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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Thanks Mike

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Feb 10 2009, 10:00 AM ET Comment

I'd read about this Michael Steele comment, but didn't realize how stupid it was until I actually watched it. You'd think Steele would have backed off his "not in the history of mankind has government created a job" argument. But he's actually advancing it claiming that government creates "work" and "contracts" which don't count as jobs. Good to know that I'm technically unemployed, since I'm on contract with The Atlantic. Also good to know that my mother, who's worked in the public school system all her life, has never actually had a job.

Look, I get that there's a case to be made against simply doling out money for people to do work that we don't actually need. But this isn't it and Steele isn't the dude to make the case. No one knows more about make-work than him. Steele is operating in this fantasy world where businesses never fail and never have to lay anyone off. I don't know much about econ. But I can recognize a guy who's just as clueless as I am.



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