After a three month sales tax “holiday,” recreational marijuana consumers in Oregon began paying a 25% sales tax on January 1, 2016. Yes, you read that correctly: 25 PERCENT. For those of you who went to public school and didn’t bother augmenting your economics education any further, this means that the actual price of recreational…
French President Francois Hollande declared a “state of economic and social emergency” during his annual speech to business leaders Monday. From Talking Points Memo: Hollande laid out plans for training half a million jobless workers, greater use of apprenticeships, and aid for companies that hire young workers. Hollande’s Socialist government has struggled to boost long-stagnant…
Michael Bastasch After President Barack Obama touted record-low gasoline prices during his tenure in his State of the Union address Tuesday, he quickly promised to make energy more expensive for Americans by making oil and coal “reflect the costs” of global warming. “Now we’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy,” Obama said….
There’s a brilliant new meme that is allowing Millennials to vent their frustrations with the economy they’ve inherited. Meet Old Economy Steve, the man whom they wish they could trade places with. The meme examines the vastly different economies which Millennials and their parents inherited by pairing statements regarding opportunities and advantages Baby Boomers had…
Even if You Did Give Everyone $4.3 Million, Poverty Would Get Worse [dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap] popular meme going around Facebook attempts to paint the narrative that giving everyone $4.3 million from the Powerball would solve poverty for good. Not only is the math for this completely wrong, but the economics behind this whole concept wouldn’t work…
Spread the wealth around! This beautiful depiction of economic illiteracy, a failed public education system, and the Utopian dreams of socialists is brought to you by the internet. Bernie Sanders supporters can no doubt get behind us. Bonus points for the first person to send us pictures of you getting Bernie supporters to pass this…
Government intervention into the student loan business is making college more expensive. A new paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research found evidence that increasing college costs is largely due to student loan policies. Authored by Grey Gordon and Aaron Hedlund, the study used a computer model to measure the effects of different economic forces…
Guy Bentley New York is reaping the whirlwind of sky-high cigarette taxes with a wave of smuggling decimating the state’s revenue. New York holds the dubious honor of having the highest cigarette taxes in country, with the average pack of smokes in New York City costing as much as $10.60. New York raised taxes on cigarettes…
Connor D. Wolf The Seattle city council plans to vote Monday on whether to allow Uber and other sharing economy contractors to unionize collectively in a move that some argues is illegal and undermines the business model. Contracting is a pivotal component of the sharing economy. While the model gives workers significant flexibility and freedom,…
Guy Bentley The 17 percent gender pay gap is almost entirely due to age, marriage and the different hours worked by men and women, according to a top economist at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual report on the “Highlights of Women’s Earnings” shows women’s in full-time work median…