Category: Economics
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Saving 20% of your income is a luxury sold as a virtue
The 20% savings rule treats high savings rates as a moral choice, but for most Americans it’s a function of income, not discipline. The honest math.
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Wealth taxes don’t work and the data is clear
Wealth taxes sound elegant but have been repeatedly tried and repeatedly abandoned. The track record across Europe is unflattering and worth taking seriously.
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The everyone should go to college mandate did more damage than good
Pushing every student toward a four-year degree inflated tuition, hollowed out trades, and saddled non-completers with debt. The data is hard to ignore.
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The system isn’t built for you to win
Default financial systems are calibrated to extract fees and interest, not build wealth. Recognizing that asymmetry is the first move toward outperforming it.
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Rent control works
The textbook case against rent control is built on assumptions that don’t survive contact with actual housing markets. The evidence is more interesting than economists admit.
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Job security is an illusion
Tenure-style job security has eroded across nearly every sector. Here’s what the data shows about modern employment risk and what actually replaces stability.
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Long-term capital gains should be taxed as ordinary income, full stop
Taxing investment income at lower rates than wages distorts the economy, widens inequality, and rests on weaker evidence than its defenders claim.
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You don’t have a spending problem, you have an income problem
Personal finance gurus love blaming lattes, but for most working Americans the real squeeze is wages that haven’t kept up with the actual cost of living.
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Tipping is a tax workaround employers love and we keep voting for
Tipping started as a class signal and became a wage subsidy. Employers and customers both prop it up — and the IRS quietly benefits from the chaos.
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Federal student loans caused tuition inflation, full stop
Tuition tripled in real terms while loans expanded freely. The economics aren’t subtle: easy money produced rising prices, and the Bennett hypothesis was right.