PolicyMic

Andrew Hanson I agree and have previously argued for entitlement reform, particularly Medicare, on this site. I do think Paul's specific proposals—turning them into voluntary contribution programs—would cause harm to poor and elderly people. That doesn�...

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• 2 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Well, I already do think that the policies currently in place are a failure. We have 8% unemployment and an economy that's been stagnating for nearly 5 years. But I think its a simplification to hold the president responsible for all the policie...

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• 2 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Max, it's a little vague to talk about "Obama's policies" in my view. Obama publishes a budget every year, but it doesn't get enacted. So I disagree with the premise that presidents should be held completely responsible for t...

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• 2 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson LOL

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• 2 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Let's be respectful and keep the discussion focused on ideas. I'm not sure how useful it is to get into a discussion about semantics. You don't have a trademark on the term libertarian. When terms are used unconventionally, it just con...

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• 2 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson It's pretty standard economics. You're just making stuff up.

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Disagree. No one's advocating hyperinflation. We're talking about raising the inflation/nominal GDP target by 1-2 percentage points. That's been the average amount of inflation during growth periods over the last 60 years. So, only if ...

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson No way, Seamus. I think the winners are Jordan Lippert, Tim Martinez, and myself. Discussions with you are so fruitful!

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson This was supposed to be in reply to Jordan Lippert, who spoke of the efficiencies involved in having a single currency.

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Seth, I agree it's a tough line to draw. I'd probably side with you if it weren't for the fact that Ron Paul already gets so much attention on the site and the Paulbots are omnipresent on the Interwebs. I think very few people understa...

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Milton Friedman said the same thing in Capitalism and Freedom.

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson There's no such thing as natural or artificial inflation. You made that up.

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Sure, markets are volatile and currencies not backed by the government are subject to bank runs and excess money demand. The term isn't inexact, it's actually a term that's used in monetary economics that means something discrete. If w...

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson My understanding is you can barter as long as you don't mint coins or things that could be mistaken for US currency. Bitcoin, for example, is a legal alternative currency.

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Again, that's not what the natural rate of interest is. RP's use of it just shows he doesn't understand anything about monetary economics. Also, if you watch the video, RP clearly states he's not calling for the abolition of the F...

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Which part?

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson He predicted the housing bubble/crash in 2005. http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2009/12/krugman-did-identify-the-housing-bubble-in-2005.html

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson "A more balanced view of the debate would receive balanced and constructive feedback." What fallacy do you think I am guilty of?

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson My issue is with the "I want" part of his statement.

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson While I'm not sure your prediction would hold true, I appreciate your sentiment. Touché!

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson I agree with you that the lack of jobs is a more important problem, it doesn't explain rising tuition and general administrative costs in higher education. I am disappointed that you appear to believe that high school graduates who lack personal...

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks for your response, Edward. Just to be clear, I didn't use the bullying language in the article; headlines are picked by editors to grab attention, so it's usually a better to focus on the content of the piece; but I agree with your t...

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson I noted that in the article. I'm wondering, how would you feel about the government running a prostitution business or selling drugs? (I'm not saying these are equivalent.)

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson There's a difference between taxing a good and an outright ban. I favor the former.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I think it's more effective policy to stop the mob through taxes, regulation, and law enforcement than to take over mob activities.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I agree, but I'd rather the government tax and regulate mob activities than partake in them.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Did you read the article?

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks, Richard. I worded this piece strongly, but I can see where you are coming from. There are certainly worse public policies that cause more harm.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Lottery winners.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Ok, but the issue here is whether the government should encourage the addiction, and we appear to agree that it should not, though likely for different reasons.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I'm not sure that data exists. I readily admit that my beliefs are biased by my own experience and upbringing.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I'm ok with the government turning a relatively harmless vice into a positive societal outcome, but I don't think the government should be in the business of encouraging vices. For that reason, I think government should regulate gaming and ...

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Great points all around, Jonathan.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Why does its voluntary nature trump its regressiveness and the fact that it redistributes an enormous sum of money to a handful of individuals?

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I disagree. Whether the government promotes or discourages irrational behavior affects the amount of it in society. You should be concerned about it. Encouraging people to behave irrationally is stupid grounds for sound policy, and "freedom&...

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson My mom used the same justification for continuing to smoke. People can spend money in stupid ways, but the government shouldn't encourage them to do so.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson You're making the mistake of only considering benefits and not costs. The Hope Scholarship may be a good program, but there's more than one way to fund it. (However, there is only one way to skin a cat.) One way is to take a bunch of money ...

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson You seem to be dodging my question. When you say there's "irrationality", are you talking about thoughts or behavior? And don't you think there's a difference between being free to behave irrationally and the government i...

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Good question. To be sure, I wasn't arguing that we should have private lottos. I think there is a legitimate question over whether private lotteries would become larger than the current level of lottos. I assume that there would be a larger num...

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I'm confused. What specifically do you mean by "already existing irrationality" if not thinking irrational thoughts? What are lotteries a manifestation of if not irrational thoughts? In short, I would say my position is that, if t...

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Surely you agree there's a difference between being irrational (e.g., thinking irrational thoughts) and behaving irrationally.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Wait, I thought we imprisoned murderers. Doesn't imprisonment involve force under your view?

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson For the same reason citizens in favor of murder laws don't become vigilantes and bring every murderer to justice.

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Andrew Hanson You bet.

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Andrew Hanson If we tax them more, we can cover the cost of more programs!

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I think you're thinking of the corporate tax rate.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson Great points, Christine!

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I'm not sure how you can reasonably argue that people making more $1 million per year and paying less than 30% in taxes are oppressed. At least with a straight face. Rich folks do pretty well in the good ole US of A.

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• 1 month ago

Andrew Hanson I didn't make claims that were that extreme. The alternatives I presented were means-testing Medicare or extending Obamacare to seniors. Both these would mean that everyone would still be insured and receive healthcare, but more of the cost woul...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm familiar with his post/position and came across it again as I was writing the piece, but I'm not very impressed (I say this as a person who generally agrees with Krugman on many things, mostly related to macroeconomic stabilization poli...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks for the comment, Douglas. I see government as inherently redistributive, so I don't have a problem not providing benefits seniors who have enough (even if it's because they made good financial decisions in the past). I prefer that th...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson Keep in mind that $170k is a median, so half of households have more, and $170k is 47x the median wealth of households 35 and under. The point is a general one: Medicare/pension programs redistribute resources to people who are relatively affluen...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson Exactly, and it's really Medicare more than Social Security.

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Andrew Hanson My bias is that talented STEM students wouldn't have much trouble being admitted to college, but I can't say I'm familiar with the data on student admissions. Is there any evidence that suggests students with strong math/science backgr...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson By the way, the idea that Houston is a free-for-all is largely a myth. They've got minimum lot size requirements along with lots of subsidized parking that encourage sprawl. Houston, like all other cities, is basically a creature of government p...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson You're right that the effect of removing these regulations would cause property values to decrease initially, which is why people oppose them (everyone wants to see their property values increase). But we should be aware of the tradeoffs that ex...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson Great comment, Mark. I think you're absolutely correct. My point here is simply that, just as density allows for a greater diversity of restaurants, it also could potentially lead to a greater diversity of schools, e.g., STEM academies, vocation...

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• 2 months ago

Andrew Hanson I meant that we consume more and higher quality goods and services. Absolutely. Longer periods of growth and recessions that aren't as deep. I can't believe either of these empirical facts are up for debate.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Great! We're richer than ever—the standard of living has never been higher—and there are fewer shocks than before, i.e., more stable economic growth. And the future is going to be even better, especially if we adopt level targeting.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Michael, that's a pretty confused and incoherent notion of central planning. It's also a misunderstanding to represent the argument for level targeting to be about "magically creat[ing] more physical resources"; that's a supp...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson The Fed could stop this by refraining from paying interest on reserves.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'll let Jon speak for himself, but I read him (quick scan) as arguing that we should end the Fed's dual mandate to "promote maximum employment and price stability" and only focus on price stability. My piece was written under the...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Nominal interest rates could (and probably would) increase if the Fed was able to effectively alter expectations of growth or inflation. But, independent of other actions, the Fed targeting a higher interest rate would be contractionary.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson First, I don't seem to understand. I am advocating *level targeting* of nominal income (though I'd support targeting a higher rate of inflation or NGDP). Your claim that the Fed has already done this simply isn't true. Second, Bern...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Exactly.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I think it's important to separate two issues. One is managing the business cycle or "macroeconomic stabilization policy" by making sure the economy has enough demand to operate at capacity. The other is long-run growth, which is deter...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm a little unclear on what you're asking. Why would dollar devaluation offset nominal growth? With any kind of macroeconomic stabilization policy, you're going to get a mix of real and nominal growth. Do read the links, which spell o...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm not exactly sure which programs you mean, but I think for the initiatives in DC, for example, the jury is still out.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Good questions, Melissa. More details are available here: http://www.cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/02_22_2012_PR1.aspx

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks for your comment, Gary. I'm sympathetic to your concern, but my experience working in public schools was that switching the administrators (often on an annual or semi-annual basis) didn't do a whole lot of good. The principal at my s...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson It's ok to be cynical, but when someone makes a policy initiative you support, and all you can do is criticize the history of things you didn't like, you come off as extremely partisan. The other side is justified in thinking your only goal...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson A little partisan and idealistic for me, John. Rahm's only been in office a little over a year. It's completely unhelpful to criticize the other party on issues you agree on. That's the problem with the current political environment.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson A little off topic, John, but thanks for sharing.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I apologize for the confusion. Pundits don't pick the headline; editors do, and they usually pick something that will attract a lot of attention. For that reason, it's important to read the contents of the piece carefully. My claims are...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson My position isn't that bad teachers shouldn't be fired.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Pundits don't choose the way the editors frame the debate question. My claims are that (1) firing teachers based on imperfect measures would be counterproductive; (2) a policy focused on firing teachers alone's effects would be insignifican...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Well said. One thing I wanted to discuss is the perverse effect that shifting all the responsibility for educational outcomes on teachers has on student and parent incentives. Illustrative cartoon here: http://www.kushari.org/2010/07/08/these-grades...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm not sure. Here's another link that summarizes the study: http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/value_added.html

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I agree with you that a lot of people want to become teachers. The question is whether the teachers we'd replace them with would be any better. I haven't seen any evidence that suggests they would. Raising teacher compensation would attract...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson That seems like an empirical question. Here's a paper that tries to answer it: http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/256380 Is there any evidence that the increased work effort benefit you'd get by firing overcomes the costs involved in h...

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson I tried to make that point, but thank you for expanding on it.

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Preserving liberty isn't a moral issue? If the government system is unjust, why would we want to protect it?

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• 3 months ago

Andrew Hanson Should government restrict the sale of children or votes?

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Andrew Hanson On philosophy, it seems like you agree with the cost-benefit principle, since you've identified where you think government interference is beneficial (unless you mean something else by beneficial) and would seem to draw the line where government...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson On incentives, you're making the comparison between no taxes and a progressive consumption tax. The correct comparison is between an income tax (flat or progressive), a flat sales tax, and a progressive consumption tax. The income and substituti...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thoughtful comments, Courtney. These are separate questions in my mind: (1) What should the government spend money on?; (2) If the government is going to spend X amount of money, what's the most fair and efficient way of raising revenue? My piec...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson You're confusing levels and structure. A person can believe rates should be lower and more progressive, or higher and flatter. As I've said before, you'll be able to tell if wealth transfers are high enough based on the level of equal ...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson You seem confused about how marginal tax rates work.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson It's wrong to think about it in terms of dollar amounts. What you want is for individuals' life outcomes to not be determined by the things over which they have no control: parental income, class, race, gender, etc. What we're aiming f...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson No, but I see that you don't understand the difference between someone's thought and the fact of the matter. Me: If we can cure AIDS, we should. You: African witchdoctors think they can cure AIDS by performing ceremonial rituals and f...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson When social mobility and equal opportunity are high. I'm sorry you're upset about Kim Kardashian's high tax rate. Progressives think there are bigger fish to fry.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson If government can make people better off, it should. Reforming entitlement spending is a separate issue. If you want to write an article about it, I'd be happy to comment. But it's a false choice. The two aren't mutually exclusive....

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I know you support the FairTax. I think it was your profile picture at one point. Feel free to write a piece on the FairTax and I'll comment on it. I'm not so naïve as to think we can dramatically reduce the burden of the wealthy witho...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'd rather just legalize/tax that stuff directly. Good rule of thumb for evaluating policy proposals: don't trust the scoring of the organization that puts forth the proposal!

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson The main difference is that the FairTax is flat, while the progressive consumption tax is progressive (though the FairTax sends a rebate). The other difference is that the progressive consumption tax calculates total consumption using the current sys...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I like the FairTax. The problem is that it's regressive.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Two reasons. First, consumption provides a better reflection of standard of living. At different stages in life, people run up debt, accumulate wealth, have dramatic fluctuations in income, etc. But, people tend to smooth their consumption over time ...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I don't think the black market exchanges are really a risk. As I mentioned, you're reporting your income and savings to the IRS and calculating your consumption from there, so you don't need to keep track of your consumption. Tax r...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Please don't conflate this argument/issue with the debate over simplifying the tax code, ending exemptions/deductions, etc.. These are separate issues and not dependent. I agree with some of your tax proposals, but they aren't really re...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks. I agree and I argued that we should simplify the tax code but keep rates progressive/graduated in a previous piece. I don't see progressive tax rates as more prone to deductions/exemptions than flat taxes.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson The problem for progressives/liberals is that, any way you cut it, you're asking poor people to pay more and cutting taxes enormously on affluent people. This is because poor people consume a larger share of their income. I know conservatives t...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Whoa, lots of questions. Thanks for your feedback. (1) Yes, total consumption for the year is the operative variable. (2) Yes, demand for consumption goods falls and demand for investment goods increases. iPad and iPhone are pretty cheap relati...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson The progressive consumption tax is progressive. The deductions/exemptions piece is a separate argument, but I agree that the tax code should be simpler.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I don't see how this applies, but thanks for your comment.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Tons of wealthy, high skilled people want to move here.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I agree that taxes aren't ends in themselves, but there are better and worse tax systems. I think that taxes can be used as an instrument to discourage activities with negative externalities and encourage activities with positive externalities. ...

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson I should have made clear that the progressive consumption tax is meant to replace the income tax.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Is that supposed to be an argument or hand waving? Tax rates in the U.S. have always been progressive. I guess we're communists. But we've got incredibly high incomes. Hmmmm...I guess communism isn't so bad after all.

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• 4 months ago

Andrew Hanson Would you mind explaining it?

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson I don't understand your point. Are you saying it's impossible to have a moral view unless you are omniscient? In this piece, I am arguing that a progressive system is preferable to a regressive or flat tax. Examples of what I have in mi...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson You're getting off topic. If you want to write a piece about Murray Rothbard and his philosophy, I'd be happy to comment.

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Not worth getting into here. There's a very rich literature on economic methodology. I suggest you check it out, rather than consulting mises.org for the answer to all of life's questions. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/economics/ ...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Science is about measuring things. You're thinking of astrology. Sitting in your armchair and logically determining how the world must be doesn't lead anywhere. Read Hume.

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Science is about measuring things. You're thinking of astrology. Sitting in your armchair and logically determining how the world must be doesn't lead anywhere. Read Hume.

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson I agree. I didn't mean to claim that progressive tax rates themselves are sufficient for an efficient, happy, just society. I was just trying to categorize the reasons that progressive taxes are better than flat/regressive taxes. What the go...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson My modest claim is just that a progressive tax system is better than a flat or regressive system. I do think the tax system should be more progressive, but I didn't argue for it here.

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Like this: http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu/betseys/papers/Happiness.pdf

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson (1) For me, equal opportunity means that the factors outside our control play less influence than the factors within our control, not your conception of freedom. No one is arguing for equality of "results". (2) No, that seems false. Mar...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Your comment is unrelated to the quote you referenced.

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson No particular individual, which is why we are justified in creating fair and just social institutions and arrangements, and pursuing values like equal opportunity. The conclusion of my piece is that a progressive system of tax rates is better tha...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Sal, I don't understand your argument that the current tax system is unfair. Rich people seem to be thriving under this system, while poor and median workers are stagnating. I agree that hard work, dedication, and ambition should be rewarded...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson (1) It's a metaphor, so take it as far as it goes, but the relevant point is that shared consumption shouldn't necessarily be determined by the rule that everyone pays an equal share. (2) My point remains that simpler doesn't mean ...

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• 5 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks, Oliver.

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• 6 months ago

Andrew Hanson George, can I be clearer than "I agree the government should not forcibly remove children from their families except in the most extreme circumstances"? How can you misinterpret this? Presumably, you agree that parents who rape, molest, or ...

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• 6 months ago

Andrew Hanson I didn't argue for that, Phil. Disadvantaged parents typically see high-performing schools as an opportunity for their children they cannot provide themselves. But I agree the government should not forcibly remove children from their families ex...

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• 6 months ago

Andrew Hanson Susan, I don't know how you interpreted my comment as thinking racial segregation and graduation rates—in Durham or anywhere else—aren't important, but that wasn't my intent. Monique, I agree that lunch (and breakfast) and tran...

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson As I mentioned in the piece, "I share progressives’ concerns about the risks of a free market in education. But a free market is not a necessary feature of a choice system. We can embrace choice while maintaining our commitment to equal opport...

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson Sorry Susan, I missed that.

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson "[W]hat about those students who are not offered a place within the "good" schools? Where do they go, if all the other schools have shut down[?]" I think you're describing the current system. More integration would result ...

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson I would definitely support offering parents counseling to help them make an informed decision, and I agree it would be an essential element for the success of the system. However, offering schools a financial incentive for integration would lead sch...

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson Jon, I agree that education is a community function. I don't understand why allowing students from different neighborhoods to attend the same schools is at odds with this. Perhaps you could write a piece on this? Do you think the higher educatio...

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson Hey Susan, I understand that this is a passionate issue, but I would appreciate a more respectful tone. Let's stick to criticizing ideas, not people. But thanks for the comments!

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• 7 months ago

Andrew Hanson First, there's a distinction between moral rights and legal rights. We are definitely born with legal rights, such as the rights you speak of, because we have been granted them by the Basic Structure of society (in the U.S., at least). I don...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Phil, thanks for all your comments. We agree that rights, specifically constitutional rights, are justified, we just think they're justified for different reasons. It's a relatively minor point. I don't think the founders were correct ...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson No, Randian Objectivism has nothing to do with what I am arguing. Again, many schools of ethics reject relativism, but do not accept God or "innate" rights, e.g., consequentialism, utilitarianism, and Aristotelian virtue ethics. The inn...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson No, Michael, I haven't. You don't have to believe in God or natural rights to be a moral objectivist.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson I believe in liberalism, I just think rights are justified in a different way than you. One way to proceed is to ask, "What sort of things have intrinsic worth?" That is, what are ends in themselves? Rights have instrumental worth because t...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Personally, I don't believe in innate or God-given rights, but I do believe that society does and should grant individuals inalienable rights. In general, I think societies should create a Basic Structure that is fair and makes everyone better o...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Yes, you were mistaken. I was initially challenging Michael's relativism. When I say "all", I don't literally mean every single person who is alive or who has existed, but those involved in the discussion, e.g., you and I. Yes, I ...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Morality is within us, so it's not discoverable in the sense that you seem to be thinking. But we can examine arguments for moral claims and come to agreements based shared assumptions about morality that we all believe to be true. This is how m...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson @Phil I don't think so. You appear to be thinking about moral truths as scientific truths that are discoverable. Morality is within us, not out in the world. As rational beings, we can resolve moral disagreements through argument. I think there ...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Phil, are you suggesting that because there's no book on absolute morality that it is necessarily subjective? If so, why even contribute to a site like PolicyMic?

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson I posted the statistics because your said morality is determined by a majority vote, so you should believe the death penalty is moral: "Morality can indeed be determined by vote -- from a certain point of view. Why not?" "People...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks, Jeff!

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson By the way, the majority of Americans support the death penalty, so, in your view, it seems like the right thing to do. It's also supported by 60% of Europeans.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Tom, I agree with you; I just think that it's not always possible to rehabilitate all convicts, but it should be the chief course of action in all cases.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Michael, my position is that innocent people should be freed. If it takes the justice system longer than 20 years to find contrary evidence, the problem is the justice system, not the punishment.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Now that you've spelled out your view, I see where we disagree. You are a moral relativist. I am not. I think slavery and segregation were just as wrong when they were being practiced as they are now. As far as your list of events goes, I do...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Michael, let's avoid using patronizing terms like "sweetie" and demeaning tones. I've tried to be respectful in my commentary and I'd appreciate it if you'd do the same.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Great comment, Michael! I agree completely.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson How am I supposed to address your reasoning if you intentionally leave it out? "I purposely replied without an explanation to provoke your need for clarification -- and thereby emphasize my point." In your view, were slavery and segrega...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson It seems like you're contending that because vicious murderers are aware of the punishment they'll receive after committing a murder, death is not a "punishment." That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I'd be ...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Do you have an actual criticism or are you content in saying "it's weak"? I would contend that the criticism "it's weak" is itself weak sauce.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Absolutely. But I'm just not so idealistic to believe that will always be the case. I also think that people do deserve punishment in many cases, so punishing them is an end in itself. But, in general, I agree with you that rehabilitation is the...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm not sure I understand. Could you clarify your comment? For example, do you think morality can be determined by a vote?

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson That is not my position. That is a straw man.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Other people think punishment is justified on grounds of desert. Do you disagree? Do you think the phrase "justice was done" is meaningless? For example, what do you think would be a fair punishment for Lawrence Russell Brewer and his two f...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson At 700 words, my article was already running a little long. The specific ideas I had in mind are ensuring adequate defense by paying public defenders more, instructing jurors about the reliability of eyewitness testimony and further developing witnes...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson I don't think that killing innocent people and punishing people using capital punishment are morally equivalent either. I agree capital punishment should be humane. Firing squads, hangings, death by electrocution are all inhumane.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Michael, we have an evolutionary instinct to fear death. I don't think it's necessarily rational, or that we can infer that, because people would prefer one option, they're better off in the long run. I don't think either punishme...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm not disagreeing. I'm trying to point out that punishment is tricky from a moral perspective. We're not kidnappers or slaveholders, but we think it's ok to incarcerate people and put them to work.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Are you a kidnapper? Are you a slaveholder?

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks for asking. I intentionally didn't say much because my point is that we should direct our frustrations toward improving the justice system. I have mixed feelings about it. I don't view it as much more heinous, if at all, than life im...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson The death penalty does not differ from other forms of punishment in terms of its justification. It is practically and socially beneficial insofar as it gives people what they deserve and deters people from committing crimes. Regarding its effectivene...

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Good point, Sal.

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Do you agree with my argument that capital punishment cases get more attention and resources devoted to them than others? Also, do you believe that there's a way to reverse the years of pain and suffering by inmates incarcerated for life?

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• 8 months ago

Andrew Hanson Good points, Kyle. Funding and future debt are certainly problems and potential causes of dropping out. Do you think that lack of preparation, ability, interest and varying learning styles are non-issues?

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• 9 months ago

Andrew Hanson Matt, thanks for the comment. Sorry I didn't include more specific policy proposals; 500 words isn't enough space to get very specific. I hope to spell that out a bit more in future articles. What do you think of the college dropout percent...

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• 9 months ago

Andrew Hanson If you click on the hyperlink I posted, you can check the data, but yes, there's no correlation between the rate of home ownership and the size of the MID, mostly because people on the margin typically don't itemize deductions.

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• 9 months ago

Andrew Hanson My guess is that it'd be hard to get at that relationship for several reasons. First, paying off mortgages usually takes many years, so it'd be tough to isolate the size of the MID and the rate mortgages are being paid off. Second, as I men...

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• 9 months ago

Andrew Hanson Sal, the only people I've heard that argument from is from real estate executives and people with special interests in that market. I haven't heard it from many neutral macroeconomists. I would reemphasize the fact that there hasn't hi...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Right, it would lower their tax burden, so they'd have more to reduce their debt. The unseen consequences is that those who don't take on mortgages finance this debt through higher taxes. As an aside, though I didn't mention it in the ...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks, Jon. I agree on the unintended consequence piece, and I'm no fan of the NCLB accountability measures, though I like the concept of standardized testing. I think the federal government could incentivize integration at the federal or stat...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I disagree that the tier-1 schools need the DoE's guidance. I worked at a tier-1 school for two years. We knew our students, our school, and what we needed to do in order to be successful better than the DOE. The DOE's requirements meant th...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks!

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Yes, yes, yes, and double yes.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I apologize if I misrepresented your view.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Great question, Jon. This model appears to be more appropriate for denser areas such as cities because schools could be established with a particular academic focus. For rural areas, specialization would likely be established in one or a few building...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Exactly right, Bryan.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Why must they be in the same classroom? Can't they be socially exposed in other ways, e.g., eating lunch, playing sports, clubs, etc.? Your intuition seems nice in theory but incredibly inefficient in practice. Consider the following: I can vary...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I still don't understand how allowing students to pursue different academic interests would negatively affect their socialization. I see the two as independent. Germany follows a similar system to the one I am advocating and they aren't soc...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Why not?

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I agree completely, and I still favor a survey course. I think it is important to expose students to a variety of subjects so that they can gauge their interest in them. I don't believe, however, that the social aspect of the educational experie...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson It could segregate students, but dangerously? Right now, students are segregated based on their zip codes, which ultimately means they're segregated based on their race and class. Why would "segregating" based on learning style, person...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson My opinion on rights is conditional: if the system places more accountability on teachers for student outcomes, they need more rights as well. I'm not sure school choice "empowers parents" in terms of the things we care about, i.e., ex...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson School choice does not bear the brunt of my criticism. See my above comments: "My concern is that reforms consume resources and political capital. I think that if we had a reform movement that was more focused on significant change, we could bet...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Agree completely and very well said. I share these sentiments and they further motivate my reluctance to embrace the current reform movement.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I agree on the flexibility concern. I think that the easiest way to address it is by allowing principals to hire/fire the teachers they want in their building. There is no good reason for unions or districts to restrict that ability. I'm general...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks for the comment, Paul. I think this is spot on. My one concern is that reforms consume resources and they consume political capital. I think that if we had a reform movement that was more focused on significant change, we could better address ...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson First, I disagree. I think the reforms I support do address those central problems. I'm somewhat baffled that you are so confident they do not having never heard an argument for them, but I suppose I should expect that. You continue to misrepres...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Thanks, Dylan. I agree and one of the things I'm concerned about is that we seem to be moving away from a system of individual responsibility and reliance on the institution of the family. It's a dramatic cultural shift and there will be c...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I hate to be a dead horse, but, again, the goal here was to demonstrate that the current reforms don't address the central causes of our educational problems. I don't see how that's a straw man. I also disagree with you about what the ...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson The limits of a PolicyMic article do not allow me to describe and justify the alternatives I think would be better. I have argued previously on this website for developing a dynamic system that allows students to specialize more; I've also argue...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson There's also this view out there (with many I've spoken to in the libertarian crowd) that, if teachers, principals, and schools just did their jobs, we wouldn't be in this mess. I think that view is naive and it seems to be the motivat...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson You seem to be misinterpreting my argument. I did not argue that we should "address broader social ills", "solve poverty" or "instill middle-class values in all children." Perhaps it is easier to address these arguments ...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Whoops! I clearly was absent that day.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I agree. I believe that teachers and administrators are capable of taking on more responsibility for the success of students and I know many talented teachers out there that are capable of inspiring and motivating their students. However, we should r...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Well said, and I also taught MS Math for the last two years! Keep up the good work, Sarah.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Jason, you are clearly passionate about the school reform movement. I did not mean to offend you or suggest that we should abandon school choice programs. I did, however, suggest that we should be skeptical about whether they will result in significa...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson In general, most of us understand what a tax is, so you don't really need another word. Your definition doesn't really describe a tax, though it does describe your ideological convictions about taxes.

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Your view assumes property rights over all your income, which is exactly what we're arguing. As I said in the article, it's an equivocation and it's question-begging, circular, and unpersuasive unless you're already wearing a libe...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I don't really understand that argument. You seem to be saying: "If the government spends money on the things I like, it's not stealing. But if it spends money on things I don't like (e.g., welfare), it's stealing." That...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson There's no magic involved, Jeff. http://modeledbehavior.com/2011/09/16/immaculate-inflation/

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• 3 weeks ago

Andrew Hanson The idea that supply creates its own demand goes back to Say's Law and is a fundamental misunderstanding of all the macroeconomic knowledge we've gained over the last 100 years. If you simply look around you, you can see it's not true....

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I think there's some confusion on what I was saying, so there's probably less disagreement than you think. I meant that people are uncertain about the market so there is low demand for investment and that firms are uncertain because of low ...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson Uncertainty because of consumer demand and low investment demand, which is exactly what Keynesians are saying. I don't think you're interpreting the models correctly. There's no assumption of equilibrium, e.g., an excess demand for liq...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson That's a common misperception. Businesses are uncertain because of consumer demand. If Washington mismanages the debt ceiling, markets will react, but uncertainty about policy is having a relatively minor effect. Also, the Fed seems like it&#...

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• 10 months ago

Andrew Hanson I couldn't agree more.

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson Property rights are justified because enforcing them results in a net increase in welfare. Libertarians seem to think they're justified in themselves, that they have this "existence" (God, state of nature, etc.) outside of us enforcing...

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson Not true. For example, many seniors buy supplemental insurance plans to pay for services that aren't covered by Medicare. Of course, it wouldn't make sense for seniors to not claim Medicare services now, because they are provided at a margi...

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson You hit the nail on the head regarding my view concerning rights. I don't think rights are a product of our nature or God-given. I think they are socially constructed. The right to life, for example, is a decision by society to prosecute murders...

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'd be more interested to hear how you justify the existence of property rights, i.e., why they are valuable in the first place. I don't think it's important to grant rights of any kind to the dead. As I mentioned earlier, you shouldn&...

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson No. Other nations have different kinds of health care systems, not necessarily single-payer. I don't think it's helpful to say that "health care is a right" because it doesn't persuade anyone who doesn't already believe ...

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson I don't assume that at all. Medicare wouldn't change from single-payer; therefore, everyone 65 and older would receive care. This would only help to raise revenues and deter costs.

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'm a little surprised libertarians haven't been more sympathetic. Typically, they favor people paying directly for the things they use.

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• 11 months ago

Andrew Hanson I'd love to hear your argument that it's unjust. I think desert is an important issue if our goal is to make society more of a meritocracy. Your facetious statement regarding equalizing incomes doesn't consider my arguments for efficie...

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• 11 months ago