Skip to Content

Aaron Sinner

St. Paul, MN
Commenter for
1 year 38 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 08/21/12 at 02:28 pm in response to Twins demote Nick Blackburn, the worst MLB pitcher with 15 or more starts

The Twins' front office hasn't shown Blackburn they have confidence in him? What do you call a 4-year, $14 million contract? Sounds like a vote of confidence to me.

If Blackburn's problem is really just a lack of confidence and some counseling would solve everything, I'm sure this multimillionaire can afford to hire a therapist and work out his issues.

Posted on 07/31/12 at 10:29 am in response to Are Liriano trade results the best the Twins could do?

I listened to your "Gleeman and the Geek" podcast and initially was won over by the idea that this was a terrible trade. But after doing a bit more reading and thinking, I wonder if there are other factors we're overlooking. (1) The new collective bargaining agreement makes it so losing a rental player to Free Agency isn't worth compensatory draft picks anymore, decreasing the value of such players on the trade market. (2) For any teams shopping for a new pitcher, making the play-offs...

Posted on 04/19/12 at 11:01 am in response to Condi Rice for veep?

It's probably worth noting that the ranking of VP choices exactly tracks with the ranking by percent of respondents who'd never heard of each person.

Condoleezza Rice and Rick Santorum are the only ones with "never heard of" under 10%. The others range from Chris Christie (25%) to Rob Portman (67%) responding "never heard of."

Posted on 02/22/12 at 07:00 pm in response to History lessons: Understanding the decline in manufacturing

This post and the comments so far are all quite insightful and helpful.

The one thing I see missing from the initial post--but hinted at in some of the later posts--is that when viewed in terms of absolute output rather than as a share of the economy, manufacturing is cruising.

Here's a quote from economist Donald Boudreax: "Just before the current downturn -- in 2008 -- inflation-adjusted manufacturing output in the U.S. was 13 percent higher than it was in 2000, 52 percent...

Posted on 01/11/12 at 03:44 pm in response to Meetings of economists reflect our culture

The Meetings sounds sort of like one of those comics and movies conventions.

Econ Con, anyone?

Posted on 11/23/11 at 12:46 pm in response to Income inequality: Why it took off in recent years

After reading the book "Winner-Take-All Politics," I'm somewhat skeptical of the Technology & Education argument.

If I'm remembering my numbers correctly, 25% of the population has a bachelor's degree or higher, and 10% has a professional degree. If education were a major driver of income inequality, we'd expect to see inequality divided roughly in line with those percentages, no? But instead of a top 25% or 10% pulling away from everyone else, we have a top 1% pulling away from...

Posted on 09/27/11 at 11:10 am in response to A question for constitutional conservatives

#15 Paul--

The Continental Army was pre-Constitution. Pre-Articles of Confederation, even.

Posted on 09/22/11 at 10:48 am in response to Flying monkeys raise eyebrows

I remember learning in high school English to avoid the word "get" in formal writing, because it's a vague word and there's pretty much always a more precise word that can be used in its place. Following that rule could've saved at least two of these headlines.