Tag: conservative

Not all Wisconsin manufacturing job loss can be blamed on China

Not all Wisconsin manufacturing job loss can be blamed on China

Is China to blame for all the manufacturing jobs Wisconsin lost in recent decades?

That’s the claim from a Facebook video making the rounds in the runup to the November 2020 presidential election.

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are ramping up their own campaign ads, but an avalanche of outside groups are trying to get their own messages across.A June 4, 2020 Facebook video from conservative SuperPAC America First Action attacks the former vice president for not understanding "the threat" China poses to the United States.The video features Biden and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a […]

Let’s make the new normal a better place

Let’s make the new normal a better place

The idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) has always made sense. That is why it has attracted such broad backing from sometimes unlikely supporters.

Conservative thinker and author Milton Friedman supported it, as does Canadian Conservative Sen. Hugh Segal and Martin Luther King.

But we now know one thing we didn’t before COVID-19. UBI works. We know that because the federal government quickly realized a crisis basic income was essential to cushion the pandemic’s economic impact on millions of Canadians.The government came up with the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), $2,000 per month to Canadians suffering pandemic-induced job loss.CERB has […]

The future of the Job Market and Automation

Automation is the way of the future and inevitable, some people will be hurt, but most will adapt to the new reality. To mitigate the negative effects, I as a conservative would like to see:

> Universal E-verify- In an automated world the people most likely hurt are going to be low skilled people. With less jobs going to those people, it becomes much more important that we make sure that the few remaining areas of employment for low skilled workers goes to American citizens.

Increased emphasis on Trades- If we ramp up the emphasis on trades as […]

Deaths of Despair and a Nation in Crisis

Deaths of Despair and a Nation in Crisis

Photo by Rebecca Wilcox, Purdue University Anne Case & Angus Deaton

The Princeton economists behind the “deaths of despair” thesis—Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton—talk with Irwin Stelzer and Jeffrey Gedmin about their new book, the flaws of our economic and health care systems, and whether our national crisis could spur needed reforms.

I rwin Stelzer and TAI Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Gedmin recently interviewed Anne Case and Sir Angus Deaton, the husband-and-wife team whose pioneering research on “deaths of despair” has reshaped the national debate. With their new book coming out amid a global pandemic, they discussed how its […]

A New Age of Feudalism for the Working Class?

A New Age of Feudalism for the Working Class?

In the past, fears of job losses from automation were often overstated. Technological progress eliminated some jobs but created others, and often better-paying ones. In the early days of the high-tech revolution, many of the pioneering firms—such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and IBM—were widely praised for treating their lower-level workers as part of the company and deserving of opportunities for advancement, as well as benefits including health insurance and a pension.

The labor policies of the newer generation of tech giants tend to be vastly different. Firms like Tesla have been sued for failing to pay contract workers the legally mandated […]

Youth in the post-COVID world

Youth in the post-COVID world

As I write this opinion piece my heart goes out to the millions around the world who were due to graduate from their universities this year. As they enter one of the worst job markets in recent history they must adapt to these uncertain times.

The first thing for all individuals entering the job market is to understand that the virus has impacted us in many ways which we were not prepared for. Had Marx been alive today he surely would have been laughing at the sight of distressed economies, which had grown only after exploiting millions. But if one […]

Compassion for the Unemployed Won’t Last Long

Compassion for the Unemployed Won’t Last Long

Anthony Gerace In the past few weeks the United States has witnessed an unprecedented spike in jobless claims that has overwhelmed state agencies. Alongside a health crisis and an economic crisis, we are now entering into a devastating period of mass unemployment, one that— decades of research tell us—will leave deep financial and psychological scars for the workers and families trapped within it. Today, Americans across party lines recognize the need to act quickly to minimize this harm, but that bipartisan support will soon fade, as it has in past recessions. If Congress and state governments are going to […]

Mitt Romney and the Triumph of Andrew Yang

Mitt Romney and the Triumph of Andrew Yang

George Frey / Steven Ferdman / Getty / The Atlantic As the U.S. is scrambling to deal with the forced shuttering of restaurants, bars, theaters, and other businesses, even some fiscally conservative Republicans agree that giving money directly to people might be the best response. Today, Senator Mitt Romney proposed sending every U.S. adult a $1,000 check to help with short-term obligations—rent, groceries, whatever it may be. The idea sounded familiar to followers of the 2020 Democratic primary race, specifically, those who have watched businessman Andrew Yang—who ran an outsider campaign based on what he sees as the need […]

Sen. Toomey Defends Capitalism

Yesterday afternoon Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) gave an excellent and much-need speech at the Heritage Foundation on capitalism and its right-leaning critics . Toomey maintained a reasonable and respectful manner, but made clear that he thinks that the anti-market measures promoted by self-described nationalists and populists are a mistake and would be a failure if enacted. When it comes to proposals to restrict trade or for government to favor certain industries over others, we need to be clear about what problems such policies would ostensibly be solving. In certain cases, the supposed problems exist mostly in the minds of […]

Robotic automation could move America towards Bernie Sanders-style socialism

Robotic automation could move America towards Bernie Sanders-style socialism

Taxing the Robots Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times more > ANALYSIS/OPINION:

“We’ll all be socialists by 2040.” That was a conclusion drawn by a panelist at a conference on the impact of automation on employment about 10 years ago.

Since then, things have moved even faster than expected. Consequently, Bernie Sanders may get his fondest wish. Robotic automation is creating the very real specter that we will be forced into socialism someday. We might well have a welfare state whether we want one or not. In 2010, I would have thought people of Mr. Sanders’ and my age wouldn’t […]