Can We Talk About Something Else Now?
“We might, as the protesters I heard on the radio, remember that other things matter too, that one type of risk must be balanced by the harms of another, that risk-mitigating policies be proportionate to the damage, that few things warrant the wholesale closing of commerce and civil society.” ~ Joakim Book
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Let the Unemployment Benefits Expire
“The bottom line is that everyone needs to take a deep breath and let the unemployment insurance expansions expire. People, sensible adults that they are, will then naturally return to their lives and jobs.” ~ Vernonique de Rugy
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On Shocking Job Losses, the Worst May Be Over (Video)
Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the coronavirus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their workforces. Here I join Karen Tso, Steve Sedgwick, and Julianna Tatelbaum from CNBC “Street Signs” to discuss the U.S. economy.
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Peter Navarro Has Got to Go
To Navarro, the answer to every question is always and everywhere erecting barriers to the production of others. To say he amazingly believes something is to pretend a lot of thinking informs what he says. Probably not.
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The Unthinkable Cruelty and Inhumanity of the Coerced Shutdown
While the 350 laid off oyster workers will likely receive very little severance, along with no assurance of future employment, those in the employ of the federal government get paid for all of their time off, health benefits, seniority income gains, you name it
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Labor Unions, RIP
“Beaucoup de trafic!” the Uber driver sighed with exasperation, looking at me in the back seat via the rear view mirror. I nodded and shrugged; before arriving in Paris early this week, I had been warned about la grève — the widespread strikes in respo …
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Microsoft Saw What a Four-Day Workweek Can Do
One of the most groundbreaking characteristics of a developed economy is the freedom entrepreneurs and firms have to develop their companies as they see fit. It was precisely this freedom that allowed Henry Ford to experiment with the 40-hour workweek …
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How to Ask for a Raise
If you want to renegotiate and ask for different terms, that should be seen as just doing business. If it works, great. If it does not, you have to choose whether to stay.
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Maybe Bosses Do Wear Bunny Slippers
There are some clear advantages to the gig economy, for both workers who have specialized skills and for companies trying to remain small and nimble.
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The Job Guarantee Strikes Back
Economist John Miller of Wheaton College wrote a sharp critique this week of my work on the job guarantee. I was pleased to see it. In nearly five months, Miller is the first economist on the left to respond on the basis of economics rather than retreating to blanket declarations that job-guarantee opponents are either nefarious or uninformed.
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The Labor Shortage Is Acute in Many Industries
The data alone tell the story no one wants to hear. Continued economic growth does not so much allow as require the inclusion – indeed the expansion – of the number of undocumented immigrants on American employment rolls.
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The Downsides and Dangers of Mission Making
Mission making turns economic decision-making into a political conflict of interest groups possessing bargaining power in the halls of government to determine what gets done, in what ways, and for whose benefit.
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