RI should be like Paradox Studios, not 38 Studios
You’ve probably never heard of Fredrik Wester or the studio he’s CEO of, Paradox Interactive. It operates mainly out of Sweden, a country slowly starting to exert more and more influence in pop culture. And, as Wester points out in this 26 minute talk entitled Using an Axe to Carve a Niche, Paradox Interactive makes [...]
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 [...]
What Rhode Island should know about hedge funds, part 1
What’s the purpose of investing in a hedge fund? Because “hedge fund manager” is almost synonymous with “fabulously wealthy” in the popular press, lots of people think hedge funds are all about high risk and high returns. Originally, though, hedge funds were thought to provide high returns simply by being consistent, if dull. The idea [...]
CoC leader: ‘Discrimination is bad for business’
The Rhode Island business community has overwhelmingly endorsed marriage equality, and largely stands opposed to the religious exemptions in the Ciccone bill. John Duffy, president of the PR firm Duffy & Shapley and chairman of the Greater providence Chamber of Commerce was quite clear, “Discrimination is expensive and bad for business,” he said on a [...]
For MetLife and Rhode Island, size matters
In the brouhaha about MetLife leaving, I did see and hear people try to blame this on the too-high RI taxes. Of course; it’s always about the taxes, isn’t it? I would like to make one point about that. For 2012, MetLife reported $1.4 Bn of operating earnings. In comparison, the $80-90 Mn of tax [...]
Family Planning: The Economics Of Kids
I just had my second child. Due to this, my childcare bill is now over $2000 a month. As a result, almost half of my family’s take-home salary is spent on childcare and childcare related expenses. It does not surprise me when people ask why we are sending our children to daycare instead of staying [...]
The Jilted Spouse
Here’s a familiar story. A man and a woman get married when they’re young. Time passes, they age, they grow, and, before you know it, 25 years have passed. Then, one day, with no real warning, the man tells the wife that she’s too old. He’s dumping her for a younger woman who doesn’t have [...]
Rhetoric: RI Can’t Do That Because Of Bad Economy
One of the arguments being used by anti-marriage equality forces is the argument that we need to fix the economy first before we can focus on marriage. It’s a classic false dichotomy, and one marriage equality advocates have responded to by pointing out the economic benefits of allowing same-sex couples to marry. But this type [...]
Poem: ‘Meditation On The Economy’
John Kenneth Galbraith, were he here and breathing, would probably be biting his nails with worry. This week we learned that the economy contracted for the first time since 2009. In words reminiscent of what was said in the midst of the Great Depression, economic commentators have said it’s just a one off event in [...]
Brown Professor Mark Blythe Explains Austerity
“Austerity confuses virtue with vice,” says professor Mark Blyth, an international political economist at Brown University, who stars in this this video that it makes it really easy to understand why cutting back is bad for the economy as a whole. The video was produced by the Watson Center for International Studies at Brown, of [...]
Chafee Takes Economic Center Stage Tonight
While Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed may have tried to focus some of the attention away from marriage equality with a press conference on the economy yesterday, the real news will happen tonight when Gov. Linc Chafee gives the annual State of the State speech. In it, he will outline his proposal for next year’s [...]
Gary Sasse Op-Ed: Not Only Wrong, Not Constructive
Gary Sasse is generally an honest actor and sometimes a smart economist, but his piece in today’s Providence Journal displays neither of these attributes. Sasse argues that because the governor did not follow the bad advice of right-wing think tank he used to lead that, “Rhode Island leaders are denying economic reality.” Not only is [...]
Linc Chafee <3s RI, Me Too
People constantly tell me how unpopular it is to agree with our governor. Well, I couldn’t agree more and I couldn’t care less! He may not always offer me a good quote, but Rhode Island has done pretty well under his tenure given the circumstances he inherited. I’ll take that. He seems almost allergic to [...]
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.
ALEC: Bad for the Economy
Last year, there was a lot of talk here about ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. This corporate-backed “research” group produces model legislation for the states and recruits and promotes legislators who are likely to introduce it. It’s a pretty slick outfit, well-funded, with lots of opportunities for travel, and lots of opportunities to make [...]
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: 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: 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 [...]
Labor vs. Management
Full disclosure: I grew up in a time and an environment that accepted an adversarial relationship between labor and management. I still agree with that belief. Everything I have experienced in the last 30 years has convinced me, over and over again that this is the fundamental relationship between the workers and the bosses. More, [...]
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