We Have A Lot Of Evidence On

Whenever You See Some Business Person Quoted Complaining About How He Or She Can't Find Workers With The Necessary Skills, Ask What Wage They're Offering. Almost Always It Turns Out What Said Business Person Really Wants Is Highly (and Expensively) Educated Workers At A Manual-labor Wage. No Wonder They Come Up Short.

The Economic Expansion That Began In 2001, While It Has Been Great For Corporate Profits, Has Yet To Produce Any Significant Gains For Ordinary Working Americans. And Now It Looks As If It Never Will.

Raising The Minimum Wage And Lowering The Barriers To Union Organization Would Carry A Trade-off - Higher Unemployment. A Better Idea Is To Have The Government Subsidize Low-wage Employment. The Earned-income Tax Credit For Low-income Workers - Which Has Been The Object Of Proposed Cuts By Both President Clinton And Congressional Republicans - Has Been A Positive Step In This Direction.

The Great Thing About Fiscal Policy Is That It Has A Direct Impact And Doesn't Require You To Bind The Hands Of Future Policymakers.

The Problem Isn't That People Don't Understand How Good Things Are. It's That They Know, From Personal Experience, That Things Really Aren't That Good.