Dean Baker Has a Viewpoint

When it comes to copyright (and "intellectual property") the world has gone crazy. Here's a post by Dean Baker on his blog Beat the Press:

Copyright, My Ass!

Yes, it looks like it is coming to that. The NYT has an article about efforts by tatoo artists to claim copyrights in their tatoos.

It would have been useful to include the views of an economist on this issue. It would be difficult to imagine a more wasteful intervention into the market then giving tatoo artists a monopoly on the use of specific images. The enforcement problem is beyond absurd.

I think school children should assert their copyright on homework. They would no longer need to use "the dog ate my homework" as an excuse. They can simply demand that the school system pony up $100,000 to look at the homework!

I'm planning to copyright sunshine, rainbows, lollipops, and puppy dog tails!

Oh... and Dean Baker is appalled at the level of stupidity among the upper middle and upper classes when it comes to inflation:

The Washington Post Doesn't Know About Inflation

An article that reported on Detroit's plans to cut wages and benefits for its employees told readers:

"meanwhile, entry-level office workers earn just $17,000 a year. Similar work paid $7,000 a year in 1970."

It would have been helpful to point out that prices have roughly quintupled in the last 40 years. This means that it would take a salary of $35,000 a year to be equivalent to the $7,000 a year that was reportedly paid in 1970. This means that the real wage for entry level positions has been more than cut in half even though productivity has more than doubled over this 40 year period.

It would also have been helpful to point out that many public sector employees are not covered by Social Security. This means that the 911 operator, whose $24,000 pension was highlighted in the article, may not have any other source of retirement income.

It is interesting how people with money get excited about "inflation" when it affects their bond returns and the price of their expensive goodies, but they simply go daft and confused when they have to consider whether to pay attention to the fact that this same inflation applies to the wages of working people. These people are outraged when their taxes go up, but when their salaries go up they are smug and satisfied that all is fine in the world. This blindness to the nature of the world is willful and stupid.