Pelosi Insulted by Basic Economic Principle

In a press conference late last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed legislation before the House to extend unemployment benefits until November 30. Asked if the extension would serve as a “disincentive for people to look for work,” Pelosi dismissed the argument as a “misrepresentation of the motivation for people to be on unemployment insurance” and … Read more

The Times’ Silly Article on "Elusive" Internships

In a couple of blog posts this spring, I commented favorably on the Obama Labor Department’s decision to crack down on employers who abuse their college-age interns—essentially using them as replacements for regular employees, minus the pay. Far from saying “you can’t have unpaid interns, that it’s exploitation,” as John Stossel put it, the regulations … Read more

Death of the News Anchor

When I made my usual trip to Google News the other day, Larry King headlines were taking over the newsfeed. From the title of the articles, I was afraid the poor guy had passed away. Luckily that was not the case. All the news outlets just felt the necessity to write orbituaries for King after … Read more

China in the Lead: It Matters.

Jeffrey Kalmus contends that I have not argued why my previous post, “China in the Lead,” matters. So now I will attempt to do so, echoing and extending what Max wrote in response to Jeffrey yesterday. The biggest reason – perhaps I assumed it was rather self-evident – why the rapid Chinese clean-energy Manhattan project … Read more