Sprinkling Reason Into an Ocean of Bulls**t
NPR published an article recently looking at the 2017 tax bill, passed along party lines by the GOP. I predicted back then, as well as most economists, that this tax cut was going to be a boon to already very wealthy people, and do little to nothing for most of the country. The article points... Continue Reading →
I was reading a post on MarginalRevolution.com about wind energy which talked about how unappealing wind energy can be. Wind turbine installation faces serious regulatory and permitting obstacles by several parties, which make them difficult to build. For example, from the post: "Bavaria decided back in 2014 that the distance between a wind turbine and... Continue Reading →
The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank has released data showing that the bottom 25% of workers are seeing faster wage raises: Source: Atlanta Fed This is presumably tracked so closely, as the nation has increasingly squeaked the wheel of low minimum wage in recent years. It appears as though the grease may be working. I should... Continue Reading →
I wondered recently whether we are culturally plateauing when it comes to holiday creation. I looked up a list of federal holidays observed in the U.S., and tried to find the date that they were first celebrated, at least informally: New Year's Day - 153 B.C. Thanksgiving - October 1621 President's Day (George Washington's Birthday)... Continue Reading →
Something I came across on the Census Bureau site: "Between 2010 and 2018, 1,481 (47.1 percent) counties gained population and 1,661 (52.9 percent) lost population." Under normal circumstances we would expect that natural birth rates would replenish the existing population, wherever they may be. For example, let's take a small county with 10,000 residents. Let's... Continue Reading →
Imagine for a moment that you leave your house and begin walking to the store. Today, you plan on giving an opinion to every person you meet along the way. Those are terrible shoes, boy on the corner. You have an ugly rat-dog, lady taking a walk. That looks like a five dollar haircut, random... Continue Reading →
I came across a post on MN DEED today, which said that MN exports dropped 2% in the third quarter 2019. My first reaction was that, of course, Minnesota is an agricultural exporter, and the ongoing trade war with China is having some effect on Minnesota farmers. The article goes on to say that during... Continue Reading →
Did you know that "hiatus" is a latin term meaning "gaping hole"? In a sense I feel as though as if this is true with my writing. My typical production style is to work in short, intense bursts. This style doesn't lend itself to long-term sustained predictable work, meaning there are periods of time which... Continue Reading →
At the center of the current cultural/political war lay a question which the public has yet to mediate: how large a role is the U.S. government supposed to play in our lives? The party norms which have traditionally guided the GOP, such as small government, seem to have fallen apart. The fierce cries from Republicans... Continue Reading →
The wave of support which evidently buttressed Trump's nomination and eventual election to the Presidency has often been called "a wave of populism". This term has a broad meaning and I would like to deconstruct its many uses to get at the center of what it actually means. Populism by definition appeals to "ordinary" voters... Continue Reading →
