Ponder This Chart: The share of US households making $100K or more (in 2016 dollars) has increased more than 3X over last 50 years, from 8.1% in 1967 to 27.7% last year. Middle class is disappearing, but into higher income groups. pic.twitter.com/kaht0mSwCy
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) November 15, 2017
The middle class is just withering away
16 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: top 1%
Ok for @amnestyOz to imply #Manusisland is a S***hole?
15 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in development economics, Economics of international refugee law, politics - Australia, politics - USA
You cannot criticise Trump and the Pacific solution to boat people coming to Australia at the same time? Both Trump and Amnesty International agree that certain developing countries are not very nice places to go to and the people there are rather rough and intolerant of outsiders.
Source: THIS IS BREAKING PEOPLE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AT AUSTRALIA’S ASYLUM SEEKER PROCESSING CENTRE ON MANUS ISLAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA by Amnesty International Australia at https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Amnesty_International_Manus_Island_report-1.pdf
Accurate start of 2017 prediction
14 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election
Can’t remember who said this of crooked Hillary
13 Jan 2018 2 Comments
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election
US-Mexico border wall faces tough Texas terrain
13 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, population economics, Public Choice Tags: economics of borders, economics of immigration, illegal immigration
How much do US state legislature members get paid?
10 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, politics - USA, Public Choice
Source: Ballotpedia at https://ballotpedia.org/Comparison_of_state_legislative_salaries
Note: the amounts below $1000 are expenses for daily attendance. Lower house pay is used.
Trigger warning American political junkies: most common political insults
08 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: political insults
Is political correctness why Trump won? – Unsafe Space Tour, Harvard
01 Jan 2018 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election, moral psychology, political correctness, political psychology, Steve Pinker
Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Presidential Hopeful: Ronald Reagan
28 Dec 2017 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: Ronald Reagan
#FightFor15 must have been an ambit claim?
24 Dec 2017 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, minimum wage, politics - USA
https://twitter.com/EconBizFin/status/626687442834300928
The fight for $15 movement in the minimum wage could not have been serious about doubling the minimum wage to $15.
Perhaps to their own surprise, they won despite living in what they say is an oligarchic political system dominated by the rich which keeps the poor poorer and poorer.
Why California’s #minimumwage will backfire, Part I: CA is business-hostile now@Mark_J_Perry goo.gl/7wbr14 https://t.co/y1pF4UGATK—
AEIdeas Blog (@AEIdeas) April 05, 2016
California, New York, San Francisco and Seattle are among the states and cities increasing their local minimum wages, currently of up to $12, to $15 by 2021 or 2022.
There is nothing special about minimum wages when it comes to mandating wage rises. If it is safe to double the minimum wage, it is safe to double everybody’s wage. That logic is undeniable.
The efficiency wage and inequality of bargaining power arguments that suggest that the wage rise will be paid out of employers’ profits are not special to minimum wage employers.
https://twitter.com/dylanmatt/status/720786520509165568
If minimum wage employers can handle a doubling of their labour costs, any employer can handle the doubling of the cost of employing any of their employees?
Some such as Arindrajit Dube say that these very large wage increases by cities and states in their federal system are experiments “worth running and monitoring” (Lane 2016). As Dube said recently:
“… 30 to 40 percent of the California workforce will get a raise … This will be a big experiment. It’s far outside of our evidence base… If you’re risk-averse, this would not be the scale at which to try things. On the other hand, if you think that wages are really low and they’ve been low for a really long time and we can afford to take some risks, doing things at this scale will get us more evidence” (Lee 2016).
Noah Smith (2016) concluded that the empirical literature on minimum wages suggests that a 10% minimum wage increase would reduce employment by about 2% so doubling the federal minimum wage would see the employment of young people go down by one-fifth. Smith (2016) said this is a
“small but real effect — a $15 federal minimum wage might throw a million kids out of work”.
You should remember that in the USA, if you lose your job, your unemployment insurance is time-limited.
Venn Diagram of the Day on the $15 Minimum Wage…… https://t.co/aANb26iShi—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) November 29, 2015
It is not like New Zealand where you can stay on the unemployment benefit forever if you are priced out of the market by a doubling of the minimum wage.
Since I was indirectly quoted in a WaPo op-ed on CA min wage, here's exactly what I wrote to Mr. Lane. (@tylercowen) https://t.co/Q326lgyvzz—
Arindrajit Dube (@arindube) March 31, 2016
What happens to minimum wage workers who lost their jobs because of the large minimum wage increase after their unemployment insurance runs out?
A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That Political Correctness Is a Menace and a Bore
23 Dec 2017 Leave a comment
in liberalism, politics - USA Tags: political correctness
The new corporate tax landscape
19 Dec 2017 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: company tax
West Wing 2:4 – Gun Control
18 Dec 2017 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - USA, television Tags: gun control, West Wing
Why did @SenSanders lie about the Canadian healthcare system?
17 Dec 2017 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - USA
Canadians report the longest waits of patients in 11 countries.
- 1 out of 5 Canadians reported waiting 7 or more days to see a family doctor the last time they needed medical attention.
- 1 out of 3 Canadians reported waiting 4 or more hours the last time they went to the emergency department.
- 1 of out 2 Canadians reported waiting 4 or more weeks to see a specialist.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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