Some nuggets upon which to gnaw as you sit, slack-jawed & drooling in front of the glowing screen. Corn Chips & Pie recognizes that you have a choice, and as you careen headlong toward the grave with nary a moment to spare, we appreciate your patronage.
- As a San Francisco Giants fan, it's hard to know what to root for this year. I'm holding out hope that, with George Mitchell's involvement, Barry Bonds will agree to stop using steriods in exchange for complete disarmament by Ulster loyalist militias.
- You'd think a gin, tonic, & grapefruit juice would have a name by now, but apparently not. So, in an act of mild hubris, my friend is trying to name it after himself. Help a brother out. Order a "Schachterle," pronounced "shack-ter-ly." Sigh heavily when the bartender pleads ignorance. That is, if a gin, tonic, & grapefruit juice appeals to you in the slightest.
- For those of you who aren't particularly xenophobic, but wish to hang your hat upon something less noxious than the refrain, "we need brown people to perform our filthy, low-wage labor," good news: the general consensus is that the current immigration situation is a small net benefit to our economy. (via Drum)
- But George Borjas, a Harvard economist, argues that there are severe equity considerations, with poor native-born Americans hit hardest through wage suppression. I haven't thought this through, but I'm inclined to think the equity gains in terms of benefits to the immigrants themselves more than outweigh the former concern. Not sure why I should care about a US citizen earning $8000/year losing 7% in wages more than a Mexican citizen earning $500/year gaining 700% in wages. Which is not to argue for unregulated immigration-- there are obviously other potentially more important considerations-- but I'm not entirely convinced by the wage/equity issue.
