The New York Times has proved once again that it is a reliable font of economic ignorance.
This time, it’s through an op-ed piece titled “A More Perfect Union,” by a lady named Ruth Milkman, whose credentials in economics are that she is a “sociologist” and “director of U.C.L.A.’s Institute of Industrial Relations and a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.”
Pride may goeth before the fall, but with politicians like George W. Bush, far too much time separates the pride part from the fall part. The damage that he has wrought in this country and the world goes beyond accurate enumeration – most of it made possible because he has been able to use 9-11 as his grand excuse to pose as God’s sword to smite his political enemies at home and abroad. He should have slunk away after 9-11, having failed miserably in his primary duty, but instead he used a crisis for personal and governmental aggrandizement. That’s the pride part.
Pro-market movies seem atypical for Hollywood, and a thoughtful summer blockbuster seems almost an oxymoron. So when Batman Begins opened to praise not only from film critics but also free-market thinkers, the impossible appeared suddenly possible. Upon further reflection, however, claims that a pop culture outreach tool for market-based ideas has arrived wither away when compared to evidence to the contrary.
Before anyone gets hysterical about China buying up “our” industries, have a look at this nice piece from the Christian Science Monitor. (Not that anyone should be hysterical if the numbers were reversed!)
People often complain that there are not enough ‘honest’ politicians. One lawmaker in New York has demonstrated the reason why honest politicians do not necessarily enjoy the greatest popularity—politicians have little if any real regard for their constituency!
Assemblyman Willis Stephens says he thought he was sending the e-mail to an aide. Instead, he sent the note to nearly 300 people on an online discussion group that focuses on the community of Brewster. The message included the comment that he was “just watching the idiots pontificate.”
Aeon Skoble, editor of Reason Papers, makes this announcement today:
