The Wall Street Journal‘s Editorial Board digs into the October jobs numbers. A slice:
Vaccine mandates won’t help. And neither will other government disincentives to work, including the $300 monthly child allowances, sweetened food stamps and ObamaCare subsidies. The latter are especially generous for seniors and may have encouraged more to retire before they qualify for Medicare. The St. Louis Federal Reserve recently estimated that there have been three million “excess” retirements during the pandemic.
Democrats are trying to expand these benefits, which will slow the labor-market recovery and economic growth. President Biden would have a better economy to boast about if his $4 trillion spending bill is defeated.
Robby Soave writes about the media’s illiberal reaction to “Let’s go Brandon!”
John Cochrane is rightly grumpy about wokeness.
David Henderson shares his excellent letter to the Carmel Pine Cone.
Ilya Somin proposes that November 7th be “Victims of Communism Day.”
My GMU Econ colleague Vincent Geloso reports on research that finds evidence that J.M. Keynes was indeed correct to predict a great increase in leisure time. Here’s Vincent’s conclusion:
Those who have lambasted Keynes for his prediction share the common pessimistic trait of our age, which consists in believing that we are not so much better off than our ancestors. In reality, when one takes the time to consider the multiple dimensions of what constitutes human well-being just as Crafts did, it is hard not to engage in hyperboles such as “We are infinitely better off than our close ancestors.” Yet, these hyperboles are not far off and Keynes understood at least that.
James Pethokoukis asks if we really need to worry about the inequality impact of superentrepreneurs.
