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starsky
Chicago
UC MBA
Recent Activity
Terry, while I appreciate the sentiment regarding equality, I disagree with your conclusions. Men may be created equal in the eyes of God, but certainly not in terms of wealth or opportunity. Only those with excess wealth can take advantage of investment opportunities. Look at evidence from the Great Depression or the Great Recession -- those with limited means were forced to sell their assets at discounted prices, while those with excess wealth were able to acquire those assets at discounted prices. Furthermore, those with greater wealth have better access to education and contacts, giving them an even greater advantage. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer until, like every game of Monopoly, all the money becomes concentrated among fewer and fewer people until there is one winner and many losers. In short, any completely free, capitalist economy provides those with existing wealth an inherent advantage, which is precisely why taxation must be progressive.
Tax Reform—Posner
There is a good deal of dissatisfaction with the federal tax system (the state and local systems as well, but I’ll confine my attention to the federal). Most proposals for reform, however good in theory, are totally impractical from a political standpoint. But since politics is volatile, there i...
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the Constitutionality of the debt ceiling. If the 14th Amendment states that the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned, then how is the debt ceiling even legal? Regardless, it doesn't really matter. The US Treasury is empowered to issue currency. Since they are legally bound to make certain payments, they must do so by either borrowing or printing money. If they can't do the former, it seems to me they are legally bound to do the latter. It doesn't have to be a single trillion dollar platinum coin, but it could just print large denomination currency and "sterilize" it by selling assets from its own balance sheet to offset the amount printed.
More on the Fiscal Cliff—Posner
I shall discuss several closely related questions: (1) was the deal that averted the “fiscal cliff” a good one? (2) what would be the best deal to avoid a repetition of a fiscal-cliff type of crisis in the near future? (3) should there be a debt ceiling? (4) what is Republican economic policy an...
Connor, your solution would be counter-productive, because it would perpetuate inequality. If the best students get to choose the best teachers, then that means the most at-risk students get stuck with the worst teachers. Those students who are most prepared, either because they have supportive parents who have time and resources to help them with homework, who actually get to eat breakfast before they come to school, are genetically gifted, etc., would benefit from better teachers. Meanwhile, those students who are already disadvantaged would get the worst teachers.
Good and Bad Teachers: How to Tell the Difference-Becker
Although the recent Chicago teachers’ strike of seven school days was their first strike in 25 years, the main disagreement with the city was not over the traditional bread and butter issue of pay and benefits. Rather it was centered on the criteria to be used in evaluating teachers to distinguis...
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