This past summer, the Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled a proposed rule that could provide almost five million new workers with overtime protections. Currently, overtime regulations apply only to those earning $455 or lower weekly. If implemented, this new rule would increase the salary threshold up to $970 a week. This threshold is equivalent to … Continue reading
History has all but forgotten Thomas Marshal. After surviving an attempted bombing, the former governor of Indiana managed to serve two terms as Vice President under Woodrow Wilson. Narrowly escaping death, however, seems to have been Marshal’s greatest accomplishment in office. He took a cynical approach to the job, readily acknowledging the ‘insignificance’ of the … Continue reading
Anyone who has ever taken an economics class recalls the first basic principle; nothing is free. Everything has a cost. Whether it’s time or money, there is a ticket to everything. Recently, politicians like Bernie Sanders have been campaigning on the promise of free college education to promote opportunity for all. This call has students scrambling in … Continue reading
Generally, little attention is given to the jihadist group based out of Nigeria known as Boko Haram. Much of the world learned about the group in April 2014 after the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from their dormitory in Chibok. Approximately 50 of the girls escaped, but little is known about the remaining 225 girls, besides … Continue reading
For years, there has been concern over stagnant wages, unemployment, and the persistence of poverty across the United States. Many different remedies have been proposed, and at times implemented, in an effort to improve the U.S. labor market. One of the solutions most vehemently advocated for is the increase of the minimum wage, both on … Continue reading
In late 2015, Wisconsin became the 12th State to adopt the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC). This program recognizes that medical training is fairly uniform across the states involved, and it provides a quicker path to licensure for physicians looking to practice medicine in Wisconsin. The move for Wisconsin to enact the IMLC also presents a major … Continue reading
Experts across the political spectrum have questioned how much society should be willing to pay for new and expensive treatments, especially if another treatment exists with a proven track record. Although it often escapes policymakers, the heart of this debate should be medical efficacy. For both the new treatment and the old, do they work? How … Continue reading
Back in April, Bloomberg infamously predicted that “half of U.S. fracking companies would be dead or sold this year.” Despite continued slumps in oil, the expensive extraction process of fracking has remained and will likely continue to stay for the foreseeable future. Continue reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Drug Administration (FDA) have infringed upon my economic liberties. Collectively, these government bodies created an inefficient marketplace that burdens contact lens retailers and consumers. In hopes of curtailing market power granted to contact lens prescribers by FDA regulation, the FTC designed the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act … Continue reading
By way of Alaska’s 60,000 mile coastline, the United States is one of the world’s eight Arctic nations. However, many in the U.S. fail to understand the significance of this relatively unexplored frontier. Outside the Cold War, the United States has invested very little to secure its position as a global leader in Arctic affairs. As … Continue reading
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