Tuesday, December 04, 2012

The Word for Our Times

an·o·mie

noun \ˈa-nə-mē\
: social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also: personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Two Budget and Tax Untruths.

Two claims continue to circulate about our present fiscal crisis: the first, that we can grow our way out of debt, and the second, that a more aggressive tax policy toward the top earners (those making above $250K per year) will effectively fill the deficit hole.

Let's dispose of Whopper Number One. Suppose that the US GDP grows at 3.5% per year (the effective growth rate from 2000-2010). This is an additional $420B in the economy, and a federal tax rate of 25% of this contributes about $105B per year towards debt reduction. This is a fraction of the current deficit, so our government would continue to bleed red ink, albeit at a modestly lower rate.

As for Whopper Number Two, consider that the total AGI of the top 5% of earners (those making more than $160K per year!) is $2.9T. If we increased the effective tax rate of this group by 50% (for an effective rate of 31% for all in this group) this will provide only an additional $303B in revenue. Either the pledge to tax only the "rich" would have to reneged, or the tax rate would have to much more confiscatory, or both.

Either of these amounts is small compared to our $1.6T deficit, and their sum is less than half of it. Why do we let the blowhards continue to spin either of these fables?

We are face a moment of truth regarding the extent to which government can materially provide for its citizens through entitlements.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Obama: Plain Stupid on Business.

This is how the President really thinks economic growth happens: by government initiatives. No one is arguing about the need for infrastructure; his arguement is, as he would say, a false choice. And the man doesn't understand that economic growth is based on initiative and risk by individuals.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/jul/15/picketvideo-obama-if-youve-got-business-you-didnt-/

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Has the President brought us together?

A few days ago, we pondered all of the groups of people that the White House or its proxies have attacked in pursuing their expansion of social welfare and state control in the last three years. Here's our list, it may not be complete:

  • The "1%"
  • Oil Companies
  • Doctors
  • Hospitals
  • Pharmacutical Companies
  • Insurance Companies
  • Bankers
  • The Tea Party
  • "Wall Street" and Venture Capitalists
  • 2nd Amendment advocates
  • The Supreme Court
  • "Talk Radio"
  • The Koch Brothers
  • Fox News and the Wall St. Journal
  • The Pro-Life Movement
  • The Catholic Church
  • "Fast Food" makers and distributors
  • Tobacco companies
  • The State of Arizona and other border-control advocates
  • Voter ID advocates
  • Multinational corporations
  • The heirs of "large" estates
A remarkable list. Are we missing any?

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Hiatus.

We have neglected this journal for several months, and our excuse is simple. We've had nothing much to say that wasn't expressed by others with greater felicity. Now, however, we dare to speak up.


Our country has serious troubles beyond debt and unemployment. The premise of our republic is not the "right" to a job, not a "right" to healthcare, nor education, nor housing, nor other materialist "rights", rather it is

...[we] are endowed by their [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

 It is now obvious that the current Administration intends to supplant this sacred declaration with that of the Menu of Materialist Entitlements. Furthermore, the Administration, in order to realize this goal, is attacking the social institutions and conventions that would impede the citizens' reduction to serfs beholden to an all-powerful federal government for direction in every significant aspect of their lives.

This Administration, with its Czars and Mandates, must be turned out in November. Otherwise, Lord help us, while the federal powers still permit an appeal to Heaven.