White Male Privilege

Mark Perry serves up this chart showing the income of American white men relative to female non-white women. 

Economics Is About The Unseen. Politics About the Seen

 Zaldy Dandan made this excellent observation

Economics is mostly about “that which is not seen.” In contrast, politics deals with “that which is seen,” and so, all around the world, when it comes to economic issues, many politicians are in favor of the “obvious”:

• Wages are low? Increase them.
• Prices and rents are high? Control them.
• Money should stay here so it can “circulate.”
• Exports good, imports bad.
• Trade deficits are bad.
• Raise taxes to collect more revenue.
• Natural disasters are good for the economy.
• People first before profit.
• “You didn’t build that!”
• “You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country.”
• Sincere, well-meaning, highly educated leaders with integrity and political will, a la Plato’s philosopher-king, can solve our economic problems through planning and legislation in close consultation with experts and scientists.

White Privilege

Clearly your income is influenced by your ethnicity. Just not as the media portrays it. 

Surprise. People flee high tax , low growth states.

Mark Perry furnishes this handy chart comparing states with the highest inbound migration to those with the highest outbound migration. As anyone who has taken Econ 101 could tell you, people move away from places with low growth, high taxes and other costs to places with high growth and low taxes. Yet the government states like NY, Illinois and California double down on the things that are driving people away from their states. Apparently they missed Econ 101. 

Sorry, Joe. Raising Tax Rates Will Not Generate More Revenue

Despite all the rhetoric from Democrats about raising tax rates to pay for this and that, it's just that. Rhetoric. Revenues are unaffected by changes in marginal rates for a very simple reason. People change their behavior when rates change. When rates fall, it doesn't pay you as much to try to avoid taxes. When rates increase, it does. 

Fracking Reduces CO2 Emissions

I wonder what started happening 15-20 years ago that would have caused this. It was about the time large scale fracking started producing large quantities of gas. But that can't be it. 

Democrats Say "The 1%" is Not Paying It's Fair Share?

 The 1% is just not paying it's "fair share", say Democrats. What, exactly, would be fair?

Want To Make Sure Your Child Doesn't End up Poor? Try Marriage.

 Percent of children who end up in poverty as adults:

Born to married parents            8%

Born to unmarried parents        27%

Doesn't this at least suggest a way to reduce poverty?

Third Party Payment Drives Up Health Care Costs

Mark Perry highlights the difference between the costs of healthcare that is paid for by third parties (Medicare, Medicaid, Private Insurance) and those paid for by the individuals receiving the services. 

Hospital services up 208% in ten years versus an average of 37% for services that you have to pay for yourself. Because the percentage of procedures that are third-party paid has risen dramatically, overall costs have increased. 

People are just more careful about how they spend their own money than how they spend other people's money. 

Only the US Will Experience Gains in Working Population

This will have a tremendous impact on the relative strength of the US economy in the world

Yes the Middle Class is Shrinking

 Yes, the middle class (of income) is shrinking. But it's not because people are getting poorer. 

A Little Historical Perspective on the "Deadly Virus"

 Sometimes it's helpful to get a little historical perspective on things when you're in the middle of what you think is a crisis. 

America's Fastest Growing New Industry: Diversity Administrators

The largest new industry in America? Diversity administrators. The University of Michigan alone pays 93 people over $11 million dollars. How many people could they educated for  $11MM?

But, then, I suppose all those people they churn out with "degrees" in racial studies or gender studies have to work somewhere.