The Election in Senegal

Senegal has just had an election. It is a regional power in West Africa and often admired for either its influential position or its relatively peaceful and free political system. After standing still in terms of GDP per capita for decades, Senegal has seen significant growth in the past decade and a half, as many African countries have. Its GDP per capita still puts it among the world’s poor however, at $1,714 on a Purchasing Power Parity basis.

The country has a proud political history since independence, having never suffered a coup. Senegal’s first president resigned in 1981. The second president stayed in office until 2000, when he was defeated in a free election by Abdoulaye Wade. Upon coming to office Wade, and his supporters in the National Assembly and Senate, shortened the length of presidential terms, from seven years to five, and imposed term limits that held a president to no more than two terms. The shortening of presidential terms was to take effect after Wade finished his first term. The limiting of terms, Wade said, would apply to him, for the limits had been imposed when Wade was still serving his first term.

Wade easily won his re-election in 2007. Upon winning a second term Wade, and his supporters in the National Assembly and Senate, increased the length of presidential terms from five to seven years, though the extension did not apply to Wade’s second term. He then said that he no longer considered the two term limit to apply to him, since he was elected before the term limits were adopted. He announced he would run for a third, and seven year long, term. When the country’s constitutional court agreed with his interpretation large and sometimes violent protests gripped the country for weeks. Many observers declared Wade had pulled off a “constitutional coup” and jeopardized Senegal’s proud political history.

Wade’s opponents decided to fight him at the ballot box, trusting in the country’s institutions. Wade was defeated on Sunday in a run-off election against his former Prime Minister, Macky Sall. Wade conceded defeat and has promised to step down as president, marking the second time an opposition candidate has successfully unseated a president in a free election, a rare success in the region. Wade threatened Senegal’s institutions, history, and future trajectory. But the people of Senegal have won an incredible victory, not because of the politics of the contenders, but because the country’s institutions, civil society and political culture have proven Senegal as a nation to be stronger than the person who holds power.

February Jobs Report

The United States added 227,000 jobs in February. This marks the third month in a row that job growth has topped 200,000. Additionally, figures for the previous two months were revised up. December job growth rose from 203,000 to 223,000, January rose from 243,000 to 284,000. The trend lately has been that revisions are positive.

The unemployment rate remained the same at 8.3% due to an increase in the number of people looking for work, a good sign. But to put the recovery in perspective, here is a graph of what job creation numbers are required to get back to the "natural rate" of unemployment. 

It was made in 2011 so it's a bit behind. Between the disappointing numbers of last summer and the numbers of the past three months that puts us heading for a return to "normal" in 2016.

Economics Quotes

"This is a nightmare, which will pass away with the morning. For the resources of nature and men's devices are just as fertile and productive as they were. The rate of our progress towards solving the material problems of life is not less rapid. We are as capable as before of affording for everyone a high standard of life ... and will soon learn to afford a standard higher still. We were not previously deceived. But to-day we have involved ourselves in a colossal muddle, having blundered in the control of a delicate machine, the working of which we do not understand. The result is that our possibilities of wealth may run to waste for a time — perhaps for a long time."

John Maynard Keynes. “The Great Slump of 1930”, Essays in Persuasion.

The Economist Formatting Errors pt. 2

Gay Marriage

The bill legalizing gay marriage in Maryland has been signed into law. It is a wonderful expansion of the civil rights Marylanders are entitled to. It's nice that Maryland has joined the ranks of those who support civil rights. Unfortunately, the bill will undoubtedly be challenged in a referendum. I'm not against the referendum process per se, but the rights of anyone should never be put up to a popular vote.

But what about the argument that marriage is a religious institution and thus protected by the separation of church and state? That would be just fine if the state had never gotten into the habit of recognizing a religious institution and giving married couples numerous subsidies and special legal rights. Idealistically I think the state shouldn’t recognize marriage at all. And if it would like to give certain relationships special privileges it could do so through civil unions that anyone can join into with any number of people (yes, I’m saying polygamy should be included). In return the state should have no say in what a religious group wants to define marriage as or who they wish to marry. What should that matter to a religious person? Shouldn’t the material benefits be of little consequence? If a religious couple wants the best of both worlds they can enter into a civil union and marriage.

But since the state has decided to use the same terminology, it cannot discriminate based on religious grounds. At this point allowing gay couples to have “the same” rights and benefits under a different name is a blatant use of “Separate but Equal”. The people who are against gay marriage for religious reasons should therefore be against the state recognizing marriages at all. But, in large part they support the government effectively endorsing their religious interpretations. In doing so, they're supporting an over-powerful government so long as it serves their purposes.

The state should accept the people who compose it as who they are. The people of the state should accept that there is diversity. And in order to live prosperously and peacefully the state should be limited to ensure the freedom of individuals to be who they are. And arguments about the harm gay marriage will do are ignorant, hateful bullshit.