogue, I would be said to “hate kids”.  Or, if the individual liberal were truly on his game he could claim that I “hate girls”.

Silly example?  Perhaps.  But consider modern day minimum wage laws.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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Federal Workers: Overpaid Compared to Private Employees

Posted on February 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

It used to be that taking a government job meant that you sacrificed some on the salary side but gained some on the “job for life” side.  Safe career but lower pay.

We’re not seeing that any longer.

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Posted in Economy, Government

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Obama Job Creation: How It Ends

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 2 comments

For those of you not gifted with my humor; this is funny.

 

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Posted in Economy, Fun

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