Gongol.com Archives: August 2014
The Onion's satirical-but-not-really look at police militarization
84% of Chicagoans support a $13-an-hour minimum wage
There's no problem, really, with indexing the minimum wage to a fair measure of inflation. But if we only go about doing the economic equivalent of slapping a coat of paint on the problem of low-value employment, then we're not really resolving the issues of poverty. What's really the most important thing to do is build the value of prospective workers through education and job-training programs, and to get them connected to the kinds of support and social services that can alleviate the anxieties that come with barely making ends meet, for long enough to allow them to climb up the economic ladder on their own.
Civil liberties are seriously lagging financial freedoms in China
The government seems to be tightening the screws harder and harder on Internet-based means of sharing news and opinions. That's not going to end well...the unanswered question is, when will it boil over? Economic freedoms almost invariably beget civil liberties sooner or later -- you can't go very long telling people that they own the rights to the fruits of their labors, but that the state owns what they think.
How car shows brought about colorful vehicles
Some incredibly stupid and tone-deaf things are being said about Ferguson, Missouri
