In October, 2017, the Washington Post published a very strange series of articles about the recipients of disability benefits in the United States. The entire series is worth reading for various reasons, but I want to direct your attention to one particular entry: After the check is gone. The principal character in the article, Donna Jean Dempsey, collects aluminum cans … [Read more...] about Means-testing and Appalachian roots
self-employment
What’s the optimal amount of self-employment income?
Because of the antipathy of American politicians to low-income people, who mostly don't vote and mostly don't make large campaign contributions, we've been blessed with a fractured and dysfunctional welfare state, designed to make income support as cumbersome and difficult as possible to receive, even or perhaps especially for those people who are, in fact, entitled to … [Read more...] about What’s the optimal amount of self-employment income?
Free Business Idea: Virtual Reality Saloons
The other day I went down to the mall and happened to arrive during a shift change at the customer service desk. I wandered over to a row of couches and sat down to watch a Microsoft Store employee playing a game using the store's virtual reality set-up. Seeing as I had 15 minutes to kill, I asked him if I could try it out. I believe the system they had set up was … [Read more...] about Free Business Idea: Virtual Reality Saloons
Differences between non-retirement investment options
If you're in the right mood, there's something a little bit depressing about the subject of investing: how boring it is. An easy way to think about this is that if you make the maximum contribution to a 401(k) and IRA every year, for 20 years, at the end of that 20 years, you'll be rich. How rich you'll be depends on a lot of factors, but the fact you'll be rich doesn't depend … [Read more...] about Differences between non-retirement investment options
What a culture of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship would look like
I write a lot about entrepreneurship. This is not because I think everyone should be an entrepreneur. For one thing, not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, and part of having an economy that works for everyone means making room for folks who just want to show up at work and do their job. The problem with our current system of social and economic organization is that we've … [Read more...] about What a culture of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship would look like