Our Work Unites Us All

My quick and humble thoughts on Public Policy, Current Events, Politics, Philosophy, Economics and anything else. @C0RYHOFFMAN | Facebook.com/C0RYH0FFMAN | OverlappingConsensus.com

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Robot revolution: rise of 'thinking' machines could exacerbate inequality

Global economy will be transformed over next 20 years at risk of growing inequality, say analysts

In America, we have been said to believe in the Capitalist Ethic “Thou Shalt Earn Thy Bread With Sweat” which ultimately derives from the Protestant Ethic. In other words, we believe that an individual’s ability to consume should be derived from his ability to acquire income through work, productivity and effort. What are we to do in the coming years when work opportunities become continually scarce?

[nbcnightlynews]

New $5,900 desk lets you work lying down

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Rothbard might have an argument in a nation with a fixed exchange rate but this not the case in a nation wherein the government is the sovereign currency issuer. By definition the sovereign must spend money into existence first before it can be taken by a conspicuously compassionate government.

[attndotcom]

Well said.

[hvfflepvff]

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Above is an excerpt from ‘Personhood’ by Lauren Zuniga, which can  be viewed here. 

[workingamerica]

Today, we won in Philadelphia. Working together, we can win nationwide.

Add your name now: http://bit.ly/1zPUvqx http://ift.tt/17qdNby

[ourworkunitesusall]

Huge leap in the right direction.

[micdotcom]

One reader said she was “barely scraping by” on $250,000 a year when she lived in Utah, and another wrote that those making $150,000 to $225,000 a year in the New York metropolitan area is “definitely middle class.” This all despite the fact that, as Leonhardt points out, fewer than 5% of households make more $200,000 or more nationwide.

Why do rich so many people think they’re in the middle class? (via micdotcom)

The Hedonic Treadmill strikes. We inevitably compare ourselves to those who have more than us it seems...

[quickhits]

GOP hostility to science and medicine is getting completely out of hand.

[workingamerica]

Minimum wage myth: busted.

(via Low Pay is Not OK) http://ift.tt/1xbCYDl

[azspot]

How would you like to live in an economy where robots do everything that can be predictably programmed in advance, and almost all profits go to the robots’ owners? Meanwhile, human beings do the work that’s unpredictable – odd jobs, on-call projects, fetching and fixing, driving and delivering, tiny tasks needed at any and all hours – and patch together barely enough to live on. Brace yourself. This is the economy we’re now barreling toward.

Robert Reich (via azspot)

It is already on its way. The quesrion is how will we react to ensure that everybody is still able to participate in our economy, pursue the good life and engage in social entrepreneurship? I say we should do so with an Enterprise State characterized by a Job Guarantee that would allow all citizens to produce value that promotes human flourishing in their local communities.

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The 20-week abortion ban that fell flat in Congress is likely to advance in state legislatures

Republicans in at least three states will debate measures similar to the bill GOP leaders on Capitol Hill pulled this week.

I think the takeaway from this disaster is that these so-called Constitutional Conservatives are full of it when they say that they believe that the Federal Government has limited power. 

It is clear that abortion regulation would fall within the realm of a general police power: the power to regulate for the health, safety and welfare of the People. These powers are supposed to be reserved for the States and the People according to Conservatives as such powers are not explicitly listed in Congress' enumerated powers. This is the argument we here from Conservatives all the time; that the Commerce Power has been expanded into a generalized Police Power and that this is Constitutionally Unsound. 

But what do you know? As soon as they are voted in they attempt to pass legislation that clearly violates their own alleged interpretation of the Constitution. It is safe to say that when they are arguing for strict Constitutional interpretation they are arguing in bad faith. They do not care about Constitutional limitations when it comes to the issues that they care about. 

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The problem though is one of supply. Progressives should follow the model of the great Democrat Tom L. Johnson, the former Democratic mayor of Cleveland who's statue I walked past every day. He was hugely popular due to his "three cent guarantee" wherein he guaranteed that the city would provide a publicly operated street-car that would cost only 3 cents. This allowed working people to ride into the city and earn a living. 

We could follow this model in housing by having the Federal Government fund the construction of Housing of a Last Resort wherein citizens would have guaranteed cheap rents below the prevailing market rate. This would be much more effective than current measures to improve the availability of affordable housing like rent control which only serves to constrict the supply of housing in the aggregate. If the public got in the game at the low end of the supply-side instead, we could provide an anchor on rising rents rather than an artificial ceiling on rents on the demand-side. 

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Pentagon Tells Congress to Stop Buying Equipment it Doesn't Need

The primary reason that Members of Congress shovel all of these projects at the military that do not make us any more militarily capable or "safe" is because of "jobs." The tank plant in Lima, Ohio is the perfect example. The military no longer wants Abrams Tanks but shuttering the tank plant in Lima would cost jobs in an area of our great state that has already been battered enough over the year. What is the solution? Institute a Job Guarantee wherein the Federal Government, as the employer of last resort will higher those in the private economy who have lost their jobs and become unemployed and cannot find gainful employment. We would no longer have to hear politicians pander to us about how unnecessary programs that contribute nothing to human flourishing and to the improvement of the human condition "create jobs".

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Sherrod Brown and other Democrats want to increase those eligible for overtime pay. The best part of this proposal is to tie it to inflation.

[workingamerica]

Thanks to the Arizona AFL-CIO for the reminder. http://ift.tt/1LB0qVa

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A bunch of Union Thugs out there!

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Oil Below $60 Tests U.S. Drive for Energy Independence

"West Texas Intermediate reached a 2014 peak of $107.73 in June before dropping as low as $49.77 today on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The grade settled at $50.04 a barrel. That’s below the break-even price for 37 of 38 U.S. shale oilfields, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance."

If Congress based its industrial policy on real world policy targets instead of the outstanding level of treasuries due to the fallacy that Uncle Sam's budget is like the budget of an ordinary currency-using household or business we might consider tying subsidies for domestic energy production to energy futures markets to support energy capex even in the face of falling prices.