Businesses behaving badly
In past posts, I have explained actions that businesses–usually large corporations–have taken that are decidedly contrary to the interests of the general public. For this, commentors have claimed that I’m anti-business, that I’m using scare tactics, I’m just a socialist, or some combination thereof. However, in the news over the past month or so we [...]
Songs of Rage
“What do I know that would cause me, a reticent, Midwestern scientist, to get myself arrested in front of the White House protesting? And what would you do if you knew what I know?” With these questions James Hansen opens his riveting presentation Why I must speak out about climate change on TED. Hansen, whom [...]
RI – What Went Wrong, In Seven Installments
Sam Bell did such a good job putting together this series on what went wrong with Rhode Island’s economy over the past several years, I thought the least I could do is make it really easy for everyone to access.
RI – What Went Wrong: Have We Learned Lessons?
What is so sad about the mess Rhode Island has fallen into is that it was completely avoidable. Governor Carcieri did not have to launch a jihad against public sector employment. Nor was it necessary to hand massive tax breaks to the wealthy. Had we avoided those tax breaks, we wouldn’t have had to slash [...]
RI—What Went Wrong: Competitiveness
The devastating effect of property tax hikes and the less significant effect of a high unemployment insurance tax, discussed in previous columns, probably explain most of the portion of the unemployment gap that’s not explained by austerity. However, there is one more factor that might play a minor role in weakening our economy with respect [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Unemployment Insurance Taxes
Another singular component of Rhode Island’s tax system is unusually high unemployment insurance taxes. Unemployment insurance taxes don’t get very much attention (they are excluded from the graph of the distributional effect of taxes in the previous column, for instance), but they can have a very real effect on the economy, particularly in a time [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Property Tax Hikes
In the previous installment, I discussed the large income tax cuts for the rich that hit Rhode Island in 2006, a major change to the economy that was followed by an early plunge into recession. Unlike the federal government, states can’t offset income tax cuts with debt. So they have to offset them by either [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Tax Cuts for the Affluent
In the previous installment I discussed the devastation wrought by massive austerity, which was the principle cause of Rhode Island’s terrible jobs picture. The traditional justification from austerity apologists is that those public sector cuts were necessary, and Rhode Island was forced to make those layoffs. Of course, this argument makes no sense in Rhode [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Austerity’s Effects
I ended my previous post on a promise to dig into the mechanics of how Carcieri orchestrated the downfall of the Rhode Island economy. Naturally, we begin with something Carcieri took great pride in—laying off huge numbers of public sector workers. To show just how severe the public sector cutbacks were under Carcieri, I’ve plotted [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: The Carcieri Effect
It may be hard to remember now, but ten years ago, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was below the national average. Today, of course, it’s the second highest in America. Only Nevada has a worse jobs picture. Clearly, something went very badly wrong. The question is what. In a multi-part series that will be published throughout [...]
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