Wiretap: Inequality blues; US-36 cloak and dagger

 
According to Scott Hodge at the Wall Street Journal, to solve inequality in America, you’d have to take $4 trillion from the top 40 percent and give it to the bottom 60 percent. Surprisingly, Hodge doesn’t think that’s a very sound idea. Well, it’s not only the solution. Norm Ornstein has an easier plan. You give $1,000 to every baby, and voila. Or something. Paul Krugman, meanwhiles, goes after the whole idea of “dignity of work” by explaining the inequality of dignity when you have to work, say, three jobs to support your family.

Solving income inequality: It’s not a chicken in every pot. It’s $1,000 paid to every baby. Via the National Journal.

Paul Krugman and the inequality of the dignity of work. Via the New York Times.

The $4 trillion transfer. It’s as simple as that. Via Scott Hodge and the Wall Street Journal.

On Valentine’s Day Eve: A federal judge rules the ban on same-sex marriage in Virginia unconstitutional.

Happy Valentine’s. A collection of New Yorker cartoons to get you in the mood.

A starting point local Colorado guide to the Common Core national standards. Via Ft Collins Coloradoan.

US-36 between Boulder and Denver has been under construction for two years and will be under construction for another year or more. The public doesn’t get to see the 600-page contract governing the project, but it has come out that, if the foreign company that will be collecting the tolls falls apart or goes bankrupt or whatever, Colorado taxpayers will assume the debt. “Heads I win. Tails you lose.” This is how public-private partnerships work? Of course it is. Via the Daily Camera.

The evolution of the area code. You won’t think you’ll want to read this story, but you will. We promise. Via the Atlantic.

[ Image by aisletwentytwo ]

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