Words & Numbers

Much has been said about the high cost of higher education in America. And it is, indeed, quite expensive and getting more so at an alarming rate. For all that, though, at least we can say that America gets what it pays for in that we have the best higher education system in the world. In fact, it's one of our biggest exports, totaling more than $35 billion—fully 5 percent of America's export market—as of 2015. The same cannot be said for our primary and secondary education systems, with the US consistently ranking at around the middle of the pack among developed nations in standardized test scores. The thing of it is, the average annual cost per student in an American public high school is about the same as the average annual cost per student in an American public university. With the price of educating young people being generally the same for public high schools and public universities, why is there such a huge discrepancy in the outcomes for the students? Is there any way to remedy this situation? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Administrative bloat in health care and higher education http://hereandnow.legacy.wbur.org/2011/11/02/university-cost-bloated https://www.athenahealth.com/insight/expert-forum-rise-and-rise-healthcare-administrator Homeland Security monitoring journalists http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/07/homeland-security-database-would-track-journalists-media-influencers-report.html Foolishness of the week http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/381946-michelle-obama-my-husband-was-the-good-parent-compared-to-trump Topic of the week: Public schools Cost per public school student is around $13,000. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66 http://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html Standardized test scores about the same for most and least expensive public schools https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile?chort=2&sub=MAT&sj=AL&sfj=NP&st=AB&year=2013R3 Net tuition and fees at private 4-year colleges is $15,000. https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-net-price-over-time-full-time-students-private-nonprofit-four-year-institutions Performance evidence for school vouchers https://www.cato.org/blog/evidence-school-choice-works Comparison of US school students to students in other countries http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/ Higher education is a major US export https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/01/31/sealing-the-border-could-block-one-of-americas-crucial-exports-education/ Value of a high school diploma https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/08/28/public-high-schools-are-not-doing-their-jobs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's no way to sugar-coat it. Social Security is going to fail. There are, of course, ways to possibly extend its life for a few years, or even decades, but ultimately, like all Ponzi schemes, it will collapse. By the federal government's and the Social Security Board of Trustees' own admissions, the Social Security program will be paying out more than it takes in in just 4 years. At current rates (and assuming the federal government fully pays back the more than $5 trillion it "borrowed" from Social Security's accounts), the program will be completely out of money in about 17 years. What does this situation mean for current working Americans? Is there any way to solve this problem? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Splitting up Amazon https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/former-walmart-us-ceo-congress-consider-splitting-up-amazon.html National pencil day https://nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-pencil-day-march-30/ Foolishness of the week: Cancer warnings on coffee https://fee.org/articles/why-californias-lawsuit-industry-wants-you-to-think-coffee-causes-cancer/?utm_source=FEE+Email+Subscriber+List&utm_campaign=ca27aafa08-MC_FEE_DAILY_2018_04_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_84cc8d089b-ca27aafa08-107137661 https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/general-info/cancer-warning-labels-based-on-californias-proposition-65.html https://www.refinery29.com/2018/04/195249/coffee-cancer-warning-label-california-starbucks-dunkin-donuts-reaction?bucketed=true https://nypost.com/2018/03/30/de-blasio-eyes-vacancy-tax-for-greedy-landlords-seeking-top-dollar/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons Topic of the week: Social Security https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/social-security-administration-spending-tops-1-trillion-first-time https://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v75n1/v75n1p1.html https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n3/v70n3p111.html https://www.ssa.gov/history/nestor.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/how-privatized-social-security-works-in-galveston.html https://www.state-journal.com/2018/01/25/you-asked-can-kentucky-teachers-retirement-system-participants-receive-social-security/ https://www.teacherpensions.org/blog/why-aren%E2%80%99t-all-teachers-covered-social-security https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-bevin-kentucky-lawmakers-pass-pension-overhaul-despite-teacher-ire/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pundits are declaring that America is a nation divided. In fairness, this is a true statement, but it's not a new phenomenon. America has been a nation divided since at least the election of 1800. That said, the division is not a dichotomous one. Recent data show that a large and growing number of Americans self-identify as neither Republican nor Democrat, but as Independent. It would appear that a large number of Americans are growing increasingly tired of the ever-more extreme stances of the two major parties, instead favoring more moderate approaches to governance. An excellent microcosmic example of this is the recent special election in Pennsylvania Congressional District 18, a district that in the 2016 presidential election voted in favor of Donald Trump by 20 percentage points. Despite its deeply red tendencies and both the President and Vice President campaigning in support of the Republican congressional candidate, PA18 narrowly elected a Democrat to represent it. A Democrat, it should be noted, who publicly distanced himself from major Democratic leaders and campaigned on issues more typically associated with right-wing politicians. What does this mean for American politics going forward? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits The singular “they” http://theweek.com/articles/758082/why-need-accept-singular?utm_source=links&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=facebook https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/06/06/he-or-she-versus-they/ South Korea encourages people not to work so much https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/south-korea-start-turning-computers-12237489 Foolishness of the Week: YouTube bans all gun related content https://thenextweb.com/google/2018/03/21/youtube-banning-gun-videos-now-theyre-reappearing-pornhub/ https://reason.com/blog/2018/03/23/youtube-says-it-will-be-shutting-down-gu Topic of the week: Moderation http://www.insidesources.com/move-toward-moderation/ http://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The American federal government has a serious spending problem. The federal debt, the sum total of all the money the government has borrowed, has hit $21 trillion, with a cool $1 trillion of that coming from Trump's first year in office. That is, undeniably, a lot of money, and media outlets all over the country are crowing about it being the first time a single-year deficit has been so high, but it simply isn't so. Even by fairly kind calculations, it's happened at least three times before—once under George W. Bush and at least twice under Barack Obama. Regardless, the federal debt is soaring, and eventually, that debt is going to come due. And when it does, what does that mean for Americans individually and on the whole? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rumors have been circulating recently that the Trump Administration is considering including drug dealing among those crimes that can be subject to capital punishment. That's just a nice way of saying "the death penalty." In an effort to signal to his supporters that he's "tough on crime" and serious about the opioid crisis, President Trump has indicated his positive view of the death penalty for drug offenses in countries like Singapore and the Philipines. But what is the current status of the death penalty in the United States today? How has the Supreme Court ruled on the death penalty in the past? And isn't this a legislative issue, anyway? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Altruistic business https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-jersey-businessman-drops-fees-for-shivering-neighbors/ Falling space junk http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5486985/Lower-Michigan-crash-site-falling-Chinese-space-station.html https://www.npr.org/2011/09/21/140641362/where-falling-satellite-lands-is-anyones-guess Foolishness of the week https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/scientology-appears-poised-launch-tv-network-1093640 Topic of the week: Capital punishment https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/countries-that-still-have-the-death-penalty/ https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/death-penalty-fast-facts/index.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/world/asia/philippines-drug-war.html http://news.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/29/support-for-death-penalty-lowest-in-more-than-four-decades/ https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-international-perspective Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last week, President Trump announced his intention to place tariffs on steel and aluminum. Unfortunately for the president—and everyone else, should these tariffs be imposed—more than a century of economic data make it very clear that tariffs are a net negative for the economy. But what are tariffs, anyway? Why are they so awful? And, if they are, why does any country impose them? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits United replaces bonuses with lotteries https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2018/03/02/united-airlines-replaces-bonuses-with-lottery.html China bans things https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/asia/china-letter-ban-trnd/index.html https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5701287/china-xi-jinping-president-winnie-the-pooh-banned/ http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-reincarnation-law-20160307-story.html Foolishness of the Week http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-ci-children-soda-bill-20180213-story.html Topic of the Week: Trade and Tariffs http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/03/that-was-then-this-is-now-13.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/23/news/economy/trump-tariff-power/index.html http://www.walkerd.people.cofc.edu/Readings/Trade/iowacarcrop.pdf http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=61826 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States https://japantoday.com/category/business/toyota-us-tariffs-will-'substantially'-increase-car-prices http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/03/that-was-then-this-is-now-13.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the horrific school shooting in Parkland, FL, on February 14th, the "debate" about gun control has reignited in the US. Pundits on both sides of the issue are over-generalizing, taking assumptions to the extreme, and generally talking past each other. But one thing that remains constant is persistent cry for "common sense" gun regulations. What constitutes "common sense" varies from person to person, but they all involve the restriction or outright ban on certain types or styles of firearms. If the War on Drugs taught us anything, it's that prohibition doesn't work, but at the same time, any number of school shootings is too many. So if bans aren't a good option, what might be? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the last two and a half generations, the number of students who go on to attend college, as a percentage of the population, has tripled. In 1959, about 20 percent of high school students went on to college. Since relatively few people were earning degrees, having one all but guaranteed getting a good, high-paying job. As a result, parents, high schools, and colleges began encouraging more and more high school students to go to college. Today, about 60 percent of high school students go on to college. But has the big push to get kids into college done anything to improve outcomes? Is the average $250,000 investment in a four-year degree at all worth it? If not, what alternatives exist? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Regulatory capture is a problem in this country. It happens pretty easily. Politicians can't be experts in everything, so they turn to actual experts for help with regulating various industries. The experts tend to be those who have already enjoy some measure of success in their field. The regulatory suggestions that these experts give politicians tend to make life easier for the already-established experts and harder for those competing with them. This kind of thing happens all too often and leads to gross regulatory overreach, such as Uber working to ban private ownership of self-driving cars. How do we prevent this or, at the very least, strike it down after the fact? Join James Harrigan, Antony Davies, and special guest Robert McNamara from the Institute for Justice as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits http://triblive.com/news/education/career/13275149-74/carlow-university-launches-micro-masters-program https://micromasters.mit.edu/ https://www.edx.org/micromasters Foolishness of the week http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/08/jeff-sessions-advice-to-pain-patients-ta Topic of the week: Occupational licensing and regulatory capture http://ij.org/staff/robert-mcnamara/ https://cei.org/blog/uber-wants-make-it-illegal-operate-your-own-self-driving-car-cities https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2720&context=articles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The fact that the United States' yearly deficit spending is set to soon top $1 trillion — an amount that is itself larger than most governments' entire operating budget — might be an indicator that the federal government has gotten too large. No matter which party is in power, the federal government and its attendant spending never really ceases to grow. We're taught in school a rose-colored tale of selfless public servants righteously chosen by solemn, considering voters to go to Washington to diligently represent their constituency's best interests. But is it true? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Federal deficit to top $1 trillion http://reason.com/archives/2018/01/04/trillion-dollar-deficit-deja-vu The DNC is broke http://theweek.com/speedreads/752743/dnc-reportedly-dead-broke-rnc-nearly-40-million Foolishness of the Week http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/02/inside-the-insane-battle-over-arizonas-d Topic of the week: The Security State and the Therapeutic State https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/hist03z2.xls https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/POP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Immigration is, as happens fairly routinely, an important topic in the national conversation these days. It's generally well-accepted that the United States is "a nation of immigrants," and yet there remains a stubborn skepticism about new immigrants. These concerns generally branch into two broad categories: economic concerns and social concerns. Economically, citizens seem to think that immigrants are "taking our jobs" or "a drain on the system." Socially, citizens are of the belief that immigrants are "undermining American culture." But are any of these concerns warranted? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits: Denver hires homeless people https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/denver-hired-homeless-people-perform-day-labor-city-100-landed-regular-jobs/ Koch donating $400 million to candidates https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/27/politics/koch-republican-election-candidates-donate/index.html https://nrf.com/resources/consumer-research-and-data/holiday-spending/halloween-headquarters https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/04/fourth-of-july-spending-by-the-numbers.html https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topindivs.php Foolishness of the week https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/24/580228837/a-dozen-camels-disqualified-from-saudi-beauty-pageant-over-botox-injections Topic of the week https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/Annual-Number-of-US-Legal-Permanent-Residents http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/size-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-workforce-stable-after-the-great-recession/ http://www.businessinsider.com/major-us-companies-founded-by-immigrants-2017-2 http://startupsusa.org/fortune500/#appendix http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/19/news/economy/undocumented-immigrant-taxes/index.html https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/immigration2016.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/United_States.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/United_States.pdf https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/09/undocumented-immigrants-and-taxes/499604/ http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/despite-the-rancor-there-is-much-that-unites-americans-20171116.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Socialism is, whether we like it or not, in the national dialogue. And there are numerous people who claim to be socialists who, nevertheless, have a hard time defining what socialism actually is. Socialism, in it's purest form, indeed, has never been tried. But, by the same token, neither has undiluted capitalism. To understand which works better, we have to think about means and ends. Almost all of us want the same ends, but we disagree sharply as to the appropriate means. So how do we find the most efficient, most humane means? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Sweden could launch its own cryptocurrency http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-cryptocurrency-e-krona-riksbank-2018-1 People believe that companies may five times more profit than they actually do http://www.aei.org/publication/the-public-thinks-the-average-company-makes-a-36-profit-margin-which-is-about-5x-too-high-part-ii/?utm_content=bufferaa12b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer https://taxfoundation.org/state-gasoline-tax-rates-2017/ http://gasprices.aaa.com/ http://fortune.com/2017/06/07/fortune-500-companies-profit-apple-berkshire-hathaway/ Topic of the Week: Socialism https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/2017-03-08/celebrate-american-womens-economic-freedom-on-international-womens-day www.wsj.com/articles/antony-davies-and-james-r-harrigan-for-gender-equality-you-cant-beat-capitalism-1425684094 https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-09-19/we-need-to-find-the-right-mix-of-government-and-markets http://www.antolin-davies.com/research/elp.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent the country into a tizzy not long ago when he declared that the federal government would start cracking down on state-legal marijuana. This is problematic, but it's a symptom of a larger problem. Article I, Section 8, of the US Constitution lists the things that the federal government may concern itself with. Marijuana — indeed, any drug — is not on that list. In fact, a great many things that the federal government concerns itself with are not on that list. So how did we get to the point of having federal laws and regulations about marijuana and a number of other things? We had to have a Constitutional amendment to ban alcohol, so why doesn't the government need one to ban marijuana? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Sarah Silverman https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/sarah-silverman-befriends-troll-insulted-pays-medical-treatment/ CT considers raising its excise tax on cigarettes. Again. http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-lafaive-ct-cigarette-tax-smuggling-0109-20180108-story.html What will mass-market driverless cars look like? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-12/gm-drops-the-steering-wheel-and-gives-the-robot-driver-control Foolishness of the Week https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/business/economy/irs-debt-collection.html Topic of the Week: Federalism and Constitutional Amendments Federalism and marijuana http://reason.com/archives/2018/01/10/federalists-cant-support-a-cannabis-crac Article One, Section 8 of the US Constitution https://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec8.html Wickard v. Filburn https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/317us111 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite its passage some time ago, recent attention has been brought to the impending implementation of a Washington, D.C., regulation that will require all professional childcare workers to have a college degree. This has raised a great hue and cry as it will ban a number of existing childcare workers from their chosen profession as well as having the effect of dramatically increasing the cost of childcare in the District — which is, incidentally, already incredibly high when compared to the rest of the country. Unintended consequences happen all the time in everyday life, but when legislators and regulators act, the consequences are on a much larger scale. Unintended consequences abound in pretty much every aspect of regulated life to various degrees. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits Man cited for sheltering the homeless (David Wilson) https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/elgin-greg-schiller-slumber-parties-homeless-cold-467714563.html Philip Morris getting out of the cigarette business? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/01/03/philip-morris-marlboro-wants-give-up-cigarettes-go-smoke-free/1001442001/ Foolishness of the Week President Trump, apparently not interested in Steve Bannon’s criticism, seeks to block the release “Sloppy Steve’s” book. http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-book-20180104-story.html https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-rage-tweets-about-wolff-and-sloppy-steve-bannon-phony-book-is-full-of-lies/ Topic of the Week: Unintended Consequences Gun buyback https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae0c/469a9f5d95dd2fc8112bcdadb614183aa520.pdf Seat belt laws http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/260352 Payday lending https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203806504577183240533438580 Fishing quotas https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12098697 CEO pay https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116062249630690247 Three strikes law http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0887403405277001 Bounty on cobras http://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-cobra-effect-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ Mexico city air pollution http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/ldavis/Davis%20JPE%202008.pdf California fuel economy mandates https://web.stanford.edu/~goulder/Papers/Published%20Papers/Unintended%20Consequences%20(Pavley%20Paper)%20-%20JEEM%20March%202012.pdf Americans with Disabilities Act https://economics.mit.edu/files/273 Electrician licensing requirements https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01044518 Red-light cameras http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301844.html Cash for clunkers http://www.nber.org/papers/w16351 Venezuela https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuelas-paradox-people-are-hungry-but-farmers-cant-feed-them/2017/05/21/ce460726-3987-11e7-a59b-26e0451a96fd_story.html?utm_term=.32c5dd1398b0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do you do on any given day that is not somehow regulated by government in some way? There really isn't much. In point of fact, there are well over one hundred thousand pages of federal regulations alone, to say nothing of state and local regulations. We have government-mandated guidelines for everything from space exploration to how your dog can behave in a city park. While many people concede that there is an acceptable minimum level of government regulation, and others maintain that there is no such thing as an unregulated market, even in the absence of government guidance, it's clear that as things currently stand, we are a highly overregulated nation. So if there is, indeed, a legitimate purpose for regulation, what is it? What are we trying to accomplish with these regulations? Who benefits? And how far is too far? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits Police killed in the line of duty https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/12/28/number-officers-killed-2017-hits-nearly-50-year-low/984477001/ 26 year-old gives birth to 24 year-old https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/record-baby-26-year-old-gives-birth-daughter-frozen-24-years-ago/ Alcohol https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/12/28/how-many-alcoholic-drinks-too-many-per-week/822604001/ Venezuelan cryptocurrency https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/29/venezuela-oil-backed-cryptocurrency-to-launch-in-days.html Foolishness of the Week http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pew-trump-media-three-times-more-negative-than-for-obama-just-5-percent-positive/article/2644448 This Week’s Topic Magnitude of regulation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkNPjC0gVSo What regulations did Trump eliminate? https://cei.org/blog/so-what-regulations-did-trump-eliminate Regulation of social media http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/354006-regulate-social-media-just-like-other-media https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/its-time-to-crack-down-on-facebook-and-twitter-commentary.html https://www.cjr.org/analysis/twitter-egyptian-journalist-ban.php Regulating florists because dirt might be infected https://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/protection-racket-occupational-licensing-laws-and/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It seems, these days, that you can't turn on the TV or log on to social media without someone griping about how awful things are. They complain about everything, from taxes to avocados to bills to cell signal strength. But the truth of things is a lot rosier than popular media would lead you to believe. Global illiteracy rates are below 14 percent. Global rates of extreme poverty are below 10 percent. Despite there being more people currently alive on the planet than ever before, there are also more calories per capita than ever before. This is not to say that there aren't improvements to be made or that there aren't bad things happening, but perhaps bearing these facts in mind might improve our outlook on life. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about thankfulness and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Walmart employs 1% of Americans http://www.businessinsider.com/largest-employers-each-us-state-2017-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-employees-pay https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/business/walmart-workers-pay-advances.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/nearly-every-american-spent-money-at-wal-mart-last-year.html High school reports 100% college placement rate https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/12/17/570255742/teachers-around-the-country-react-to-investigation-into-ballou-high-school https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/11/28/564054556/what-really-happened-at-the-school-where-every-senior-got-into-college Data http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/09/how-americans-compare-with-the-global-middle-class/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cell-phones-demography-nielsen-data-breaks-mobile-phone/story?id=11468925 https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/entertainment/2005-04-10-brick-cell-phone_x.htm https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA http://graphics.wsj.com/what-percent/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There has been quite the groundswell in recent years in the efforts to legalize marijuana. In fact, a majority of US states have at least some sort of access to legal weed, despite its still being criminalized at the federal level. But the state of Colorado led the nation when it legalized marijuana for all purposes, even recreational ones, in January of 2014. The anti-marijuana advocates warned that such an action would lead to increased drug use — especially among teens — higher crimes rates, and a whole spate of other undesirable consequences. Nevertheless, the plant prevailed. It's still early days, but we do have almost four years of data about the effects of legalizing marijuana to look at. Were the anti-marijuana crusaders correct? Are teen drug use and violent crime rampant? Are visitors shunning Colorado? Was it all a huge mistake? Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits Unemployment rate is at its lowest level? https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2017/12/08/why-you-cant-rely-on-the-unemployment-rate-as-primary-economic-indicator/ Sweet Briar college no longer discounting tuition https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/beloved-womens-college-slashes-tuition-prices-30/ https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/college-costs/college-costs-faqs https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/16/discount-rates-rise-yet-again-private-colleges-and-universities Venezuela’s diaspora is growing: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/14/flood-venezuelans-fleeing-their-depressed-country/941463001/ US better educated now than at any time in its history: http://triblive.com/news/education/classroom/13077368-74/us-more-educated-than-ever-before-census-bureau-says Foolishness of the week Bulletproof glass is an indignity http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/15/philly-votes-to-regulate-bulletproof-gla Marijuana and Crime Adolescent pot use is falling in Colorado http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/12/contradicting-prohibitionists-survey-say/amp?__twitter_impression=true The war on marijuana has failed http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/11974018-74/marijuana-colorado-drug Colorado’s pot full of benefits http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/6487136-74/marijuana-state-war Commercial pot in Colorado http://gazette.com/editorial-the-sad-anniversary-of-big-commercial-pot-in-colorado/article/1614900 Milton Friedman on drug criminalization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLsCC0LZxkY Attorney General Jeff Sessions on marijuana policy http://www.newsweek.com/will-jeff-sessions-war-marijuana-next-week-744089 Teen marijuana use is down since legalization https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/11/following-marijuana-legalization-teen-drug-use-is-down-in-colorado Data https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/colorado-crime-statistics-ucr https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/crime-colorado1 http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/colorado-population/ https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/table-1 https://www.denverite.com/chronic-homelessness-ten-year-high-metro-denver-heres-citys-38546/ https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PW_ISVP_PDO_Heroin-in-Colorado-2017.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christmas is right around the corner, and people everywhere are in the holiday spirit. In addition to giving gifts to loved ones, Americans are also giving to their preferred charities. Indeed, about a third of all charitable donations occur during the month of December. And Americans are, in general, incredibly generous. Recent estimates have the total dollar amount of charitable giving, both cash and labor, at about $600 billion. That's more than almost all other countries take in via taxation. Most of this money comes from those "selfish" rich people you read so much about, and all but about 5 percent of it comes from individuals. Businesses, for all their fanfare and PR campaigns, give very little in comparison. Of course, not all of this giving goes to what might be called poverty relief, but about 82 percent of it does, about $500 billion, as of 2016. And all of this giving is completely separate from what the government takes through taxation and redistributes through what is loosely defined as "welfare spending." So how does all of this private charity compare to what the government is doing? What does the future for government welfare look like? Is the market capable of taking on the role of the "first line" of help for those who need it? Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Episode Data and Articles: Voluntary Giving http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/11522510-74/christmas-war-holiday http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/charitable-giving-generosity-government-poverty-20171204.html Welfare https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/01/12/no-we-dont-spend-1-trillion-on-welfare-each-year/?utm_term=.e907f7625b56 https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2017USbn_17bs6n_2030#usgs302 Data https://givingusa.org/giving-usa-2017-total-charitable-donations-rise-to-new-high-of-390-05-billion/ https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Giving-Tuesday-Haul-Is-an/238534 https://www.nptrust.org/philanthropic-resources/charitable-giving-statistics/ https://www.independentsector.org/resource/the-value-of-volunteer-time/ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2056.html https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=42 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Economist Paul Krugman is well-known for his pro-Democrat stances. Recently, he's claimed that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said that if the Individual Mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, is repealed, 22 million Americans will "lose" their health insurance. What he doesn't say is that the vast majority of those 22 million people are simply opting out. They are _choosing_ not to have health insurance. But here's the problem with CBO forecasts: they're usually wrong. And they're wrong in almost the exact same way. Why are the CBO forecasts so bad? Why do they consistently get it wrong in such a consistent way? And what does this mean for our economy? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more in this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Emirates’ new 777 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2017/11/13/new-emirates-first-class-suites-on-777-300er-revealed-at-the-dubai-air-show/#13ce46a256b8 Curing disease by rewriting our DNA https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/first-scientists-try-edit-faulty-dna-inside-patients-body-cure-genetic-disease/ iHeart Radio:https://www.wsj.com/articles/iheart-creditors-reject-another-offer-from-company-as-they-push-for-chapter-11-1512090362 Jeff Sessions on marijuana:http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/sessions-hints-at-a-coming-crackdown-on-recreational-weed.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/29/politics/sessions-opioid-news-conference-marijuana/index.html http://reason.com/blog/2017/10/26/sessions-continues-to-push-gateway-drug Foolishness of the weekhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/politics/republican-tax-bill-moves-closer-to-senate-passage.html The CBO https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2017/07/22/cbo-three-fourths-of-coverage-difference-between-obamacare-gop-bills-driven-by-individual-mandate/#327a3b9e3627 Follow us on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan https://twitter.com/AntonyDavies Join the Words and Numbers Backstage FB group, where the conversation continueshttps://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recently, in a small town Pennsylvania, an insurance agent for Nationwide Insurance noticed a certain plant growing in a garden on the property he was inspecting. This insurance agent identified the plant as marijuana and notified the police about this nefarious behavior. An elderly couple lived at that property, and while the husband was out at the time, the wife was dragged from her home, in her underwear, while police proceeded to ransack the home for four hours. They found nothing illegal. And that marijuana plant that started this whole debacle? Actually a hibiscus. This is only one of countless examples of this exact sort of "raid first, ask questions later" mentality that police forces in this country have adopted. But it's only natural that this sort of bad behavior has evolved because of the huge problem of overcriminalization. And when the difference between "criminal" and "lawbreaker" is more than just splitting semantic hairs, something needs to be done. Special guest Clark Neily of the Cato Institute joins James Harrigan and Antony Davies to talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It never seems to fail that whenever any kind of change to the tax code is proposed in Washington, billionaires and millionaires come clambering out of the woodwork to tell Congress not to cut their taxes. This current round of tax reform is no exception. Recently, more than 400 of the super-rich signed a letter asking exactly that, claiming that both the national debt and wealth inequality are at all-time highs. But are these claims true? Is taxation the only way to financially support the government? Even if the government raised taxes on the rich instead of cutting them, would it make one whit of difference to the national debt? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The World Fair Trade Organization has declared this week to be World Fair Trade Week. "Fair trade" is quite the buzzword in commerce these days and is generally associated agricultural products. Chief among those is coffee. The popularity of fair trade coffee is undeniable. But what even is "fair trade" and what does it entail? How "fair" is it? Or is it just a marketing gimmick? James Harrigan and Antony Davies get into the nitty-gritty of this and more in this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If the government of France was to suddenly and magically cease to exist, France itself would definitely still go on. If the government of the United States was to suddenly and magically cease to exist, would the United States itself still go on? The answer isn't entirely clear. In a recent interview, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas stated that he doesn't know what binds us, Americans, together anymore. The subject of American unity is a touchy one. With so much political divisiveness in our country, is it at all possible to come together over even one defining characteristic? Do we still have a cohesive national identity? James Harrigan and Antony Davies talk about this and more in this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This year, Deficit Day - that is, the day the federal government runs out of money for the year and starts spending money it doesn't have - fell on October 24. This is about average for the last 30 or so years. And yet, somehow, this year's deficit spending is on track to be the largest it's ever been. How does that work? And what's the difference between mandatory and discretionary spending? Is the rate of expansion of government spending sustainable? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s important to approach the subject of guns and gun control with a cool and rational mind. It’s easy to make snap judgments in the heat of the moment that feel good but might not have any bearing on reality. Now that we’ve gained a little distance from the horrific shooting in Las Vegas, what do the data say about gun deaths and gun violence in America? Is it really as bad as it seems? James Harrigan and Antony Davies break down the statistics for us in this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Healthcare is a hot topic right now after a couple of failed attempts to repeal Obamacare and an executive order that rolled back some of the restrictions on selling insurance. There’s no doubt that health care and health insurance are both expensive and getting more expensive all the time. But how did it get this way? And how can we fix it? Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss the how and the why of the cost of healthcare in this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

State representatives who support anti-gun legislation arrested for running guns. Pro-life representatives encouraging their mistresses to get abortions. Anti-gay senators outed for propositioning other men. The list of people in power getting caught up in their own hypocrisy is long, but they’re not the only ones. We the people are guilty of it as well. The evidence is overwhelming. The bad behavior we were so vocal about before suddenly becomes okay as soon as our preferred party is in power. Why is that? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recently released data from the Federal Reserve indicate an increase in income inequality and wealth inequality in the country. People often assume this means that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In the US, it generally means that both the rich and poor are getting richer, but the rich are getting richer faster. Moreover, “the rich” is not a static group of people. People climb into and fall out of that category all the time. Indeed, as Machiavelli pointed out long ago, inheritor’s of wealth often end up squandering it. Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss these issues and more in the latest episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon made online comparison shopping easy for all. Now it’s Amazon’s turn to comparison shop: for a city to host its new corporate headquarters. It’s looking for which major metropolis will offer the sweetest deal. Unfortunately, the welcome package will most likely be paid for by the city’s taxpayers. Amazon claims it’s worth it in the long run, given how much tax revenue the corporate titan would bring to town. But economists James Harrigan and Antony Davies give this argument a one-star rating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once upon a time, an out-of-touch queen heard of her subjects’ lack of bread and supposedly responded, “Let them eat cake.” Hunger has become so bad in Venezuela that its own out-of-touch ruler has proclaimed, in essence, “let them eat rabbits.” This is how far Venezuela has fallen. And yet, only a few years ago, many (including the American left) were heralding the rise of “Bolivarian socialism” as the wave of the future and the hope for the people. How can a nation plummet so deeply into squalor so quickly in spite of abundant natural resources? Economists James Harrigan and Antony Davies explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does the debt ceiling even mean anything? It’s like a credit limit on your credit card, but one which the borrower (the US government) gets to set for itself. Moreover, it’s most likely that the government has been borrowing way above the ceiling but simply doesn’t make it official until after the debt ceiling is raised: as it always is. Economists Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss what this means for the taxpayer and for the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nurse Alex Wubbels refused to let police draw blood from an unconscious crash victim and ended up arrested. The ensuing national controversy has brought police conduct back into the spotlight, raising several questions. Is it necessary to be above the law to enforce it? Does the policy of granting “qualified immunity” to officers incentivize irresponsibility? Would police ranks have far fewer “bad apples” if officers were required to carry malpractice insurance? Antony and James address all this and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

These days, everybody is nervous about what you can say in public without getting slammed by retribution. But is that a free-speech problem, or does it only become one when the police start showing up? Do we live in a truly tolerant society if voicing an opinion, even if it doesn’t land you in jail, ends up ending your career? Antony and James explore these intricate issues on this weeks episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1938 the US government passed the Fair Labor Standards Act mandating a forty hour work week, establishing a minimum wage, and prohibiting child labor. Because of legislation like this, government is often credited for making the American work environment safer and more fair. Yet, as Antony Davies and James Harrigan demonstrate with historical data, market forces were already making things easier on the American worker long before the FLSA. Learn More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zq-2cKENOc&feature=youtu.be http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/09/viral-image/does-8-hour-day-and-40-hour-come-henry-ford-or-lab/ Data: https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1-05.pdf See page 170 for average weekly work hours. See page 134 for child labor rates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In private schools, as in private enterprise in general, poor performance drives funding away by driving paying customers away. Yet in public schools, poor performance is used as an excuse for increased funding. With incentives like these, is it any wonder that public schools are failing our children so badly? Isn’t it time to inject some competition into the system? Education for all is a worthy wish. So is food for all. But we don’t force poor people to eat state-produced food. Even food stamp recipients get to choose where to shop. Why shouldn’t beneficiaries of public education spending get to choose where to send their kids? Our hosts James R. Harrigan and Antony Davies want to know. Check out the facts on this issue for yourself here: https://fee.org/articles/the-illusion-of-school-choice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1922, famed etiquette writer Emily Post advised her readers that 10% is the standard for tipping your waiter. Since then, “gratuity creep” has been so steady that tip jars are now ubiquitous and 25-30% is considered the rule in New York City. Uber once resisted this trend, but recently added a tipping feature to its app. What is the economic rationale behind tipping? Does the usefulness of tipping diminish the more that a certain rate becomes an expectation? At a certain point, would it be better to do without the fuss involved and simply include that portion of a service-provider’s compensation in the wages paid by the employer? Our valiant hosts, Antony Davies and James Harrigan explore these questions and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A viewer recently asked us what Words & Numbers thought of Universal Basic Income. Antony Davies likes the idea of it, provided it’s done well, but doesn’t think it could ever possibly be done well. But what about a theoretical UBI? If we could actually figure out how to implement that well, would that work? And why wouldn’t that work in the real world? This week on Words and Numbers, Antony and James R. Harrigan tackle the issue that’s getting a lot of attention in Silicon Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Income inequality has been in the news more and more, and it doesn’t look good. It’s aggravating to see people making more money than you, and we’re told all the time that income inequality is on the rise. But is it? And even if it is, is it actually a bad thing? This week on Words and Numbers, Antony Davies​ and James R. Harrigan​talk about how income inequality plays out in the real world. Learn More: https://fee.org/articles/is-income-inequality-real/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Words & Numbers, Antony Davies​ and James R. Harrigan​ tackle the disaster that is the Illinois state budget crisis. Pro-tip: Don't let it happen to your state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Words & Numbers, James R. Harrigan and Antony Davies tackle the issue of airline pricing. Why do they charge what they do? What do those prices mean? Is it too much and are passengers being ripped off? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon’s offer to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion sounds pretty great to both parties, but it seems that isn’t good enough. The proposal has a lot of people worried about Amazon becoming an indestructible monopoly, and the government is all too happy to step in and settle the issue. But this concern ignores consumers’ own preferences as well as business and entrepreneurial history. This week in Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan discuss the probable future of the Amazon-Whole Foods merger, what it could mean for us, and what it could mean for another once-equally feared corporation: Wal-Mart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ted Cruz recently asserted that the United States military needs to be sent to Mexico to attack the drug cartels head-on. This is a bad idea. But so is the drug war itself, both constitutionally and logically. Forty-six years and one trillion dollars after its start, President Richard Nixon's War on Drugs is still going, with 300,000 people currently in jail on drug charges. Meanwhile, 26 times as many people suffer from alcoholism as do heroin abuse, and eight times as many die from alcohol abuse as do heroin. Many who support the war do so with the best of intentions, but has it really helped? Or has it done more harm than good, like the Prohibition of the 1920s? Is this war even legal in the first place? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss these questions in this week's Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1798, 95 percent of the world lived in poverty. Today, less than 10 percent do, in spite of the world’s population growing by 700 percent in that same time. The common thought among young people is that this 700 percent population growth is going to overpopulate the earth. But given the number of people in poverty, it looks like population growth is actually good for poverty – more people means more brains, which means more ideas, inventions, and innovations. This week on Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan talk about how and why the world is improving despite widespread negativity towards the idea of a growing world population, and why that negativity persists regardless of the prosperity we see every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Poverty is a big deal – it affects about 41 million people in the United States every year – yet the federal government spends a huge amount of money to end poverty. So much of the government’s welfare spending gets eaten up by bureaucracy, conflicting programs, and politicians presuming they know how people should spend their own money. Obviously, this isn’t working. This week on Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan delve into how people can really become less poor and what that means for society and the government. Learn More: https://fee.org/articles/what-you-should-know-about-poverty-in-america/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We tend to demonize people who make money – how dare they have more than us? But that negative reaction forgets the voluntary role we play in profit-making every day. This week in Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan discuss just how good it is to earn a profit, and the vital difference between that and forcing money from people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A lot of people assume that any degree increases your income over the course of your life, but it actually seriously depends on what major you choose and what career you go into. This week on Words & Numbers, Antony Davies​ and James R. Harrigan​ breakdown the numbers on what your college degree is actually worth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Technology doesn’t just change things, it utterly destroys things. And that’s just fine. It happens so often that people barely even notice when it does. Think about all the new services that have come to market just over the past few years: Uber, Airbnb, Redbox … the list goes on and on. But that’s only half the story. In turn, the list of services replaced by these new ones is similarly long: taxis, hotels, Blockbuster, etc. And workers in these industries often lose their jobs in the line of creative destruction. We generally accept this as the price of innovation, but many people try to use the government to stop this by blocking the new services. Today we’re seeing this with more politically well-connected industries like taxis and hotels. Pressure is put on Uber and Airbnb, respectively, to “protect” the established industries they are upending. This week, Ant and James talk about why this is always a mistake. Learn More: https://fee.org/articles/government-cant-stop-creative-destruction/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is no truly good way to measure unemployment, which makes it pretty easy for successive administrations to claim that unemployment is consistently improving. But when we do our level best to include all of the unemployed in the numbers, what we learn is that unemployment levels now are higher than they were at the beginning of the Great Recession. That’s the bad news. The good news is that things actually have been getting better over time. In this week’s episode, James and Antony take a look at the actual unemployment numbers to get to the bottom of what they really mean. Get the facts here: https://fee.org/articles/you-cant-trust-unemployment-statistics/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, James & Antony tackle minimum wage laws and present some hard facts that might surprise a lot of people. See below for links to all the data and ideas they're talking about in this episode. Raw Data: http://www.governing.com/gov-data/economy-finance/youth-employment-unemployment-rate-data-by-state.html https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat08.htm http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2016/home.htm Research: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001979399204600105 https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/Davies-minimum-wage-PIC.pdf http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XXXIX/2/425.short http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00197939140670S307 https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CC_FCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22minimum+wage%22&ots=bMKtfq8dOr&sig=acUFMHlHCDLr2Jo5F6scbDXX4-A#v=onepage&q=%22minimum%20wage%22&f=false Op-Eds: https://fee.org/articles/the-minimum-wage-conspiracy/ https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2013/10/21/raising-the-minimum-wage-kills-jobs-for-low-skill-workers http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/for-the-maximally-vulnerable-the-minimum-wage-is-always_us_58eea085e4b04cae050dc45d http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/7003069-74/federal-wage-workers http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/10183883-74/wage-minimum-workers http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/20170409_Minimum-wage_hikes_a_way_to_buying_union_votes.html http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2015/06/03/what_a_pittsburgh_college_could_teach_seattle_los_angeles__chicago_101690.html Related Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct1Moeaa-W8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUdnnGLVJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAwf-JdIr0o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aCpaON5NyE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Words & Numbers James and Ant talk about the “safe spaces” movement on college campuses. Spoiler Alert: they don’t think campuses should be all that safe…at least not for ideas. College is the one time in a person’s life when just about every idea is on the table, and we do no one a service by declaring certain topics settled or off limits in the name of making people feel “safe.” Learn More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5905d8ade4b03b105b44b95c https://fee.org/articles/the-campus-counter-revolution-against-liberty/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices