Category Archives: Economics and the like

It’s Not My Business

It should come as no surprise — though it should shock anyone with any decency — that the Tea Party fanatics would applaud the idea of letting the uninsured die: ‘Let Him Die’: Tea Party Debate Audience Cheers This is … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Economics and the like, Health Care and Related Issues | 17 Comments

Social Security: Not A Ponzi Scheme

[This is adapted from a comment I left at Ethics Alarms.] According to the Congressional Budget Office, “under current law, the resources dedicated to financing [Social Security] over the next 75 years fall short of the benefits that will be … Continue reading

Posted in crossposted on TADA, Economics and the like | 2 Comments

Who Wants to Live Forever?

Now this looks interesting…. For those who are unable to watch the trailer, the set-up for In Time is simple enough. In a world set twenty minutes into the future, people no longer have to age beyond a physical 25. … Continue reading

Posted in Economics and the like | 6 Comments

Dudley Clendinen on dying and on choosing not to extend his life

Writer Dudley Clendinen is dying of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or “Lou” as he calls it. He’s written an excellent short essay about the experience of dying, and on his decision to not extend his life. Here’s a sample from his … Continue reading

Posted in Health Care and Related Issues | 6 Comments

What Is The Constitutional Option On The Debt Ceiling, And Why Democrats Should Use It

The budget negotiations have reached an impasse; Republicans are demanding huge budget cuts without any significant revenue increases, or they’ll refuse to raise the debt ceiling, with disastrous consequences: In a letter sent to every member of Congress, Geithner said … Continue reading

Posted in crossposted on TADA, Economics and the like, In the news | 11 Comments

Wanna Support Marriage? End The Drug War. Fight Unemployment.

[Crossposted on Family Scholars Blog.] As an unintended consequence of participating in so many arguments about marriage equality, I’ve read a lot of work by so-called marriage advocates. Although on the subject of same-sex marriage I haven’t found their arguments … Continue reading

Posted in crossposted on TADA, Economics and the like, Families structures, divorce, etc, Prisons and Justice and Police | 30 Comments

Quote: When X and Y Always Turn Out To Be Mutually Recognizable

From Matt over at Bleeding Heart Libertarians: Carden claims to be motivated by a concern for the poor. His commitment to free market, his post suggests, is a product of his belief that free markets serve the interests of the … Continue reading

Posted in Economics and the like | 3 Comments

Computer Decides That The 4th Circuit Will Decide In Favor Of Individual Mandate

In other news, a computer’s random selection of judges — two Obama appointees and a Clinton appointee — has pretty much guaranteed that the 4th circuit court will say that the individual mandate is constitutional. (Our judiciary is now so … Continue reading

Posted in crossposted on TADA, Health Care and Related Issues, In the news | 45 Comments

Where the debt came from.

From The Great Debt Shift, from the non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts: In January 2001, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected under a current law baseline that the federal government would erase its debt in 2006. By 2011, the U.S. government … Continue reading

Posted in Economics and the like | Comments Off on Where the debt came from.

The Least of These

You know, I’m awfully hard on Republicans, but maybe I shouldn’t be. After all, they’re coming up with some unbelievably creative, out-of-the-box solutions to the many problems we face. Take government waste. Decadent coastal liberals like me like to point … Continue reading

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Economics and the like | 23 Comments