For quite some time, my position regarding the concept of “Equal Pay for Equal Work” has been that two people with identical experience, aptitude, responsibilities and performance should receive the same compensation. After having thought about it more over the last few days, I’m not so sure I still hold that viewpoint.
What follows is my train of thought on this subject. I’m particularly interested in my readers’ feedback on this one, so please email me with your comments at 
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TheSensibleGeek Economics equal pay, equal work, equality
CNSNews.com reported today that Representatives Michael Castle (R-Del.) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) announced the introduction of a bill that would require a criminal background check in every weapons purchase. Currently, when a gun is sold privately from one individual to another, such as at a gun show, no background check is required by law. Other lawmakers, like Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), believe further regulation would be invasive and ineffective.
I agree with Rep. Tiahrt. When guns are more difficult to legally acquire, law abiding citizens are more deterred from purchasing a gun than criminals.
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TheSensibleGeek Economics, Politics gun control
I’m going to ask one simple question — what incentive do the Detroit Three have to become more efficient, if we show them that we’ll pay for their losses?
The Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act, if it hadn’t been shot down by the Senate, would have put in place a presidential designee, who would have the power to tell the car companies they must produce “a product mix and cost structure that is competitive in the United States market”. The remove the doublespeak, there would be a government entity that could tell the car companies what cars to make, and how much they can be sold for. We’ve socialized banks, and now the government wants to socialize the bloated auto industry. Fantastic.
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TheSensibleGeek Economics, Politics auto, bailout, labor, UAW, union
I encourage you all to add CNSNews.com to your normal circuit of news sites. They have a bit of a Conservative slant, but they’re not nearly as biased as a large portion of the mostly Liberal mainstream media. They posted a story today discussing how the Community Reinvestment Act played a pivotal role in creating our housing bubble. [link]
According to Wikipedia [link] (which I acknowledge is not a terribly reliable primary source, however, information that it cites from elsewhere is used here), “the CRA seeks to ensure the provision of credit to all parts of a community, regardless of the relative wealth or poverty of a neighborhood.” Did you catch that? Let’s remove the doublespeak. “parts of a community” = “people”. “the relative wealth or poverty of a neighborhood” = “their ability to pay back loans”.
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TheSensibleGeek Economics, Politics community reinvestment act, cra, mortgage, predatory lending, subprime
A couple of months ago, I was flipping channels on the TV, and I came across as recorded lecture at the University of Washington. The punch line of the lecture was “…leads to greater redistribution of wealth.” And she (the lecturer) said it as if it’s a foregone conclusion that redistribution of wealth is a good thing. But is it really? I agree that if we want to claim to be a moral society, we must collectively possess a conscience. But does it follow that we must provide for the needs of others in order to be moral? And what are the long term implications of redistribution of wealth?
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TheSensibleGeek Economics, Politics capitalism, redistribution of wealth, socialism, taxation, welfare
There has been a lot of talk in the world about our fledgling economy. I’d like to address some of the things people are saying. A lot of people just don’t have a clue what they’re talking about, and can’t see past their own wallet. I’m here to set the record straight.
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TheSensibleGeek Economics bailout, economy, lending, market, mortgage, stock, subprime
