News Story of the Day: depending on your praise or lamentations on millennials, this may either be good news or bad news.
According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than one-third (35 percent) of labor force participants are millennials, which makes them the largest generation in the job market today.
As of 2017, 56 million millennials (21 to 36) were working or looking for work. This is more than the 53 million Generation Xers and 41 million Baby Boomers.
Godspeed, businesses. Godspeed.
Chart of the Day: so, it looks like illegal immigration to the United States is on the rise again, according to new data compiled by The Economist. Despite the dip last year, it’s returning to normal, likely because of so many jurisdictions pledging to be sanctuary cities. Here is the chart:
Illustration of the Day: legendary economist Milton Friedman has a message for President Donald Trump:
Quote of the Day: a lot has been said about Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance on Capitol Hill this week. But one of the best analyses come from Reason’s David Harsanyl, who warns that the hearings prove the government shouldn’t regulate Facebook or social media. He writes:
The bigger ideological problem with the Facebook circus is that our politicians are acting as if being subjected to an opinion—or an ad—they dislike is some kind of attack on an individual’s rights. Not one senator will ever tell constituents: “Hey, if you don’t like the way Facebook conducts itself or you’re unhappy about its political bias, then leave. No one is forcing you to open or maintain an account with Facebook, much less voluntarily hand over data. And if you’re constantly falling for ‘fake news,’ well, that’s a you problem, because the state can’t fix stupid.”
Yet to assure senators that he could, in fact, control billions of interactions, Zuckerberg noted that in five to 10 years, his company will possess artificial intelligence technology sophisticated enough to eliminate “hate speech” and “fake news” before it is even posted. If Facebook wants to use that technology, it has the right to do so, of course. But many of us who are familiar with the expansive definition of “hate speech” and the people who curate “fake news” think, well, no, thank you. Moreover, the idea that the platform should be responsible for governing the speech of billions of users is not only dangerous but also incredibly expensive.
Sen. Ben Sasse had a good point when he told Zuckerberg that although Facebook may decide it needs to police speech, “America might be better off not having (been) policed by one company that has a really big and powerful platform.” The answer to quelling the outrage mob isn’t for the government to help Facebook entrench its position with some cronyistic regulation but to let Facebook fix itself or go the way of Myspace.
Tweet of the Day: have you seen modern art? It’s pretty bad. If you drop a pair of glasses, it will be considered art. If you twerk for hours, it will be considered art. If you attached a rod to your testicles and slam it on a bar, it is considered art. But what about dropping some spaghetti?
I dropped a box of spaghetti on the ground and accidentally graduated from Art School. pic.twitter.com/X8NdjG6vdY
— Mr. Drinks On Me (@Mr_DrinksOnMe) April 13, 2018
Video of the Day: today, there are only two politicians in Washington who are taking on the military-industrial complex, the neoconservatives, and warhawks: Senator Rand Paul and Representative Tulsi Gabbard (maybe regular ECN commenter, Daniel Tinus!). Sen. Paul grilled Mike Pompeo on Thursday and it was fun to watch!
Thanks for the shout out. Very good rational questioning from Senator Paul. I agree Trumps instincts are many times spot on as when he said we are leaving Syria. He is not served well by many of his advisors and I hope to have his back in this matter. Lord knows he needs someone to stiffen his spine.