Marty Manley on economics, politics, technology, and culture

Reform

Will Technology Burst Higher Education’s Bubble?

Imagine a market with incumbents whose core processes are unchanged since medieval times that is held together by huge federal subsidies and protected by a system of self-accreditation designed to exclude rivals. Imagine that the resulting enterprises exploited their monopoly power by overcharging customers and wasting the revenue that resulted on guaranteeing senior employees lifetime [...]

Promising not to promise….

In yesterday’s New York Times, Warren Buffett argues that super rich folks should pay higher taxes. Had I asserted that the rich should pay more, it would be an entirely unremarkable example of the famous ditty by Senator Russell Long (“Don’t tax me, don’t tax thee, tax that fella behind the tree”). These days, you can [...]

The GOP Raises Interest Rates. China Cheers.

As of tonight, it is not at all clear when the US debt ceiling will get extended or when the entirely artificial crisis caused by Republican House members will be resolved. But one thing is now very clear: the ham-fisted GOP tactics will raise interest costs for every American family and business. It is the [...]

Freedom Comes Out

Gay Freedom does not matter yet to most Americans — but it will, soon enough. Andrew Cuomo’s profile in political courage in mobilizing the New York legislature to allow gay marriage is a civil rights landmark. It is also more evidence that public attitudes have tipped. Twenty years from now, people may wonder what the [...]

Kwik Fixin’ Oakland

I love Oakland. It is immigrant, black, and blue collar. The town has a great history and a solid soul. Ours were among the first neighborhoods in America where all of the whites did not move out when blacks moved in. Of course, along with a heart of oak, the town also has a brain [...]

Public Unions 5: Can Unions Innovate?

This post concludes a five part series on public sector unions. The opening post argued that political attacks on public sector unions are more likely to worsen fiscal or political problems than solve them. The second article asserted that low public sector productivity is primarily a management failure. The third article noted that efforts by unions to [...]

Public Unions 4: Preventing Labor Capture

This is the fourth of a five part series on public sector unions. The opening post argued that political attacks on public sector unions are more likely to worsen fiscal or political problems than solve them. The second article asserted that low levels public sector productivity relative to pay is primarily a management failure. The third article noted [...]

Public Unions 3: The Price of Job Security.

This post is the third of a five part series on public sector unions.The opening post argued that political attacks on public sector unions are more likely to worsen fiscal or political problems than solve them. The second article asserted that low public sector productivity is primarily a management failure. The third article notes that efforts by unions to [...]

Public Unions 2: Management, Productivity, and Pay.

This is the second of a five part series on public sector unions. The opening post argued that political attacks on public sector unions are more likely to worsen fiscal or political problems than solve them. The second article asserts that low public sector productivity is primarily a management failure. The third article notes that efforts by unions [...]

Public Unions 1: Scott Walker’s Gift

This post commences a five part series on public sector unions. It argues that political attacks on public sector unions are more likely to worsen fiscal or political problems than solve them. The second article asserts that low public sector productivity is primarily a management failure. The third article notes that efforts by unions to [...]

Obama: Looking for Dumb Federal Programs? Kill 13(c).

Obama this week announced an effort to hunt and destroy stupid federal programs. As he well knows, these programs are easy to find but tough to kill. I learned this when I was put in charge of a really stupid federal program. I got agreement at the highest levels of government to kill it. The [...]

Inside Job: Charles Ferguson Brings his Camera Home

Charles Ferguson has done it again. His second film, Inside Job is a good movie and an extremely important one. Whether you enter the theater Democrat or Republican, you will leave it ready to man the barricades against Wall Street. You will also leave the theater much smarter: despite an MBA and more than a [...]

Tax Cars, Not Gas

If, like many people, you think that we are burning more carbon than is healthy for the planet, you are likely of the view that we need to put a price on carbon. You would assert that like any other kind of pollution, our carbon output represents what economists like to term an externality:  the market [...]

In Praise of Dumb Pipes

“Net neutrality” is a confusing term that describes an important debate over the rights of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like cable, mobile, satellite, and telephone companies. At its simplest, the issue is will we force ISPs to be “dumb pipes” by law or can they “add value”? To a first approximation, the right answer turns [...]

The First Rule of Holes

California is quickly learning the first rule of holes: when you find yourself at the bottom of one, stop digging. Banks, insurance companies, and pension funds buy government bonds because they are a very safe investment. Suppose they have to choose between the bonds of: a) Mexico. The world's newest narco-state, so beloved by its citizens [...]

From the New Deal to the BFD

You had to laugh. When Joe Biden introduced the President at the White House health care bill signing today, he leaned over and quietly reminded Obama that "this is a big fucking deal". His comment was off color but on target.  Health care reform is a watershed. Not only did the federal government finally grant [...]

The Elephant in the Room on Health Care

Today is Obama's health care summit, and there is an elephant in the room. To find it, start by identifying which of the following health care plans is or was sponsored by a Republican?     a) A 1996 plan to cover every American      b) A 1992 plan to cover 30 out of 35 million uninsured Americans     c) A [...]

Health Care: simple, basic, fully financed

Martha Coakley's unwelcome but richly-deserved loss of the Democratic Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy has recast the debate over health care reform. Many Democratic Senators from states less blue than Massachusetts are recalibrating their commitment to the current bill. If he wants a bill he can proudly sign, Obama needs to focus the Congress [...]

Atul Gawande: America's Doctor

Who is Atul Gawande and why is he having a bigger impact on your life than any physician in America who is not treating you? Gawwande is a cancer surgeon in Boston. A Rhodes Scholar and the recipient of a MacArthur "genius grant", he trained at Harvard, and Stanford and grabbed a Masters in Public [...]

The Great Sell-out.

It's Oaklandish — the great liberal caterwauling about the death of the public option and the claims that Obama has sold out to big insurance and pharma. To humiliate a liberal, film this stuff and replay it in ten years. If this is a sell-out, count me a buyer. Last night's Senate deal killed Harry [...]