Business and economic links (plus sexism)

At LGM, Paul Campos crushes an argument that a guaranteed universal income is unworkable.

•A JetBlue gate agent tells a woman her shorts are too short to be allowed on the plane.

•Law schools are becoming a money-losing business.

•Banks warned a payment-processing company that the firms they worked with were making unauthorized debits of consumers’ accounts. Payment processer allegedly ignored the warnings. CFPB has now taken the firm to court.

•Free-market fans give lip service to letting companies do their own thing and make their own decisions—but when McDonalds decides to raise wages for employees “artificially” (i.e., they might be able to hire people for less) that’s just wrong! I remember a few years ago, the same complaints about Costco, that by paying decent wages they were robbing the shareholders.

•The federal net neutrality policy has survived its first legal challenge. More will follow.

•Uber is now offering to lease cars to potential drivers who would otherwise be too poor to own a car and drive Uber. Apparently the lease terms are much better for Uber than the driver. Good commentary at the link.

•A new way for airlines to raise money: make you pay for choice of seat, or to sit next to your kids.

•The NFL spent a lot of money funding research on impact-related brain damage, but the funding seems targeted to football-friendly researchers.

•Echidne criticizes a study of Twitter misogyny.

•Some Iranian women dress as men to walk freely in public.

•A Delaware school system’s plan to reduce distractions in school: ban girls wearing tight jeans.

•A Stanford University competitive swimmer is found guilty of attempting to rape an unconscious woman. The judge’s sentence: six months, because of the negative effect a prison term would have on his life. More here. And the father thinks even that’s unreasonable—why should his son’s life be ruined for “2o minutes of action?” A long-time friend of the rapist argues that punishing him is just political correctness— “where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists.” But yes, actually it is. One rape makes you a rapist. It may be you’ve done wonderful things with the rest of your life, but you’re still a rapist.

•When Ken Starr was a prosecutor, he was hard on Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. As president of Baylor University, Starr is a lot softer on footballers who commit sexual assault.

•Samantha Field looks at the Starr case and other examples of Christians covering up/defending rape and abuse. Case in point, Pope Francis and the ongoing priestly abuse scandal.