by Kenneth Thomas Guest Post: Is globalization good for America’s middle class? Part 2 In Part 1, I examined what economic theory has to say about the winners and losers from trade. The main conclusion is based on the Stolper-Samuelson Theorem: Because the United States is labor scarce in a global perspective, an expansion of […]
by Kenneth Thomas Is Globalization Good for America’s Middle Class? Part 1 In this blog, I have frequently documented economic trends that have been bad for the middle class: Declining real wages, steadily falling bang for the healthcare buck, stagnant educational attainment, the gigantic cost of tax havens, etc. With this post, I want to […]
by Kenneth Thomas New Report Highlights Flaws of North Carolina Mega-Incentives My new report for the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, Special Deals, Special Problems–An Analysis of North Carolina’s Legislature-Approved Economic Development Incentives, has just been published. It covers a range of issues I’ve emphasized here before as well as some basic considerations reporters […]
by Kenneth Thomas Guest post: Basics: How Overrepresented Are Rural and Low-Population States? We all kinda sorta know it: rural and small states are overrepresented in the Senate and, to a lesser extent, the Electoral College.This has deep roots in American history, of course: when the United States Constitution was drafted, small states demanded the […]
by Kenneth Thomas Romney to Replace Obamacare with…Essentially Nothing Tommy Christopher (via @rcooley123) at Mediaite has a good catch on Mitt Romney’s health care proposals, from an interview Romney gave to Mark Halperin of Time magazine. Asked what would happen to people with pre-existing conditions after he were to repeal Obamacare, Romney said: If people […]
by Kenneth Thomas Kabuki Theater Probably Won’t Shake Up NY Fed Via @MarkThoma, Simon Johnson reports that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has called (very diplomatically, of course) for JP Morgan Chase CEO to resign from his position with the New York Federal Reserve Bank in the wake of risk control failures that have already led […]
by Kenneth Thomas Another Romney/Bain Firm Got Subsidies (Then Closed a Plant) The Tampa Bay Times reports (via Jed Lewison) that another Bain-owned company, Dade Behring, was a recipient of $7.1 million in subsidies from Puerto Rico and the federal government the year before it laid off 300 workers there. A common problem with many […]
by Kenneth Thomas Leigh McIlvaine at Clawback reports that Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has vetoed SB 124, a bill that would have expanded the use of sales tax for tax increment financing of tourist projects under the Regional Tourism Act. While subsidy reformers in the state have so far been able to defeat sales tax […]
by Kenneth Thomas New York’s City Council passed a living wage ordinance On Monday, New York’s City Council passed a living wage ordinance, reports Good Jobs New York’s Bettina Damiani. The 45-5 vote means the Council can easily override a threatened veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (New York Post, May 1, via Nexis subscription service). […]
by Kenneth Thomas Whiny Apple Pioneered Avoidance Strategies, Books Fictional Tax Rates If you haven’t yet seen The New York Times article on Apple, go read it. I’ll wait. It’s a blockbuster. As I wrote last month, Apple whines about the fact that it has to pay taxes. But of course, it does much more […]