Unions

Plenty of information out there on unions and the role they play in our economy. This is esecially the case now that states are considering limiting their power to collectivly bargin. There is a great recent Q and A piece. This is more from a previous post. Enjoy

Chicago Mayor Race

For a while the courts said that Emanuel could not run as mayor of Chicago. Now the case is being heard in the State Suprem Court. Since is is the clear favorite if he is allowed to run this information quickly changes the intrade odds of him winning as see by this chart. This is shown in the image as the price fluxuates rapidly. A perfect example of information flowing quickly for this contract as we would expect in any efficient marketplace.

Marijuana Debate

As I have just finished grading our latest position paper (the one that has legalization of marijuana as an optional position) I found the vast majority of students taking the position that marijuana should be legalized. This is three semesters in a row (five classes) that I have found this to be the case (each of my classes ranging from 80% to 100% pro legalization). So I plan on opening our next class with the question of "If so many people think this way, why is it still illegal?". One answer is that this is a political dilemma, not so much an economic one. Talk about a timely piece in our Inquirer today by a political writer to put the politics into perspective. The money quote:


Update: I cant get over how timely this topic is. Here is an article from Rolling Stone
(The quote is from the first link)

So much of the marijuana debate used to be about morality; now it's mostly about economics and practicality - which is why New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are also floating measures to legalize and tax; why similar voter referendums are in the works in Washington state and Oregon; why 14 states (including, most recently, New Jersey) have legalized medical marijuana, and why even Pennsylvania, hardly a pacesetting state, is weighing the sanction of medical pot, complete with 6 percent sales tax

Obama's Agenda

Two Contracts, the first is the intrade contract for a public option being passed and signed into law by the end of June. The second for what intrade calls "Obamacare" (basically the reconsiliation process kicked around in the news right now). Big difference here. Basically the public option looks dead, while the current push looks probable. So the question is "Is Obama pushing too hard for his adgenda?" The answer (according to David Brooks) is who are you asking.

Here is what reads as an unbiased article by someone who is known as 'the' conservative at the New York Times (which is known as left leaning... confusing, right?).

Political Contributions

We spoke earlier about the need to know where the voice is coming from (politically speaking). This article breaks down which companies give to which political party. I find the media graph very interesting.

(HT: Thanks Josh)

(BTW: Blogger has been giving me some problems with posts... when I resolve them there should be a steady flow of new material)

Auctions and Politics

Marginal Revolution has this great link to a classroom discussion on auctions and politics. This also relates to sunk costs.

Unions and Politics... an Unholy Alliance?

At one point California had to give out IOU’s instead of money. Pennsylvania just completed our state budget despite new sources of revenue by renting out land for natural resource drilling and new casino tax revenue. One of the smallest states in the nation (New Jersey) has an awful mess dealing with their insane property taxes despite annual enormous revenue from Atlantic City casino taxes. Ever wonder how the trail to state insolvency is ploughed? This article from today’s ‘Currents’ section in the Inquirer written by Fred Siegel and Dan DiSalvo has many of the answers. Their argument is that powerful state unions are draining funds from the states, and it is the politicians who give out those contracts that should be to blame. Is this article fair to unions? Some money quotes:

The governmor of a state is supposed to keep the spending in check. What does Gov. Corzine do it 2006?

"...when [Corzine] shouted at a Trenton
rally of about 10,000 public workers: "We will fight for a fair contract."
Corzine was, of course, management in that situation, not labor."

The situation in NY looks dismal… maybe this has something to do with it.

"Nearly 800 Gotham "rubber room" teachers who have problems on the job are
being paid not to work. Salary increases have been running at better than twice
the rate of inflation."

When did this begin?

A significant boost was President John F. Kennedy's decision to mobilize public-sector workers as a new source of political support.

Some additional stats:

"In New York City, where public-sector union benefits have grown twice as
fast since 2000 as those in the private sector, firefighters may retire after 20
years at half pay. Pension benefits for a new retiree averaged just under
$73,000 (all exempt from state and local taxes). To top it off, retirees receive
a health insurance policy that is worth about $10,000 annually."

The punch line:

"In the absence of tough-minded
leaders who will take on the public-sector unions, the fiscal future of states
and localities is bleak."

Academics and Politics

Ever wonder how the political affiliation between academic departments stacks up? Economics is left leaning, but relative to other subjects it leans right.