What In The World Does She Drive?

In last weekend's column for the Waukesha Freeman, Jessica McBride is purporting that we subsidize gas mileage for college students or some such thing. Trying to put aside the incongruities of her sudden embrace of socialism, there is a part of her column that made me stop and wonder (emphasis mine):

I teach at UWM and drive to work there. When gas prices were high, it cost me $20 a day. Many students can’t afford the gas prices, not to mention the parking hassles and costs, the car insurance and payments. Students are shouldering an ever increasing financial burden. Yes, we all are. But there’s a tipping point for students. Most of UWM’s graduates remain in the greater Milwaukee community, including Waukesha County. We all have a vested interest in making sure more people can afford higher education.

Now, we already know that her and her trial lawyer hubby live in Merton. According to mapquest, the distance from Merton to UWM is about 31 miles. Just for convenience, let us say that it takes her 60 miles round trip.

Even if gas was $4.50 per gallon, and she burned $20 worth of gas per day, that means she was only getting just over 13 miles to the gallon. What the heck was she driving, the Queen Mary?

Maybe someone should tell ol' Jess that there are more fuel efficient vehicles out there, since she seems unaware of that fact. But then again, a real journalist would have already known how to do that kind of research.

The Great Whodunit?

McIlheran, continuing the McSykes tradition of days of yore, cites Sykes, who yet cites another person, named Kristen Lopez Eastlick who blames the minimum wage increase for a decline in teenage jobs. (Sidenote: When was the last time that the so-called "blogfather" wrote anything original? Anyone? Hint to Sykes: Real Pulitzer Prize nominees write their own stuff.)

This is hard to swallow for a couple of reasons. One is that, per the government, the increases are coming in increments, the last one being nearly a year ago, and the other not due for over another month from now. Another reason is that the proof that minimum wage affects teenage employment levels is somewhat in doubt:

Supporters point to a controversial study by Princeton economists David Card and Alan Krueger of minimum wage employees in New Jersey, which found little or no impact on employment. Economist Robert Solow, an MIT Nobel Laureate, wrote in a 1995 New York Times article that the “main thing about the research is that the evidence of the job loss is weak.... And the fact that the evidence is weak suggests the impact on jobs is small.”

There are many more likely and realistic causes of a low employment rate for teens these days. One is that, thanks to Bush's failed economic policies (not to mention spending billions and billions of dollars on an unjust war), money is tight for everyone. Potential employers would be understandably reluctant to hire on any help when money is so tight.

Following this would be the fact that there is an ever increasing number of adults that are also scrambling for work, as overall unemployment rates continue to climb.

Adding to the economic crisis is the fact that such costs such as gasoline are reaching unprecedented levels, causing both consumers and businesses to cut back. This in turn cycles the unemployment issue, such as the recent announcement that GM is going to close their Janesville plant.

If a manufacturer can barely afford to get his product to market, he will not have the extra cash to hire on even part-time help. Likewise, if consumers are forced to cut way back on their spending to pay for necessities like health insurance and electricity, store owners will not even need, much less afford, to hire anyone of any age.

That is only common sense. But even common sense may be too much to ask of the local right wing media.

I Was Wrong, Sykes & McIlheran Were Right

Despite Sykes and McIlheran always and defending the profiteering of the gas and oil companies, I would scoff at this, and complain here and there about how they are going to ruin our way of life with their exorbitant gasoline prices. I felt that these two, and AFP and all their members, were just trying to feed us lines when they said that Big Businesses in general weren't the ogres I thought them to be.

But I was wrong. And unlike Kevin Fischer, I am man enough to admit when I made a mistake.

Especially when their is photographic proof that Big Oil is not as heartless as I thought them to be:

"Not Approved By The AFP" Cartoon

From the email inbox...

THE OIL COMPANIES HAVE AGREED TO A NEW, INTERNATIONAL GASOLINE SYMBOL:



No matter where you travel, you'll recognize their symbol !

Bad right wing radio; is that redundant?

Jim Rowen's on a roll.

But for some reason he's listening to Sykes. (One demerit).

He makes up for his lapse, though, with his post, "GM plant closing makes for really bad talk radio."

Read it here.