The presidency of Donald Trump was one of the worst America ever had. Even though he had few legislative accomplishments, America won’t be safe until the courts are unstacked from what he did. Donald Trump didn’t even win the popular vote, but reduced turnout and a lack of campaigning in three states gave him a …
Author Archives: stidmatt
Sending surplus to taxpayers is bad economics
On the surface, to someone who doesn’t understand macroeconomics, sending surplus money back to taxpayers sounds like a great idea. It sounds like a benefit to taxpayers to give them relief and helps people out. Right? But in reality, it is not a good policy. This creates a pro-cyclical fiscal policy which means people pay …
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The choice 2022
Today’s student loan forgiveness is a massive shift in the right direction. It helps America move back to a time when anyone who was willing to do the hard work of going to school was able to, regardless of their parent’s ability and willingness to pay. Reminder: CHILDREN OF RICH PARENTS CANNOT QUALIFY FOR STUDENT …
Wishful thinking as national policy
New CDC advice: push all of your money in bonds when the stock market goes up! I’m a little frustrated here… This whole idea of loosening up our policies when they start to work is moronic. We cannot do science via popular opinion, we need to do policy based on science, which is based on …
Up and coming democracies
I just wrote a post examining which countries are democratic enough that we should seriously consider extending visa-free travel to them. I identified 27 different countries where there is no good reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to travel to the US and Canada without a visa, and I think we need to update our …
Countries we should extend visa free travel to
Travel is of course a fundamental part of the human experience. It helps people come together, it brings down barriers, and I believe it reduces conflict. It increases trade between countries, which is shown to reduce the probability of conflict. It also is an economic stimulus. There are so many good reasons why travel is …
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Potential history in the upper midwest
If the Democrats win the governorships in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan this November, it will be the first time in American history that the Democratic party will control those three governorships and the Presidency after a midterm in American history. The last time a party won these 4 offices at once during a midterm was …
Washington Primary Results
Last night’s election in Washington State is a big deal. Washington has an undeserved reputation as being as blue as Massachusetts. This is not true, and I’m going to show you why, by going back in history. Presidential elections If you look at the 1980s, Reagan won Washington State twice. Al Gore was the first …
Twitter has declined
I just deactivated my twitter account. I’m not going back. Here’s why: I am pretty sure they are hiding my posts. I had over 2800 followers and I got maybe 100 impressions per tweet. It clearly didn’t show my tweets to the people who actually interacted with me. I had time off work and I …
Marx on Trade Unions
A common misconception is that trade unions are a critical part of Marx’s theory of revolution. I’m here to convince you that is not the case, and the presence of unions in the First International was merely a temporary and doomed-to-fail alliance of convenience. The First and Second Internationals The International was formed on 28 …