Joel C. Eissenberg

Oct 19, 2024 | angrybearblog.com | Joel C. Eissenberg

I've been to California a few times, for scientific meetings, for vacation and once for a friend's wedding. I've had a good experience each time. It has always struck me as an expensive place to live, though, and I'm definitely not a beach person. Elon Musk is warning us that the nation will become "Californicated" if Harris is elected. Considering that California's per capita GDP has grown faster than the nation's per capita GDP since at least 2011, that seems like a good thing.

Oct 19, 2024 | angrybearblog.com | Joel C. Eissenberg

Housing is expensive here in East Providence. It's even more expensive in Boston, an hour from here. Some folks live in Rhode Island and commute to Boston. Over at jabberwocking.com, Kevin Drum argues that the "housing crisis" is really a housing crisis in California. He also takes on the argument that the big barrier to building new housing isn't red tape:"Outside of California, the evidence doesn't support the idea of either a red tape crisis or a more general housing crisis.

Oct 18, 2024 | angrybearblog.com | Joel C. Eissenberg

I'm reading an article about Kamala Harris in the October 21st New Yorker. This paragraph caught my eye:"When Harris talks of the origins of her interest in government, she lingers on a moment from her time in Montreal: a friend from Westmount High, Wanda Kagan, was being physically and sexually abused at home, and Harris's mother took her in. "A big part of the reason I wanted to be a prosecutor was to protect people like her," Harris has said.

Oct 14, 2024 | angrybearblog.com | Joel C. Eissenberg

A common right-wing grievance is that undocumented ("illegal") immigrants are taking all the jobs. In particular, that they're stealing jobs from native-born Americans. What's the evidence? If it were true that immigrants were stealing jobs from native born Americans, then if you plotted labor force participation by native- and foreign-born over time, they would have a reciprocal relationship. As non-native participation rose, native participation would fall.

Oct 13, 2024 | angrybearblog.com | Joel C. Eissenberg

Donald Trump and JD Vance are campaigning on xenophobia. There's no evidence that immigrants are any sort of threat to America, and the data show that immigrants commit crimes at *lower* rates than American citizens. Sadly, though, fear of the other seems to work in America:"Jeffrey Balogh, a resident of Erie, said at that event that he feels strongly about Trump's proposals on immigration.