South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Reasons for Not Raising The Retirement Age

A recent fact sheet prepared by the Economic Policy Institute presents 10 arguments against raising the retirement age. Two of the arguments address the frequently unstated class assumptions present in calls for raising the retirement age:

6. Raising the retirement age affects all workers, even those who have seen little or no increase in life expectancy.Men in the top half of the earnings distribution have increased their life expectancy at age 65 by five years since 1982.Lower-income men have seen a gain of only 1.1 years, and lower income women have seen life expectancy decline
…
7. Working longer is not a choice for millions of Americans, many of whom hold physically demanding jobs. People in physically demanding jobs tend to have more physical ailments and also tend to be poorer than average. Sixty-one percent of physically demanding jobs are held by workers in the bottom 40% of the wage scale.

Around The Dial – August 30

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Jagdish Bhagwati debates “semi-conductor chips versus potato chips.”
• Free Exchange argues that the Federal Reserve has a policy problem.
• Off the Charts looks at the revised GDP numbers for the second quarter.
• Robert Shiller calls for a revival of general tax revenue sharing.

Durham’s Creative Economy

A weekend story in The Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun discussed the potential for creative job growth in Durham. The story featured the perspective of John Quinterno of South by North Strategies, Ltd.

[Richard] Florida also noted in his post that the rise of the creative class combined with declines in blue-collar work could lead to more economic disparities — a sentiment echoed by [John] Quinterno.
…
“A necessary response to growth in the creative class is to refocus attention on questions of work, wages, skills, and economic opportunity,” Quinterno said. “The community needs to ask itself how to harness the growth for the benefit of all residents.”

Is The Federal Reserve Doing Enough?

A recent segment on The PBS NewsHour asked if the Federal Reserve is doing enough to boost the economy. The video features economists Paul Krugman and Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

Around The Dial – August 27

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Paul Krugman notes “this is not a recovery.”
• Economix warns against value judgments passing as science.
• Randall Wray considers the silliness of infinite horizon deficits.
• The Washington Post spots deficit peacocks in the wild.
• The revised GDP numbers for the second quarter aren’t pretty.