Russ Roberts again busts the myth that America’s middle-class has for decades stagnated economically. A slice:
But that doesn’t change what actually happened in the last three decades of the 20th century in the [Julia] Isaacs study: the children from the poorest families added more to their income than children from the richest families. That reality isn’t consistent with the standard pessimistic story that only the richest Americans have benefited from economic growth over the last 30–40 years. Or that only the richest Americans have gotten raises. The pessimistic story based on comparing snapshots of the economy at two different points in time misses the underlying dynamism of the American economy and does not accurately measure how workers at different places in the income distribution are doing over time.
Jonathan Turley laments the mob mentality that leads people to wish to persecute Senator Susan Collins for her ‘yes’ vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the United States Supreme Court. (HT Peter Minowitz) Here’s his concluding paragraph:
These professors and graduates are seeking to retroactively punish Susan Collins for reaching a conclusion different from their own. The professors denounced her for undermining the “crucial role of evidence based decision making in democratic processes” simply because she came to a different view of the evidence by using her once heralded independent judgment. These professors and students vividly demonstrate how power without principle is little more than a mob dressed up as a movement.
Phil Magness celebrates the color-blindness of the Sears catalog.
From August 2017 is this excellent video from Reason criticizing government subsidization of sports. (HT Dan Klein)
Alexander C. R. Hammond offers another installment in his Heroes of Progress.
Barry Brownstein shares wise advice.
Here’s David Henderson on Adam Smith’s case against imperialism.
John Brinkley reminds us of the burdens that Trump’s tariffs are forcing many Americans to suffer.
