Opioid Overdoses Increase When Unemployment Rises
NBER paper links increase in unemployment to trebling in opioid deaths and increased emergency room visits over the 1999-2014 period.
Read more...Category Archives: The destruction of the middle class
Another Privatization Fail: 5 Things You Don’t Know About School Lunches (but Probably Should)
School lunches: yet another area where the privatization fairy has failed to perform a miracle and cut costs while raising standards.
Read more...Dean Baker: Social Security A Success Story- Can It Withstand Privatization Attacks?
Dean Baker discusses the push toward privatization of Social Security just after the system celebrates its 82nd birthday.
Read more...Data Scientist Cathy O’Neil: “Algorithms Are Opinions Embedded in Code”
On the real and present dangers of rule by algorithm, or as Lambert has called it, “code as law”.
Read more...“How to Run a Cheap Foreign Labor Economic Model”
An illustration of how the debate on globalization too often, mistakenly, fixates on labor costs as a driver of “competitiveness”.
Read more...Steve Bannon v. Blinkered Economists on “Free Trade”
Macroeconomists are making Steve Bannon look good.
Read more...Life’s a Pitch
Another sign of economic insecurity: the pitch economy, where competition becomes more and more degrading.
Read more...Another Way the Rich Preserve Their Advantage: Grade Inflation in Private Schools
Private school grade inflation is a small but nevertheless telling factor in how class mobility has fallen in the US.
Read more...How to Use Fiscal and Monetary Policy to Make Us Rich Again
On the obvious and high cost of abandoning fiscal policy in favor of monetary policy…save for asset owners.
Read more...Fiduciary Rule: Helps Not Hurts Wall Street, So Full Rescission Unlikely
WSJ says fiduciary rule helps Wall Street, so rescission unlikely. But still may be better for retail investors than previous status quo.
Read more...“The Changing of the Guard:” The Prescient 1980 Book That Foretold the Democrat Love Affair With Neoliberalism
How up and coming Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s decided being wannabe Republicans was a path to power.
Read more...The Opioid Crisis: Treating Root Causes of Addiction
Trump’s declared opioid crisis a national emergency; author Dr. Gabor Mate says effective policy would address the causes of addiction.
Read more...Is Skynet Really Coming After Jobs?
An Elon Musk tweet prompts a new round of debate over the risk of AI to jobs and social stability.
Read more...Flagging Productivity Growth – How Much Is Due to Bad Management?
Have management fads contributed to the fall in productivity growth?
Read more...Foxconn’s Con: Seeking Whopping Subsidies for Wisconsin, Michigan Manufacturing Jobs…If They Happen
What the dodgy Foxconn scheme to build factories in the US says about Trump’s commitment to job creation.
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