The minimum wage is in the news, so here’s an interesting chart from the Federal Reserve. Source: Minneapolis Fed Since the minimum-wage law is in the news, it’s useful that the Minneapolis Fed provides a handy map that shows the various laws in place in the 50 states. For more, see the articles, “Not all minimum wage jobs are created equal. The cover story of […]
Democrats love to slam Republicans for promoting “risky schemes” to privatize Social Security, even when the Republicans in question have no power over the program. The people who make these charges must believe that they resonate with enough of the population to make a difference. And I suspect they’re right. To be sure, investments in the stock market (which is to say, American companies that employ […]
Here are a few things on unemployment that I’ve been saving up. First, Anthony Randazzo reminds us that hard cases make for bad policy. He sympathizes with a relative of his in the Detroit metro who has been unemployed for a long time. At the same time, he opposes extending the period for which people can collect unemployment insurance. (At some point–perhaps we’ve already reached […]
I’ve been meaning to write some things about outsourcing, or as it is sometimes called these days, off-shoring. I’ve also resisted doing so. One reason: it’s not exactly an issue of state-level policy, which I focus on here. There are plenty of other things to keep me occupied. Another reason: there’s not much that can be done about it. Sure, states can make symbolic gestures–no […]