This is the third post in a series. I will discuss advantages of income taxation different from the obvious advantage that taking from people with high income hurts them less than taking from people with low income. Here again, I will assume that, in equilibrium, income tax is returned to the people who pay it as a lump sum. I do this to focus on the incentive effects of income taxation. The first two posts are here and here. In standard...
Read More »Rescuing Disposable Time from Oblivion
Two hundred years ago this February, Charles Wentworth Dilke anonymously published a pamphlet titled The Source and Remedy of the National Difficulties, deduced from principles of political economy. Four decades later, Karl Marx would describe the pamphlet in his notes as an “important advance on Ricardo.” In his preface to volume two of Capital, Friedrich Engels described the pamphlet as the “farthest outpost of an entire literature which in the...
Read More »Liars and Their Lies
Poor Jim Jordan, singled up with no Doug Collins, Trey Gowdy, Darrell Issa, Louis Gohmert, Mo Brooks, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, …, along side him, on 12 and 13 Jan, 2021, tried valiantly, well, at least loudly and indignantly, to pull the Republican wagon out of the ditch; the ditch that they all had taken a hand in lying the party into. Proving once again that there are none so as indignant as the scoundrel(s), Jordan indignantly rose to accuse his...
Read More »Tort
When Fox News and Newsmax recently accused voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems of rigging the 2020 election results, Dominion quickly and vigorously struck back at the two with a threat of civil lawsuit; a suit claiming that they, Dominion, had been harmed by the actions of Fox News and Newsmax. Consequent Dominion’s filing, Fox and Newsmax began to quickly and forthwith profusely apologize for and correct their ‘misstatements’....
Read More »Unfit
For eight years Mitch McConnell did everything in his power to block any initiative by President Obama; no matter the cost to the nation. It simply wouldn’t do to have the Democrats governing, to have a Democrat in the White House; especially not a popular black President. He never was much on democracy. McConnell couldn’t thwart the will of the people in the 2008 presidential election, but, from the start, it was ‘whatever it takes’ to ensure that...
Read More »Impeachment now?
What about impeachment? There is no question that Congress can impeach Trump for his role in encouraging today’s assault on Congress. What are the arguments for and against? For impeachment: There is a real possibility that Trump will do something dangerous in the final days of his presidency. If he is impeached and convicted, he could be barred from running for President again. Presumably impeaching him would have some precedential /...
Read More »Why resign?
Several White House aides and policymakers have resigned in the past 24 hours. Frankly, I don’t get it. First, it’s way too late to salvage your reputation. Second, at this point you can (arguably) do more to protect your reputation by saying that you are staying to prevent Trump from doing something crazy in the final days of his presidency. ...
Read More »The events at the Capitol
The events at the capitol today are horrifying, and to many of us seem like the natural outcome of Trumpism and the morally degenerate enabling of the Republican party. But the events today may well end up strengthening our democracy. I suspect that Trump has badly overplayed his hand. The images of thugs running loose through the capital will horrify a significant part of Trump’s law and order base. In the court of public opinion, this will be...
Read More »Thoughts on the Invasion of the US Capitol
Thoughts on the Invasion of the US Capitol It’s all happening as I write, but here are a few reactions: 1. Fortunately we see Q-Anonics, Loud Boys and other right wing crazies invading the Capitol Building and not Black Lives Matter or the Left. Think how many lives would have been lost if it had been the other way around. 2. It will be interesting to see how deeply investigators will delve into the lax security preparations for today’s...
Read More »The Wealth of a Nation
— One of Sandwichman’s good questions prompted my revisiting an earlier writing of mine on wealth (circa 2000?). Extensively revised to the extent that it is hardly recognizable; here is, a, second, best effort. Herein, the terms wealth and capital are thought of as being interchangeable. For thousands of years, humans lived off the bounty of nature. Some societies still do, but, today, and for centuries now, most societies have lived...
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