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Some initial thoughts on the Male Malaise

  By Economic Justice, Feminism, Love and Sex

I heard a fascinating podcast on my drive to Philly: Ezra Klein talking to Richard Reeves who wrote Of Boys and Men in 2022. It’s perhaps the most detailed / data focused book on the problems of men. I have not read it yet but now will do so soon.   The main outlines of the “male malaise” are probably well known to you: boys do worse in school than girls, are less likely to go to college, and less likely to graduate. They are less likely to hold full-time jobs in their 20s or be on career tracks. As Reeves say, they tend to zig-zag more than women. And then there are the psychological issues: Men are less happy, lonelier, more likely to become substance abusers, more likely to commit suicide, and even more likely to die of COVID women. What is not clear to me is the causes… Continue reading

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Sex, Gender, and Athletics

  By Feminism, Philosophy, Sports

The controversy about the Khelif-Carini fight is, I believe, a terribly missed opportunity for learning something about not just gender and sexuality but about how human practice and thought fits the world. Or at least, that’s my conclusion after reading and thinking a lot about it yesterday and writing down some of my thoughts today. Given that I think I have learned something from some of that thinking,  I want to share it here.  Four preliminary points First, some of what I Iearned—about the biology of sex differences–comes from a post by the biologist Rebecca R Helm. You should read it. I don’t know much more about those issues so some of what I say can be a misinterpretation of what she wrote. Second, this post is not about the Khelif-Carini case. At the end of it I make some suggestions about general rules for determining when women with an… Continue reading

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Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2024–25 Pennsylvania Budget – Part One

  By Penn Policy Center, Policy Brief, Policy Paper

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 26, 2024. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD.   Loading Viewer…     Continue reading

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Penn Policy Statement on President Biden’s Withdrawal

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 21, 2024. Joe Biden’s truly selfless act today exemplifies the authentic leadership that has made him the most effective Democratic President since Franklin Roosevelt. Under very difficult political circumstances, with a bare majority in Congress and in an extremely divided country, his legislative record was extraordinary. In just four years, President Biden led the way in the enactment of an economic recovery program that brought us back from the pandemic recession and led to the fastest economic growth and lowest unemployment rate in the world, as well as a relatively quick return to slow price growth. the boldest program to address climate change in the world. the largest plan to rebuild our public infrastructure since the New Deal. an effort to support a high-technology economy that is built on well-trained union workers. a health insurance plan that has reduced costs for hundreds… Continue reading

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The best, uncertain case for Harris

  By 2024, Elections and Voting, US

I hope this is my last long post on the Democratic candidate for president. I’m going to do something here that may surprise some of you. I’m going to make the best argument I can for why I think Biden should step down. And in doing so, I’m going to respond to some of the claims I made the other day against him doing so. I’m doing this for a few reasons. One is that this is how I think. I always look at issues from a number of sides. Another related one is that I’m still remain unsure about what the right path forward is and the only way I’m going to be sure is by making the best case on both sides. And frankly, none of you who have been arguing with me the post has done a very good job of making that case or responding to… Continue reading

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The message not the candidate is the big problem

  By 2024, Economic Justice, Politics, Progressive Politics, Public Policy

Postcript, May 2025: I wrote this a few weeks before Biden stepped down. On the whole, I think that was a good thing because his inability to mount a vigorous campaign was a bigger problem than I realized at the time. But I still think the rest of this piece is right. Harris ran a good campaign in normal circumstances. That she lost by much less in battleground states, the only places where there was a campaign, shows this. But she did not develop a message and narrative that address the deeper frustrations most Americans have with their economic circumstances. Doing so could have helped her deal what became the the strong negative vote  that was mainly due to frustration with inflation and the border. In  an earlier piece, I argued that the debate about whether Biden should remain the Democratic nominee for President is missing the point.  It’s based… Continue reading

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Response to the 2024–2025 State Budget: Education Funding

  By Penn Policy Center, Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 11, 2024. July 11, 2024 Governor Shapiro and the members of the General Assembly have had about 18 months to respond to the Commonwealth Court ruling that Pennsylvania’s system of funding K–12 education is unconstitutional. And Pennsylvania politicians have had decades to recognize that far too many low-income and Black and brown schoolchildren have not received an adequate education, which has limited their opportunities and denied the Commonwealth the full flowering of their talents and abilities. The K–12 budget that we expect to be enacted soon recognizes the problem. But it does not put the state on a path to solving it. It recognizes the problem in two ways. First, for the first time in our history, the school code embraces a formula that quantifies the problem. The school code says that school districts need $4.5 billion in new funding to adequately… Continue reading

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Response to the 2024–25 PA State Budget — Education Funding

  By Blog post

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 11, 2024. July 11, 2024 Governor Shapiro and the members of the General Assembly have had about 18 months to respond to the Commonwealth Court ruling that Pennsylvania’s system of funding K–12 education is unconstitutional. And Pennsylvania politicians have had decades to recognize that far too many low-income and Black and brown schoolchildren have not received an adequate education, which has limited their opportunities and denied the Commonwealth the full flowering of their talents and abilities. The K–12 budget that we expect to be enacted soon recognizes the problem. But it does not put the state on a path to solving it. It recognizes the problem in two ways. First, for the first time in our history, the school code embraces a formula that quantifies the problem. The school code says that school districts need $4.5 billion in new funding to adequately… Continue reading

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Op-Ed: A State Earned Income Tax Credit Should Be Part of a Budget Deal in 2024

  By Blog post, Op-ed, Penn Policy Center, Published Op-Eds

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 9, 2024. The Pennsylvania state budget for fiscal year 2024–25 is now officially overdue, so we’re still left wondering: What might a deal look like? There are two critical components that need to be addressed. The first is enactment of year one of the Basic Education Funding Commission’s plan to adequately and equitably fund education. Enacting this plan is a moral and constitutional requirement. Failing to meet it would leave the General Assembly to answer to both the voters and the courts. Public opinion polls show overwhelming support for meeting this goal. And while courts are generally reluctant to tell legislators how exactly to spend money, for three reasons this barrier is lower in Pennsylvania right now than in other times and places. Neither Democrats nor Republicans sought to appeal Judge Jubelirer’s ruling that our current system of K–12 school funding is… Continue reading

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Should Biden step down?

  By 2024, Biden, Elections

Since some of you asked, I’m going got to sum up my thoughts about whether Biden should continue as our presidential candidate with links to my earlier posts. The most important point I want to make is that this is not an easy call. So I would simply discount the views of anyone who thinks it’s obvious one way or the other. If they are adamant that he be replaced they either have an agenda or they are ignorant. If they are adamant that he stay they are taking loyalty to someone who has been in most respect been a very good president to an extreme—or they are ignorant. There are a couple of critical questions. First, is Biden demented or incapable of being president. I think the answer to this pretty clear. As I pointed out here https://marcstier.com/blog2/?p=10999 he’s not demented. He had a bad night which, as I… Continue reading