Scott Miller

Those of you who regularly participate in the Beyond Labels group have heard me talk about my disappointment with the opportunity for students who don’t appear to be destined for college to take vocational courses to build real-world skills that our economy needs desperately (and values accordingly).

The courses exist, but my concern is that the “system” (parents, educators, peers, the community) tends to stigmatize the courses and their attendees. I think that’s wrong and is doing a disservice to a large segment of our students.

Here’s an article from the NY Times on the theme (sort of). This post is mostly intended as an “envelope” for the Times article.

…at least I think so. This article from the NY Times highlights the intersection of two current political themes:

• Increasing taxes on the “1%” and
• Income inequality

As I read it, several states have become concerned about (or at least highly focused on) the concentration of their income tax revenues on a handful of taxpayers.

“Residency flight” seems to be a particular problem facing Maine as well.

Recognizing that “jobs” is the #1 issue for voters in the 2016 election, all of the candidates are talking about how they’re going to create jobs, help the middle class and reduce income inequality.

Which got me thinking–what government policies actually create jobs, which ones create an environment conducive to job creation and which ones destroy jobs or impair job creation? Can the government create jobs beyond simply paying more workers (directly or through subsidies to business)?

Here are a couple of links, one recent, one “not so,” to review for discussion tomorrow.

The Mirage of a Return to Manufacturing Greatness

The Myth of Job Creation