The stuff that wasn't big enough for Adam Englebright Dot Com . But for those of you who are lazy, the big stuff as well.
“It’s that the public just don’t believe the economic evidence. I don’t think this is simply because they hold economists in low esteem: the man on the Clapham omnibus does not devote his waking hours to thinking “that Jonathan Portes talks some shite.” “
I like it when people I read like reading the things of other people I read.
“This is not a minor, technical point. Whether the labour market can absorb people “activated” to search for jobs, or whether they are out of work because there is no work – this is the most important thing someone in IDS’s position needs to know. It is as if the Transport Secretary thought trains ran on chocolate, or the Defence Secretary was planning to issue spears.”
“To a large extent, then, we should regard out-of-work benefits not as something that “strivers” hand out to “scroungers”, but rather as a form of insurance.”
“Unless, of course, being nastier to the unemployed is an end in itself. Mind you, this also reminds me of being told off at school: “Why aren’t you writing?” “Miss, I haven’t got a worksheet.” “Well….show willing.” “
