by Spencer England Last week Kevin Erdmann  at the idiosyncratic whisk blog published this chart to demonstrate how minimun wages have caused teen employment to suffer. It is an interesting chart, but it suffers from the sin of omitted variables. I constantly see similar charts from those opposing the minimum wage were they seem to […]

by Robert Waldmann Choosing sides not Sides Booman wants me to set up an account to comment at his tribune. Like hell. He debates John Sides about 2016. I want to pile on. Associate Professor of Political Science at George Washington University, John Sides, attempts to rebut Dan Balz’s fine analysis yesterday that the Republican […]

Via Economist’s View is Mark Thoma’s new column in Financial Times Why is the Recovery so Agonizingly Slow? Why is the Recovery so Agonizingly Slow?, by Mark Thoma: Friday’semployment report underscored just how slow the recovery from the Great Recession has been. When the recession officially ended in June of 2009 the unemployment rate stood at […]

Via Think Progress comes Alyssa Rosenberg’s comments on one lesson from the news of Chris Christie’s politics in NJ: What happened to people who were affected by the traffic closure was ridiculous. But a willingness to inflict ridiculous consequences on innocent people is actually a rather serious thing to do. People who want Chris Christie […]

Maggie Mahar at healthinsurance.org takes a look at stories easily fact checked in Anatomy of an Obamacare horror story For months, health reform’s opponents have been feasting on tales of Obamacare’s innocent victims – Americans who lost their insurance because it doesn’t comply with the ACA’s regulations, and now have to shell out more than […]

by Linda Beale Time to end redistribution upwards: minimum wage increases would boost economy and lift all boats. No matter how much the business lobby complains about the “business costs” of increasing the minimum wage, legislators should look past that self-serving ideology and look at reality.  Workers have contributed to increased productivity but received a […]

by Robert Waldmann, lifted from Stochastic Thoughts Ross Douthat may be a “total tool” Ross Douthat is such a tool. He starts with a case of a liberal threatened with rape. He argues ” it may be that the culture war cuts both ways” That may be an insinuation which relies entirely on what may […]