“The facts as I see them are clear and damning: Baby boomers took the economic equivalent of a king salmon from their parents and, before they passed it on, gobbled up everything but the bones.”— Jim Tankersley, correspondent for The National Journal Is the baby boom generation reaping more than they sowed? After the end … Continue reading
There is no question that Monsanto has a controversial reputation. It is the country’s leading producer of genetically modified seeds, and consequently the largest target for anti-GMO activists. Now, critics are balking at Monsanto for entirely unrelated reasons: the Missouri-based firm recently announced its plan to buyout a Swiss chemical manufacturer and make the joint … Continue reading
Welcome to Chicago, the corruption capital of the country! Kind of catchy, don’t you think? Far from being plastered on the city’s next welcome billboard, this slogan may soon become a rallying cry for Chicagoans tired of being the punchline in a fill-in-the-blank corruption joke. The dubious distinction comes from a report released by the … Continue reading
It’s graduation season! And according to sources from both the White House and the Fed, the current unemployment rate of only 5.5 percent signals a wealth of opportunity for grads. Furthermore, the unemployment rate has been consistently declining. This means that all of us in Class of 2015 should breathe easy; the time has come … Continue reading
The Michigan state government recently stumbled across a startling statistic. Over the past decade its revenue streams were $8-10 million below what it expected. The cause? Residents of nearby states have been smuggling millions of bottles and cans into Michigan, taking advantage of its nation-leading 10-cent bottle refund. Michigan is one of 10 states nationwide … Continue reading
The U.S. agriculture sector is an important part of American culture and economy. In 2013, it contributed $789 billion to U.S. GDP. Especially in the Midwest, American agriculture relies heavily on immigrant laborers. In the ongoing debate over immigration reform, Midwest agriculture needs special consideration. Between 2000 and 2012 alone, U.S. consumption of fresh produce … Continue reading
Patent legislation is a balancing act — the protection of legitimate patent holders and non-infringing operators while stopping malicious attacks from so-called “patent trolls.” Unfortunately, finding that balance is proving a herculean task; the current debate is controversial for good reason. The Problem Proponents of patent reform target their ire at patent trolls. These perfidious … Continue reading
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s reelection last week has surprised many Israelis as well as the rest of the world. Almost every poll taken prior to the election showed Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party losing by around two to five seats to the center-left Zionist Union Party led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni. Many attribute … Continue reading
If search engines and search advertisers were playing each other in Hasbro’s Monopoly, Google would definitely have hotels on both Boardwalk and Park Place, according to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report. Unfortunately, reality is no board game, and Google has been accused of using anticompetitive tactics to harm both rivals and consumers. The … Continue reading
The Federal Government’s role as a safety net for the vulnerable has been growing steadily since the passage of the New Deal in the wake of the Great Depression, when President Roosevelt introduced such novel concepts as Social Security. Follow-up legislation in the 1960s established Medicare, which continues to help senior citizens remain independent as … Continue reading
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