…from Christina Hoff Sommers, ‘the factual feminist,’ at AEI, published December 22nd: “Rwanda is beating the U.S. In Gender Equality” That is a headline from a recent news story in the Washington Post. Well, could it be true? Let’s check the facts.”
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Economics in the Media…
…in May, I posted this tongue in cheek (and excessively long) rewrite of a New York Times investigative report about the nail salon industry in New York City.
NYT’s original thesis: “Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure
ethnic bias and other abuse, The New York Times has found.”
My thesis in the rewrite: Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse, [first generation immigrants working their first job, trained and housed for free by employers, hired despite having no language skills and/or being in the country illegally, able to use the skills learned on the job to build a better life] The New York Times has found.
Well, apparently I’m not the only one who reads The New York Times. Within four days, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced “”emergency protections for nail-salon workers,” according to Reason.com.
Reason continued to cover the story, as it first seemed to fade back, thanks in part to Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-District 40), then as evidence of factual errors and misquotes surfaced in July, then as the employees and nail-salon owners alike began openly protesting The New York Times five months after the story was first published.
There whole saga has been very interesting and now Reason has an awesome 10 minute video recapping the last seven months.
Economics in the Media…
…from “‘The Big Short’, Housing Bubbles and Retold Lies” by Paul Krugman in the December 18, 2015 issue of the New York Times; as retold by Barron‘s Gene Epstein in a letter to the New York Times (via CafeHayek):
To the Editor:
In his column on the film, “The Big Short” (“‘The Big Short,’ Housing Bubbles and Retold Lies,” Dec. 18), Paul Krugman declares that the housing bubble “was largely inflated via opaque financial schemes that in many cases amounted to outright fraud.”
This causal analysis is directly contradicted by an alternative view previously expressed in the New York Times: that the housing bubble was largely inflated by policies of the Federal Reserve.
“To fight this recession,” wrote a New York Times columnist on Aug. 2, 2002, “the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble.”
In a blog on that column posted on June 17, 2009, this same columnist observed: “What I said was that the only way the Fed could get traction would be if it could inflate a housing bubble. And that’s just what happened.”
The columnist who wrote those words: Paul Krugman
Gene Epstein
Economics & Books Editor
Barron’s
Economics in the Media…
…from “After floods, no price-gouging complaints, attorney general says” by Gary Dinges in the May 28, 2015 issue of the Austin American-Statesman.
After flooding in the spring, Dinges apparently found it noteworthy that hotel prices in Hays County, Texas didn’t sky rocket:
The Texas attorney general’s office says it hasn’t received any complaints alleging hotels have jacked up prices in the wake of devastating floods that left thousands homeless in Central Texas and elsewhere throughout the state.
Because, obviously, excess water causes hotel owners to arbitrarily raise prices, and that is bad:
Price gouging is illegal, and the state has, in the past, prosecuted businesses looking to take advantage of people impacted by disasters.
The fact that demand for hotel rooms evidently did not change, seems like an after thought to Dinges:
In Hays County, which was hit especially hard, hotels aren’t reporting a space crunch. In fact, plenty of rooms remain available.
Almost 20 hotels in San Marcos are still taking reservations, according to Hotels.com, with prices ranging from $40 at the Executive Inn & Suites, 930 N. Interstate 35, to $169 at the Embassy Suites San Marcos, 1001 E. McCarty Lane.
“Vacancy” signs are up at many hotels in nearby cities, such as Kyle and New Braunfels, as well.
Economics in the Media…
…from “Foreign UN Delegates Were Shocked By Lack Of Gender Equality In The US” by Alexandra Svokos on EliteDaily.com dated 16 December, 2015:
United Nations delegates from Poland, the United Kingdom and Costa Rica visited Texas, Alabama and Oregon to analyze gender equality in the United States, according to Huffington Post.
They reportedly found we’re not doing so hot.
…
On the issue of gun violence, they pointed out the lack of federal laws protecting women. While some states have laws preventing people with records of domestic violence from owning guns, there is no national law. The delegates apparently believe there should be.
There is, in fact, a national law:
The Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban often called “the Lautenberg Amendment” (“Gun Ban for Individuals Convicted of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence”, Pub.L. 104–208, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9)) is an amendment to the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 enacted by the 104th United States Congress in 1996, which bans access to firearms by people convicted of crimes of domestic violence. The act is often referred to as “the Lautenberg Amendment” after its sponsor, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D – NJ).