Today I'm reprising a talk I did last year with Professor Elizabeth Robison's Sociology class. We'll be discussing a brief history of agriculture and food production in the U.S. Key points are how the capital requirements, political dynamics, and technology developments have combined to make food production anything but the success story free market advocates … Continue reading Big Ag, Big Food, and the Commons -revisited
CompSys
Big Food, Big Gov, Little People
Note: These are my notes from my presentation/discussion at the LCC Centre for Engaged Inclusion today and also for use in my Comparative Systems class. If embedded slides don't display, use this link to download or open in new tab: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mBMlzdxBwCIqJ7hPlQ-P-Co59AyYJ55eol53Avj40JM/edit?usp=sharing
Caring for Children Is Caring for the Economy
I'll be speaking next week, May 9, to the Arizona Directors Symposium, a professional development symposium for directors, managers, and others involved in early childhood education and early childcare. I'll be speaking about the macroeconomics of early childcare. The slides are posted below here (you can download the file if you click on the little … Continue reading Caring for Children Is Caring for the Economy
Data and Visualization Resources for Incomes and Inequality
Posting links to two incredibly useful resources for students and people doing research on incomes, income distribution, and income inequality. These resources are useful for both historical data and visualizations as well as cross-country comparisons. The first is the World Top Incomes Database from the Paris School of Economics. Many thanks to the Paris School … Continue reading Data and Visualization Resources for Incomes and Inequality
So Who Pays For the Government and How?
I've always found putting things in historical perspective and looking at the long-term trend of things usually illuminates a lot of policy discussions. It's easier to see "what's really happening" if you look at the long-term trend. Taxes, tax rates, and the government budget are often hot topics of policy debate. So is the future … Continue reading So Who Pays For the Government and How?
Why SS Is Not “Broke” And How The Trust Fund Works
For at least two decades the "very serious people" in Washington have insisted that the Social Security system is "broke". They've been screaming "bankrupt, bankrupt I tell you!" for so long that unfortunately an entire generation of young people and even middle aged workers are convinced that Social Security won't be there for them when … Continue reading Why SS Is Not “Broke” And How The Trust Fund Works
Myth Busting the Fears of Social Security and Medicare Insolvency
On April 1, 2015 I'm presenting at the Area Agency on Aging 1-B sixth annual Judith J. Wahlberg Lecture. I'll be taking another whack at these zombie ideas that Social Security and/or Medicare are unsustainable, that they're going BANKRUPT, and that we must cut benefits now to prevent cutting benefits later. As you can tell, … Continue reading Myth Busting the Fears of Social Security and Medicare Insolvency
China, Growth, and the Weakness of Real GDP
Sara Hsu asks if All Growth is Good? The Case of China. Of course, not all growth is good. It makes little difference, whether it's economic or human tissue growth. Edward Abbey famously wrote that "growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell". Obesity is another form of high-growth, yet it … Continue reading China, Growth, and the Weakness of Real GDP
2nd test post
2nd test post for cross-posting to econproph.net course site
EconProph 