Tag: public policy

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It is perpetually tempting to imagine letting the red states (whose voters imagine that they are getting the short end of the stick, when in fact they are vastly subsidized) go their own way. Tempting, but both impossible and harmful.

Much better, as cogently explained here by @interfluidity, is to build things up in the red states, so that their citizens perceive that they have an economic and political stake in the United States.

Fix the Senate II: Integrate

“The only way to mitigate this tendency towards corrosive crisis is to ensure that differences of interest between larger and smaller states are generally modest.”

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On one of my top-two issues when it comes to means-testing benefits, @interfluidity gets it just right:

“Requiring demonstration of inadequate means up-front, rather than on the back-end, creates at best a delay between when a shock is experienced and when it can be ameliorated. “Delay” can mean your kid skips meals, you start rationing your insulin, or your family is evicted from its home. It’s a big deal.”

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The Innocent Pleasure of Trespassing: a delightful essay by Nick Slater.

“Trespassing is an act of resistance against this slow strangulation of our living spaces. Human beings should be free to wander where they please—indeed, for much of our history, this has been taken for granted. Nomadic and semi-nomadic civilizations like the Plains Indians or the Turkic tribes of the Eurasian steppe weren’t the only ones to prize freedom of movement; those who insist such a concept is incompatible with the property-loving values of Western civilization may be interested to know that ‘the right to roam’ has been ingrained in the cultures of many Northern and Central European countries for centuries.”

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This article makes a good point:

“Ultimately, we the public will decide when the economy reopens, not the government.”

If people decide not to fly, not to stay in hotels, not to eat at restaurants, and to wait and see how things work out before making major purchases, it doesn’t matter if the “stay-at-home” orders are lifted or not.

Source: It’s Ugly Out There | Tim Duy’s Fed Watch

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I have written my congressman:

Dear Congressman Davis:

I am writing to urge you to support the United States Postal Service—both in general, and on an emergency basis.

The internet, email, and courier services all have their place, but the U.S. mail remains a critical service. It is used by many businesses and many individuals. Services only available from the post office (such as dated postmarks, and the presumption that something mailed has been delivered) are embedded into laws and common practices beyond counting.

On an emergency basis, the post office needs financial support similar to any business hard-hit by the pandemic.

On a longer-term basis, the post office needs relief from the onerous pension pre-funding rules imposed in 2006. (Or, if those rules are really a good idea, perhaps they should be extended to all businesses, and all local, state, and federal pensions.)

I remind you that the establishment of post offices is one of Congress’s enumerated powers, and urge you to work within Congress to ensure that the post office is preserved. Please let me know about the efforts you’re making.

Yours sincerely,

Philip M. Brewer

I wrote the letter, printed it out on paper, signed it, addressed an envelope, put a stamp on it, and dropped it in the outgoing mail. (I used t-rex stamps, which are really too good for Congressmen Davis, but I was trying to make a point.)