Here’s an update on Chicago politics for non-locals. Two years ago, George Lucas announced that he planned to build a “narrative art museum” in Chicago, located on the lakefront in the place of an existing parking lot south of Soldier Field, which itself is just south of the city’s “museum campus.” (See Wikipedia for a brief recap.) Lucas even promised that he would build the whole thing at no cost to taxpayers (see this NBC article from last year), which... Read more
At the very beginning of the Ghilarducci book I discussed yesterday, she says, “From the 1960s to the mid-1990s, about 75 percent of full-time American workers were covered by a pension” (p. 11), but, with the advent of the 401(k), they moved their employees to 401(k) plans to cut costs, leaving employees holding the bag. After having written about Ghilarducci’s book yesterday, I thought it would be useful to give an alternate timeline of the demise of pension plans (or,... Read more
This is the sort of book that reminds me that sometimes what determines whether a book is published or not is not the quality of the writing or the information contained within it, but the reputation or status or credentials of the author. Here’s the sum total of the instructional part of the book: Go to the AARP retirement calculator, pluck in your information, and see how much money it tells you you need to save. (Actually, the AARP calculator... Read more
When I was in high school, I had an elective class on Greek mythology, and we learned about the concept of the Greek hero, then read a section from the Iliad about the death of Hector, in which Achilles sulks in his tent, his best friend* Patroclus tries to take his place and is killed, and Achilles then returns to the battle to seek vengence, kills the Trojan warrior Hector and drags his body around the city, then the Trojans... Read more
By coincidence, just after I wrote about independent contractors, Slate had an article about Comcast’s use of individuals paid as contractors for cable installation — or, rather its use of contractors who hire individuals on a subcontractor basis, but who are (mis)treated as employees. According to the article, contractors, supposedly used only for particularly busy periods, now make up half the installer workforce, and the practices of those contractors are not just somewhat shady but deeply disturbing. The practices include requiring... Read more
So I picked up a book called Raw Deal, by Steven Hill, subtitled How the Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism are Screwing American Workers, and started reading it the other day while waiting at the orthodontist’s office during my son’s appointment. I read the first chapter and skimmed through the remainder, and the gist is simple: American employers are “screwing American workers” by hiring them on an independent contractor basis, with no protections and, often, subminimum pay, and, if present... Read more
Short and simple: Women: Would you rather be changing, in a women’s locker room in a public place, alongside an individual who “presents” as a man, to use the terminology, but who, let’s say, has a woman’s parts underneath? Or with an individual who “presents” as a woman, but who has a penis? Men: Would you rather be changing, in a men’s locker room in a public place, alongside an individual who “presents” as a woman, to use the terminology, but who has... Read more
Here’s something I’d been meaning to write about, and which is timely with today having been labelled as #EqualPayDay: According to a new McKinsey Report, as linked to by Slate, implementing “gender parity” in the United States would fuel an extraordinary leap in GDP growth. What does this mean? And is it reasonable? They identify 6 high-impact markers of inequality between men and women: Differentials in representation in corporate leadership and management positions Differentials in political representation Differentials in amount of time spent... Read more
That’s the question that this PBS quiz poses, based on Charles Murray’s research that shows that the new upper middle class is far more disconnected from working class whites than was the case in the past, with consequences for the well-being of the latter group. This is similar to Robert Putnam’s Our Kids‘ findings. Ann Althouse linked to this quiz earlier today, and I shared it on facebook earlier today, so I’m inviting my readers to take the quiz, and... Read more
at least, not nearly as much as what bishops, priests, and ordinary Joes think he said, with the last of these coming largely from how the media reports it and what bishops and other prominent Catholics have to say about it. “It” being, of course, whether there’s a change in doctrine and/or practice with respect to remarried Catholics, as a consequence of Amoris Laetitia. I am not going to try to interpret Amoris Laetitia. I will not dig into the... Read more
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