Media

Population levels will continue to increase consumption levels don't have to.

Unlike his friend Warren Buffett, Bill Gates has generally not been outspoken about the need for higher taxes on the wealthy. While Gates's father, William Gates, Sr., famously campaigned to preserve the estate tax -- even writing a book with veteran activist Chuck Collins -- Gates himself has been reserved on this issue.

The citizens of Maine will be voting tomorrow whether to keep the same-day registration system that they’ve had for nearly four decades. Since 1973, Maine voters have been able to walk into a polling place or a municipal clerk’s office on Election Day and register to vote.

By virtually every measure, the fortunes of America’s young people are falling under a deluge of debt, shrinking opportunity, rising costs of living and lack of access to health care. Writing with members of the Young Invincibles think tank, the authors write:

There is no bigger national challenge right now than putting Americans pack to work, but little agreement on the magic formula that will create the consumer demand needed to jumpstart the economy and spark new hiring. Democrats favor more stimulus, Republicans argue for tax cuts and deregulation.

As I have written on numerous occasions, the evidence is squarely on the Democratic side of the argument. Spending on things like infrastructure, unemployment benefits, and food stamps is a more effective way to create jobs during the current downturn than tax cuts and deregulation.

Sometimes getting it half right means that you got it all wrong. Such is the case with the New York Times' coverage of the Census' Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).

Demos just released new comprehensive polling about the opinion of young adults. Politically the most interesting data point that stuck out for me is their finding that an overwhelmingly 68 percent of young people say it is harder for them to make ends meet now than it was four years ago. From the poll results:

Facing diminished job opportunities and heavy student-loan debt, today's 20-somethings may be more downwardly mobile than their parents.