The Obama Campaign Seems Dangerously Close To

Anyone Who Thinks That The Last 80 Years, Ever Since Fdr Took Us Off Gold, Have Been A Doomed Venture, That Strikes Me As Kind Of Cranky.

Surely I'm Not The Only Person To Ask The Obvious Question: How Different, Really, Is Mr. Madoff's Tale From The Story Of The Investment Industry As A Whole?

Middle-class Societies Don't Emerge Automatically As An Economy Matures, They Have To Be Created Through Political Action.

The Growth Of The Internet Will Slow Drastically, As The Flaw In 'metcalfe's Law'–which States That The Number Of Potential Connections In A Network Is Proportional To The Square Of The Number Of Participants–becomes Apparent: Most People Have Nothing To Say To Each Other! By 2005 Or So, It Will Become Clear That The Internet's Impact On The Economy Has Been No Greater Than The Fax Machine's.

In Short, What The Living Wage Is Really About Is Not Living Standards, Or Even Economics, But Morality. Its Advocates Are Basically Opposed To The Idea That Wages Are A Market Price-determined By Supply And Demand, The Same As The Price Of Apples Or Coal. And It Is For That Reason, Rather Than The Practical Details, That The Broader Political Movement Of Which The Demand For A Living Wage Is The Leading Edge Is Ultimately Doomed To Failure: For The Amorality Of The Market Economy Is Part Of Its Essence, And Cannot Be Legislated Away.