I have been somewhat dissatisfied with the explanations I offered a few days ago for the surprising gap between democratic and republican economic performance in election years. Today I have decided to dig a little deeper, and I believe I have found a more satisfactory explanation for the gap.
Continue reading “Bartels Redux: The Fed’s Political Influence”
Lately I’ve been reading a book by Larry Bartels entitled Unequal Democracy: The Politics of the New Gilded Age. Bartels has conducted an incredible study that produced statistical outcomes I was not, to this point, aware of. Given the amount of time and energy I devote to politics, it stands to reason that the general public is not aware of them either, and it is absolutely imperative that, so long as this remains a democracy, every citizen be made aware of what Bartels has found, so I set out today to communicate these figures to whoever might be out there reading, in the hope that perhaps they will be shared more widely.
Continue reading “The Incredible Statistical Difference between Democrats and Republicans”
At this point, a very large number of people recognize that there are serious structural problems with the American political system, but most of these people still support American democracy in the abstract. Today I’d like to argue that this position is inconsistent, that it ignores the implications of recognizing the structural nature of the problems in the first place.
Utilitarians believe that we should maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness. Sometimes “happiness” is replaced with some other word or phrase, like “pleasure”, “utility”, “living standards”, and so on, but the claim is generally the same. Critics of utilitarianism often accuse utilitarians of being imprecise in their conception of happiness. If happiness is what matters, what makes people happy in the first place? Some utilitarians seem to smuggle in very peculiar conceptions of happiness without justifying or substantiating them. As someone with utilitarian leanings, I think the critics are owed a more comprehensive response than they’ve received, so that’s what I set out to do today.
Congress has decided to let the extension in unemployment benefits it passed in the wake of the economic crisis in 2008 lapse. It’s estimated that 1.3 million Americas will lose their unemployment benefits completely, with 5 million seeing a reduction in benefit of some kind. This is a very bad idea. Here’s why.
Continue reading “Letting Unemployment Benefits Lapse is a Bad Idea”
Benjamin Studebaker 