RSS

robertogreco + taxes   85

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism - YouTube
"Development economics expert Ha-Joon Chang dispels the myths and prejudices that have come to dominate our understanding of how the world works in a lecture at the RSA."
ideology  taxes  taxation  freemarkets  growth  regulation  trickledowneconomics  inequality  wealthcreation  financialcrisis  myths  via:chrisberthelsen  2010  economics  capitalism  ha-joonchang  from delicious
february 2012 by robertogreco
Why San Diegans Are to Blame for the City's Problems - voiceofsandiego.org: Q & As
"There are really two faces or sides to San Diego. There's the San Diego the tourists see. There's a high-tech industry that spawned the new economy by places like UCSD. That's the public face of San Diego at least in terms of the local PR machine, which is very good at getting the San Diego image out.

The reality of San Diego is on the public sector side. I think on the first page we talk about an increasingly grim and visible civic reality, which is dry rot for public services and infrastructure. That's still largely hidden. You get intimations of it like during the 2003 and 2007 fire when you suddenly realize we have very little fire protection.

The problem with San Diego is that the ocean and the sun are both our blessing and our curse. Obviously, it's a wonderful place to live in if you can afford it. But the problem is, is that it induces sort of a sense of complacency that as long as the sun comes up everything is OK."
sandiego  2011  politics  steveerie  jerrysanders  policy  finance  taxes  services  deficit  crisis  finances  california  losangeles  revenue  from delicious
october 2011 by robertogreco
THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: Elizabeth Warren on class warfare, etc.
“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You build a factory out there – good for you.

But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for...

Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea – God bless! Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
elizabethwarren  class  society  us  policy  taxes  entitlement  2011  markets  economics  business  entrepreneurship  infrastructure  government  from delicious
september 2011 by robertogreco
The Blog : How to Lose Readers (Without Even Trying) : Sam Harris
"Many of my critics pretend that they have been entirely self-made…seem to feel responsible for their intellectual gifts…freedom from injury & disease…fact that they were born at a specific moment in history. Many appear to have absolutely no awareness of how lucky one must be to succeed at anything in life, no matter how hard one works. One must be lucky to be able to work. One must be lucky to be intelligent, to not have cerebral palsy, or to not have been bankrupted in middle age by the mortal illness of a spouse.

Many of us have been extraordinarily lucky—& we did not earn it. Many good people have been extraordinarily unlucky—& did not deserve it. & yet I get the distinct sense that if I asked some of my readers why they weren’t born w/ club feet, or orphaned before the age of 5, they would not hesitate to take credit for these accomplishments. There is a stunning lack of insight into the unfolding of human events that passes for moral & economic wisdom in some circles."

[via: http://lukescommonplacebook.tumblr.com/post/9573656199/ ]
culture  economics  policy  money  taxes  politics  samharris  objectivism  libertarianism  luck  unlucky  life  illness  bankruptcy  society  religion  belief  selfishness  wisdom  class  wealth  incomegap  wealthdistribution  warrenbuffett  2011  sharing  socialism  democracy  goodfortune  morality  from delicious
august 2011 by robertogreco
World of Class Warfare - Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy Conservatives - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 08/18/11 - Video Clip | Comedy Central
"Warren Buffett's op-ed is a thoughtful treatise on the advantages the super-wealthy currently enjoy at the hands of the tax code, or to put it another way, "class warfare."<br />
<br />
"World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over: The government could raise $700 billion by either taking half of everything earned by the bottom 50% or by raising the marginal tax rate on the top two percent."<br />
<br />
[That's from the second part here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-18-2011/world-of-class-warfare---the-poor-s-free-ride-is-over ]
classwarfare  humor  dailyshow  jonstewart  warrenbuffett  poverty  us  foxnews  budget  debt  wealthdistribution  wealth  2011  policy  taxes  from delicious
august 2011 by robertogreco
Et tu, Mr. Destructo?: Fuck You, Warren Buffett
"Then again, perhaps you've done enough. Negative Nancies might argue that philanthropy is simply the right hand of capitalism, its moral pressure valve, divesting The Super Rich of their guilt over the means by which they hoard wealth, offering the public carefully staged signs of humanity in an otherwise mechanistic and amoral system, but I like to think of it as good folks pitching in. <br />
<br />
Perhaps then it's time to return to divesting yourself of your billion-dollar fortune before you die. Funding the charities of your choice affords you a philanthropic immortality, keeping your hand on the levers of power and advancement long after death, while keeping that fortune away from the predatory and anonymizing hands of the American Estate Tax."
warrenbuffett  power  money  capitalism  2011  taxes  taxation  government  philanthropy  via:javierarbona  ethics  elite  lobbying  from delicious
august 2011 by robertogreco
Contract for the American Dream
"We, the American people, promise to defend and advance a simple ideal: liberty and justice . . . for all. Americans who are willing to work hard and play by the rules should be able to find a decent job, get a good home in a strong community, retire with dignity, and give their kids a better life. Every one of us – rich, poor, or in-between, regardless of skin color or birthplace, no matter their sexual orientation or gender – has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is our covenant, our compact, our contract with one another. It is a promise we can fulfill – but only by working together…<br />
<br />
I. Invest in America's Infrastructure<br />
II. Create 21st Century Energy Jobs<br />
III. Invest in Public Education<br />
IV. Offer Medicare for All<br />
V. Make Work Pay<br />
VI. Secure Social Security<br />
VII. Return to Fairer Tax Rates<br />
VIII. End the Wars and Invest at Home<br />
IX. Tax Wall Street Speculation<br />
X. Strengthen Democracy"
2011  petitions  government  us  policy  infrastructure  taxes  socialsecurity  inequality  medicare  health  healthcare  education  jobs  employment  unemployment  money  work  change  democracy  wealthdistribution  from delicious
august 2011 by robertogreco
Christopher Newfield: Was the Innovation Economy Killed by the Debt Debate?
"What kind of a country sanctions the top-25 hedge fund managers earning $22 billion personally? What kind of country cuts services to people who would need 250 years to earn the salary a CEO earns in one year -- so that CEO can pay lower taxes than his secretary?<br />
<br />
Our political discourse has successfully shamed people out of asking these questions. But when they do, the answer to what kind of country we are is: not a country that fairly rewards hard work, individual creativity or pulling together to solve shared problems. Any belief in the general benefits an innovation economy are mocked by current levels of inequality, fueled by a mania for tax avoidance, much like that which created poverty amid the aristocratic plenty of pre-revolutionary France.<br />
<br />
Until policymakers can support both innovation jobs and levels of equality that spell mutual respect, the majority will not vote to pay for the economic renewal we need."
christophernewfield  economics  us  politics  inequality  wealth  wealthdestruction  taxes  government  policy  stem  innovation  2011  nationaldebt  debtcrisis  from delicious
august 2011 by robertogreco
A Story More Important than Debt Limit Kabuki | Informed Comment
"The reason that the Republicans deliberately destroyed the balanced budget and created unprecedented government debt was precisely in hopes that at some point they could use the debt as an excuse to destroy social security, medicare, and myriads of educational and health programs. They represent rich people, and the rich don’t want to be having to bear their fair share of the national burden. What better way to get out of having to pay those pesky taxes than making sure the government doesn’t do anything for anyone but the rich.<br />
<br />
So everything unfolding in Washington was planned out in a room in 2001, and is going according to plan."
juancole  crisis  2011  2001  wealth  wealthy  debtlimitkabuki  debtceiling  debtcrisis  government  classwarfare  rich  budget  budgetcuts  taxes  finance  from delicious
july 2011 by robertogreco
Why the Wealthiest Americans Are the Real 'Job-Killers' | Economy | AlterNet
"None of this is particularly complex. In 1978, the top 1 percent of the ladder took in just under 9 percent of the nation's income, leaving a bit more than 91 percent for the rest of us. In 2007, the year before the crash, they took in 23.5 percent, leaving just 76.5 percent for the rest of the population to split up.
They banked most of that income, whereas we would have spent it. The fact that we're broke means that businesses are facing less demand for their goods and services than they otherwise would, and have less need to hire a bunch of employees. And that dynamic explains why it's the wealthiest Americans who are the real “job killers.”"
greed  wealth  economics  jobs  wealthdistribution  savings  us  taxes  2011  jobcreation  unemployment  consumption 
july 2011 by robertogreco
Why the Wealthiest Americans Are the Real 'Job-Killers' | Economy | AlterNet
"None of this is particularly complex. In 1978, the top 1 percent of the ladder took in just under 9 percent of the nation's income, leaving a bit more than 91 percent for the rest of us. In 2007, the year before the crash, they took in 23.5 percent, leaving just 76.5 percent for the rest of the population to split up.<br />
They banked most of that income, whereas we would have spent it. The fact that we're broke means that businesses are facing less demand for their goods and services than they otherwise would, and have less need to hire a bunch of employees. And that dynamic explains why it's the wealthiest Americans who are the real “job killers.”"
greed  wealth  economics  jobs  savings  us  taxes  2011  jobcreation  unemployment  consumption  wealthdistribution  from delicious
july 2011 by robertogreco
Society | Vanity Fair — Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
"The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late."
society  politics  economics  psychology  money  history  inequality  disparity  wealth  via:preoccupations  josephstiglitz  2011  opression  classwarfare  income  inequity  greed  alexisdetocqueville  self-interest  concentrationofwealth  policy  power  control  revolt  taxes  wealthdistribution  from delicious
july 2011 by robertogreco
Half of US social program recipients believe they "have not used a government social program" - Boing Boing
""Reconstituting the Submerged State: The Challenges of Social Policy Reform in the Obama Era," a paper by Cornell's Clinton Rossiter Professor of American Institutions Suzanne Mettler features this remarkable chart showing that about half of American social program beneficiaries believe that they "have not used a government social program." It's the "Keep your government hands off my Medicare" phenomena writ large: a society of people who subsist on mutual aid and redistributive policies who've been conned (and conned themselves) into thinking that they are rugged individualists and that everyone else is a parasite."
culture  economics  social  government  us  2011  socialprograms  taxes  perception  politics  policy  from delicious
july 2011 by robertogreco
Tax rates and economic growth in one graph - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post
"I want to be very clear here: I am not saying, and no one should think, that high marginal tax rates drive growth. All else being equal, lower marginal tax rates are probably better for growth, though that can flip if they begin driving large deficits or starving important government functions. But what this graph suggests is that marginal tax rates don’t determine growth in either direction. As Linden concludes, “These numbers do not mean that higher rates necessarily lead to higher growth. But the central tenet of modern conservative economics is that a lower top marginal tax rate will result in more growth, and these numbers do show conclusively that history has not been kind to that theory.”"
ezraklein  economics  taxes  taxrates  money  growth  2011  conservatism 
june 2011 by robertogreco
Robbery? Not in this Redevelopment Fight - voiceofsandiego.org:
"What the response revealed though, as if it were hidden, was that it's not necessarily big government that city of San Diego Republican leaders are against. They have a resource-allocation grievance. Spending is OK, & it's to be encouraged, in fact. Investment in downtown &, say, a new Convention Center is an obvious good. Government spending isn't the problem for them—it's that Other Part of Government spending that's the problem.

I just don't get it, they'll say. Let's take their objections 1 by 1: [listed]…

At some point Sanders, Faulconer, Gloria & everyone else will have to just admit they want the money for this & not that. They could make the case about why their preferred spending was more important than the spending that was preserved…a legitimate position. But it doesn't, apparently, carry the weight of screaming that you're the victim of armed robbery by big government.

Unfortunately it wasn't robbery. It was a resource-allocation game that someone had to lose."
california  sandiego  government  money  biggovernment  taxes  redevelopment  politics  2011  budgetcuts  funding  jerrybrown  jerrysanders 
june 2011 by robertogreco
The Great Ephemeralization | Bottom-up
"Paul Graham & Reihan Salam have been popularizing term “ephemeralization”, originally coined by Bucky Fuller, to describe process whereby special-purpose products are replaced by software running on general-purpose computing devices. As list above suggests, ephemeralization is affecting a growing fraction of the economy. & w/ technologies like self-driving cars on the horizon, its importance will only grow in the coming decades.<br />
<br />
Ephemeralization offers an alternative explanation for the puzzling growth slowdown of the last decade. Every time the software industry displaces a special purpose device, our standard of living improves but measured GDP falls. If what you care about is government revenue, this point might not matter much—it’s hard to tax something if no one’s paying for it. But the real lesson here may not be that the US economy is stagnating, but rather that the government is bad at measuring improvements in our standard of living that come from software industry."
technology  internet  politics  history  economics  gdp  productivity  growth  2011  ephemeralization  buckminsterfuller  paulgraham  tylercowen  reihansalam  books  timothylee  taxation  taxes  govenment  metrics  measurement  via:jeeves  from delicious
june 2011 by robertogreco
The secret life of libraries | Books | The Observer
"If someone suggested the idea of public libraries now, they'd be considered insane. If you said you were going to take a little bit of money from every taxpayer, buy a whole load of books and music and games, stick them on a shelf and tell everyone, 'These are yours to borrow and all you've got to do is bring them back,' they'd be laughed out of government." —  Peter Collins
libraries  books  government  uk  politics  2011  socialism  taxes  community  policy  from delicious
june 2011 by robertogreco
Tax property, not people, for a fairer society | Business | The Guardian
"Levies on land values do not depress or distort wealth creation and are easy to assess, cheap to collect and hard to avoid"<br />
<br />
"So not only do we get a tax that is easy and cheap to collect, it would be difficult for the super rich to avoid with their offshore trusts and company ownership structures, and it would also lower the value of the asset that is stifling social mobility – property."
2011  taxes  taxation  propertytax  property  land  society  fairness  wealth  power  control  vat  europe  oecd  lvt  landvaluetax  from delicious
may 2011 by robertogreco
Why the Creator of 'The Wire' Turned the Camera to New Orleans | | AlterNet
"Simon: I'm a socialist. I'm not a Marxist, but I am a socialist. You hear these sons of bitches invoke socialism to suggest that we shouldn't have an actuarial group of 300 million people and keep all of us a little more healthy by sharing. It's a thoughtless triumph of ignorance.<br />
Both parties fear telling the truth. The collapse of all democratic integrity over taxes is near complete. I'm making a lot of money. I should be paying a lot more taxes. I'm not paying taxes at a rate that is even close to what people were paying under Eisenhower. Do people think America wasn't ascendant and wasn't an upwardly mobile society under Eisenhower in the '50s? Nobody was looking at the country then and thinking to themselves, "We're taxing ourselves into oblivion." Yet there isn't a politician with balls enough to tell that truth because the whole system has been muddied by the rich. It's been purchased."
davidsimon  taxes  politics  us  treme  thewire  police  crime  lawenforcement  drugs  prisons  neworleans  nola  baltimore  2011  interviews  socialism  marxism  sharing  taxation  disparity  healthcare  health  policy  corruption  democracy  democrats  money  prosperity  income  incomegap  society  dwightdeisenhower  from delicious
may 2011 by robertogreco
Why the Creator of 'The Wire' Turned the Camera to New Orleans | | AlterNet
"Simon: I'm a socialist. I'm not a Marxist, but I am a socialist. You hear these sons of bitches invoke socialism to suggest that we shouldn't have an actuarial group of 300 million people and keep all of us a little more healthy by sharing. It's a thoughtless triumph of ignorance.
Both parties fear telling the truth. The collapse of all democratic integrity over taxes is near complete. I'm making a lot of money. I should be paying a lot more taxes. I'm not paying taxes at a rate that is even close to what people were paying under Eisenhower. Do people think America wasn't ascendant and wasn't an upwardly mobile society under Eisenhower in the '50s? Nobody was looking at the country then and thinking to themselves, "We're taxing ourselves into oblivion." Yet there isn't a politician with balls enough to tell that truth because the whole system has been muddied by the rich. It's been purchased."
davidsimon  taxes  politics  us  treme  thewire  police  crime  lawenforcement  drugs  prisons  neworleans  nola  baltimore  2011  interviews  socialism  marxism  sharing  taxation  disparity  healthcare  health  policy  corruption  democracy  democrats  money  prosperity  income  incomegap  society  dwightdeisenhower 
may 2011 by robertogreco
Economist's View: Increasing Taxes on the Wealthy is Unfair???
"The immorality is based upon the idea that the wealthy earned every penny they received and it would be immoral to take it away and give it to those who didn't toil as hard, as effectively, or at all (you know, the people whose wages have not kept up with their productivity). The arguments against the idea that pay at the top reflects merit alone are well known -- the contention hardly passes the laugh test -- and I won't repeat them here. But anyone who thinks the reward for crashing the financial sector ought to be unimaginable wealth should rethink their ideas."
taxes  budget  debt  2011  morality  right  left  income  wealth  policy  politics  trickledowneconomics  economics  money  society  wealthdistribution  from delicious
april 2011 by robertogreco
Lessons from California: The perils of extreme democracy | The Economist
"California cannot pass timely budgets even in good years, which is one reason why its credit rating has, in one generation, fallen from one of the best to absolute worst among 50 states. How can a place which has so much going for it…be so poorly governed?<br />
<br />
It is tempting to accuse those doing the governing. The legislators, hyperpartisan & usually deadlocked, are a pretty rum bunch. The governor, Jerry Brown, who also led the state between 1975 & 1983, has (like his predecessors) struggled to make the executive branch work. But as our special report this week argues, the main culprit has been direct democracy: recalls, in which Californians fire elected officials in mid-term; referendums, in which they can reject acts of their legislature; and especially initiatives, in which the voters write their own rules. Since 1978, when Proposition 13 lowered property-tax rates, hundreds of initiatives have been approved on subjects from education to the regulation of chicken coops."
california  2011  directdemocracy  democracy  government  initiatives  proposition13  jerrybrown  handstied  deadlock  referendums  taxes  budget  creditrating  education  policy  politics  1978  propertytax  money  switzerland  classideas  representativedemocracy  from delicious
april 2011 by robertogreco
A Tax Day Celebration: Taxes Pay For Necessary Government Services And Make Capitalism Workable. | The New Republic
"The Nordic countries are far more homogenous than the U.S. and it’s an open question whether a society as diverse and unequal as ours would support such a high tax burden. (This is one of the points Douthat makes in his column.) But even if we do absolutely nothing but let current law stand--in other words, if we let the Bush tax cuts expire, allow the alternative minimum tax to remain in place, allow scheduled reductions in physician fees to take effect, and limit the control of health care costs only to the official projections for the Affordable Care Act--it seems likely that our tax burden would still not exceed what the Nordic countries face today, at least not for another 50 years.*"
taxes  us  policy  medicine  healthcare  scandinavia  comparison  2011  education  spending  austerity  austeritymeasures  busherataxcuts  government  nordiccountries  society  via:cburell  from delicious
april 2011 by robertogreco
Boston Review — David Bollier and Jonathan Rowe: The 'Illth' of Nations
"Current beliefs about economic freedom emerged in West during 17&18th centuries…entrepreneurs were challenging the remnants of feudalism, & private property stood as a symbol of freedom against arrogant royal rule. …yesterday’s answer became today’s problem. Today it is private property, as embodied in corporation, that has become arrogant…solution is not all-encompassing state—authoritarian “we” that has been the reactive refuge of Left. Regulation there must be; but there must also be a different kind of property—common property—that exists alongside the market, providing a buffer against its excesses & producing what the corporate market can’t.<br />
<br />
As market culture intrudes ever-deeper into daily life—from public spaces to the inner lives of kids— there is a yearning for space that is beyond the reach of buying & selling. People might not use the word “commons;” but they seek increasingly what it represents—community, freedom, & the integrity of natural & social processes."
economics  anarchism  marxism  via:javierarbona  davidbollier  freedom  jonathanrowe  illth  growth  property  perspective  commons  privateproperty  we  autoritarianism  left  politics  policy  commonproperty  excess  scarcity  abundance  future  wealth  culture  society  progress  community  intefrity  social  distribution  markets  marketfundamentalism  local  gdp  work  prosperity  well-being  affluence  income  incomegap  redistribution  taxes  taxation  wealthdistribution  from delicious
april 2011 by robertogreco
Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch
"1. Warning: Super Rich want tax cuts, creating youth unemployment… 2. Warning: rich get richer on commodity prices, poor get angrier… 3. Warning: Global poor ticking time bomb targeting Super Rich… 4. Warning: Next revolution coming across ‘Third World America’… 5. Warning: Super Rich must be detoxed of their greed addiction… 6. Warning: Politicians infected by Super-Rich Delusion, revolution"
politics  economics  taxes  us  superrich  wealth  2011  thirdworldamerica  poor  poverty  unemployment  disparity  incomegap  global  rich  youth  revolution  paulfarrell  greed  instabiity  greatdepression  greatrecession  greatrepression  commodities  food  wealthdistribution  from delicious
april 2011 by robertogreco
How to Build a Progressive Tea Party | The Nation
"American citizens should ask themselves: I work hard and pay my taxes, so why don’t the richest people and the corporations? Why should I pick up the entire tab for keeping the nation running? Why should the people who can afford the most pay the least? If you’re happy with that situation, you can stay at home and leave the protesting to the Tea Party. For the rest, there’s an alternative. For too long, progressive Americans have been lulled into inactivity by Obama’s soaring promises, which come to little. As writer Rebecca Solnit says, “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky…. Hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency.” UK Uncut has just shown Americans how to express real hope—and build a left-wing Tea Party."<br />
<br />
[Related: http://www.thenation.com/article/158280/ten-step-guide-launching-us-uncut ]
politics  policy  us  uk  teaparty  ukuncut  usuncut  uncut  taxes  activism  progressive  government  tarp  bailout  deficit  2011  johannhari  grassroots  protest  finance  wealth  incomegap  disparity  inequality  corporations  corporatism  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
The Tipping Point | Coffee Party
"Years from now, we will think of February 2011 as the tipping point in America’s great awakening. After all the warnings and wake-up calls, this be will remembered as the time when the American people decided to come together, confront the plutocracy that plagues our republic, and do something to change the economic inequality / instability that has grown from it. There is a tide. If you don't yet feel it, here are Ten Wake Up Calls that we predict will help define February 2011 in America.  The more people who get involved, the more meaningful it will be.  So, please share this page with others who may still need a reason to wake up and stand up."<br />
<br />
1 Egypt; 2 Bob Herbert's Challenge To America; 3 The Protest & the Prank Call in Wisconsin; 4 Johann Hari's article in The Nation; 5 It's the Inequality, Stupid; 6 The Great American Rip-off; 7 BP makes US sick; 8 House of Representatives run amok; 9 The Stiglitz Deficit-reduction Plan; 10 Tax Week, April 11 to 17, 2011."
2011  tippingpoint  us  politics  policy  plutocracy  change  gamechanging  egypt  bobherbert  matttaibbi  bp  corporations  corporatism  capitalism  corruption  campaignfinance  josephstiglitz  johannhari  inequality  disparity  incomegap  taxes  crisis  banking  finance  government  bailouts  foreclosures  unions  unionbusting  wisconsin  deficits  deficitreduction  teaparty  coffeeparty  kochbrothers  havesandhavenots  money  wealth  influence  power  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
'I won't pay' movement spreads across Greece - Business - World business - msnbc.com
"In light of austerity measures, citizens ignore tolls, transit ticket costs, even bills for healthcare"
greece  politics  government  money  taxes  protest  austeritymeasures  2011  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
Energy prices: Tax away vulnerability | The Economist
"There are any number of good reasons to raise the petrol tax rate. The current rate no longer brings in enough money to cover current highway spending. Petrol taxes are an efficient way to raise revenue, and the government needs revenue; President Obama's deficit commission recommended an increase in the federal petrol tax rate. Burning oil produces carbon emissions, and dearer fuel would reduce America's sky-high per capita carbon footprint. But a higher tax rate would also diminish the possibility that a sudden rise in oil prices would throw the economy into recession. That would be a nice risk to minimise! And yes, higher tax rates would hit consumers just like rising oil prices. But those prices are rising anyway; better to capture the revenue and use it, all while improving behaviour.<br />
<br />
It's hard to take any fiscal hawk seriously so long as this measure isn't on the table. It's as close to a win-win solution as one is likely to find."
energy  2011  oil  tax  taxation  taxes  us  vulnerability  economics  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
Plutocracy Now: What Wisconsin Is Really About
"It's not clear how this will get turned around. Unions, for better or worse, are history…<br />
<br />
And yet: The heart & soul of liberalism is economic egalitarianism. Without it, Wall Street will continue to extract ever vaster sums from the American economy, the middle class will continue to stagnate, & the left will continue to lack the powerful political & cultural energy necessary for a sustained period of liberal reform.…<br />
<br />
Over the past 40 years, the American left has built an enormous institutional infrastructure dedicated to mobilizing money, votes, & public opinion on social issues, & this has paid off with huge strides in civil rights, feminism, gay rights, environmental policy, and more. But the past two years have demonstrated that that isn't enough. If the left ever wants to regain the vigor that powered earlier eras of liberal reform, it needs to rebuild the infrastructure of economic populism that we've ignored for too long."
politics  left  us  policy  plutocracy  wealth  power  income  finance  wallstreet  unions  future  egalitarianism  history  reform  change  wisonsin  2011  disparity  stagnation  society  taxes  incomegap  labor  middleclass  wealthdistribution  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
It's the Inequality, Stupid | Mother Jones
"Eight charts that explain everything that's wrong with America."
politics  economics  government  society  infographics  wealth  income  us  classideas  plutocracy  corruption  inequality  disparity  incomegap  incomes  unemployment  taxes  taxation  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
Is America drowning in debt? | Dylan Ratigan [crappy transcript]
"…isn’t a question of public unions in any way abusing system. this is a question of a governor who wants to giveaway tax cuts, & a movement in this country by corporations & [plutocrats] talking about we need shared sacrifice but they get tax cut after tax cut. we’re paying the lowest amount of taxes …as we have in 50, 60 years…"<br />
<br />
"wisconsin is #2 in country of SAT/ACT scores…5 of the lowest rated…states…have no collective bargaining w/ teachers."<br />
<br />
"we are subsidizing by the trillion a banking system that’s gouging our country. we pay 2X what we should be paying for health care because of employer based health insurance monopolies & fee for service health care. those health care costs are passed on to all of us. would we not be having a much more beneficial conversation if we were willing to deal with systemic corruption that is the health care system that costs us double what it should & a banking system that …not only does it not invest in our country but seeks to poach…"
crisis  wisconsin  education  collectivebargaining  unions  taxes  republicans  pensions  healthcare  taxcuts  banking  finance  corruption  specialinterests  politics  policy  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
What Conservatives Really Want
"basis of American democracy: empathy—citizens caring for each other, both social & personal responsibility—acting on that care, & an ethic of excellence. From these, our freedoms & way of life follow, as does role of government: to protect & empower everyone equally. Protection includes safety, health, the environment, pensions. Empowerment starts w/ education & infrastructure. No one can be free w/out these, & w/out commitment to care & act on that care by one's fellow citizens.<br />
<br />
…Conservatives believe in individual responsibility alone, not social responsibility.…don't think government should help citizens.…don't think citizens should help each other…part of government they want to cut is not military, not government subsidies to corporations, not aspect of government that fits their worldview…want to cut part that helps people…Because that violates individual responsibility.<br />
<br />
But where does that view of individual responsibility alone come from?<br />
<br />
…strict father family…"
politics  economics  conservatism  republicans  democracy  empathy  socialsafetynet  society  compassion  individual  individualism  wisconsin  education  caring  2011  taxes  government  force  markets  unions  environment  georgelakoff  policy  values  conservatives  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
Robert Reich (The Republican Strategy)
"These three aspects of the Republican strategy – a federal budget battle to shrink government, focused on programs the vast middle class depends on; state efforts to undermine public employees, whom the middle class depends on; and a Supreme Court dedicated to bending the Constitution to enlarge and entrench the political power of the wealthy – fit perfectly together.<br />
They pit average working Americans against one another, distract attention from the almost unprecedented concentration of wealth and power at the top, and conceal Republican plans to further enlarge and entrench that wealth and power.<br />
What is the Democratic strategy to counter this and reclaim America for the rest of us?"
politics  labor  economics  us  2011  republicans  robertreich  policy  taxes  unions  government  disparity  kochbrothers  supremecourt  antoninscalia  clarencethomas  scotus  teaparty  money  influence  wealth  democracy  corruption  from delicious
february 2011 by robertogreco
Musing about 2011 and an un-national generation – confused of calcutta
"The internet, Web, Cloud, these are essentially disruptive global constructs for many of us. The atoms that serve as infrastructure for these global constructs are physically located in specific countries; the laws & regulations that govern the industries disrupted by these constructs are themselves usually national in structure; the firms doing the disrupting are quasi-stateless in character, trying…to be “global”; emerging & future generations have worldviews that are becoming more & more AmazonBay, discarding the national middle for edges of global & hyperlocal.<br />
<br />
We are all so steeped in national structures for every aspect of this: the law, governance model, access & delivery technologies, ways of doing business — that we’re missing the point.<br />
<br />
Everything is becoming more stateless, more global. We don’t know how to deal with it. So we’re all trying very hard to put genies back in bottles, pave cowpaths, turn back waves, all with the same result.<br />
<br />
Abject failure."
postnational  global  globalization  globalism  nationalism  national  business  law  culture  mobility  cv  jprangaswami  digital  analog  thirdculture  un-national  generations  internet  web  cloud  government  wikileaks  taxes  regulation  fundraising  residency  identity  statelessness  open  closed  trade  copyright  regional  local  hyperlocal  williamstafford  poetry  borders  from delicious
january 2011 by robertogreco
Our Banana Republic - NYTimes.com
"You no longer need to travel to distant and dangerous countries to observe such rapacious inequality. We now have it right here at home — and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, it may get worse.<br />
<br />
The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.<br />
<br />
C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001. Perhaps the most astounding statistic is this: From 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent."
nicholaskristof  development  inequality  poverty  taxes  unemployment  us  wealth  economics  politics  geography  2010  capitalism  classism  government  policy  bananarepublics  latinamerica  caudillos  disparity  from delicious
november 2010 by robertogreco
America, get realistic and tax the rich | Marketplace From American Public Media
"And in that respect, the Brits are much more realistic than Americans. For all that the American Dream is woven into this country's culture, there's actually less social mobility here than in most of Europe. If you're born poor, you're much more likely to make it rich in a country like Sweden or even Canada than you are in the U.S.<br />
<br />
Countries that provide good resources for poorer families and have cheap or free university education are much more likely than America to see people working their way up the ladder. Americans oppose tax cuts because they think that even if they're not rich today, they might be tomorrow. But they're wrong about that. The American Dream is just a dream -- it is not based on reality."
taxes  us  uk  europe  socialmobility  income  money  americandream  2010  wealth  from delicious
october 2010 by robertogreco
Question: What makes us feel wealthy? | Marketplace From American Public Media
"In a second question posed to financial psychologist Ted Klontz and the Wall Street Journal's Robert Frank, Tess Vigeland asks what it is that makes people feel wealthy. It turns out, the fact that many don't believe they're rich may be the problem."
wealth  perspective  comparison  psychology  money  taxes  incomegap  income  from delicious
october 2010 by robertogreco
What is Rich? | Marketplace From American Public Media
Multi-segment series on wealth. "How far does $250K go in New York City?" "How perception affects our sense of wealth, and taxes" "Burdens of wealth" "America, get realistic and tax the rich" PLUS "What makes us feel wealthy?" http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/22/mm-question-what-makes-us-feel-wealthy/ AND "What popular culture tells us about wealth" http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/22/mm-what-popular-culture-tells-us-about-wealth/ AND "How has people's wealth changed" http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/22/mm-question-how-has-peoples-wealth-changed/ AND "What $250k gets you: Rodeo Drive vs. Rodeo Road" http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/22/mm-rodeo-drive-vs-rodeo-road/
money  wealth  psychology  jamessurowiecky  culture  society  perception  us  uk  taxes  inheritance  from delicious
october 2010 by robertogreco
Matthew Yglesias » Poor People Are Much Poorer Than You Think [via: http://scudmissile.tumblr.com/post/1230275595/abbyjean-actual-represents-the-actual]
"Via Tim Noah, a striking chart from Daniel Ariely and Michael I. Norton’s paper (PDF) “Building a Better America One Wealth Quintile at a Time”: [graph here]<br />
<br />
Actual represents the actual distribution of wealth. Estimated is what people think the distribution of wealth is. I agree with Noah that the methodology that generated the “ideal” numbers is a bit odd so I’ll ignore it.<br />
<br />
Both Noah and Ariely & Norton focus on what this shows us about the top twenty percent, but I don’t think that’s news. We already know from polling that the median voter supports “soak the rich” tax policies far beyond what the right people who run the Democratic Party are prepared to propose. What’s interesting here is the extent to which the public vastly overestimates the prosperity of lower-income Americans. The public thinks the 4th quintile has more money than the median quintile actually has. And the public thinks the 5th quintile has vastly more wealth than it really has."
matthewyglesias  inequality  us  wealth  taxes  policy  politics  myths  misconception  wealthdistribution  from delicious
october 2010 by robertogreco
Third Way - Publications - Publication Content
"For many Americans, the amount they pay in taxes is larger than any purchase they make during the year, but studies show they know almost nothing about where that money goes to. This contributes to ridiculous beliefs, like the view that 20% of government spending goes to foreign aid, for example. An electorate unschooled in basic budget facts is a major obstacle to controlling the nation’s deficit, not to mention addressing a host of economic and social problems. We suggest that everyone who files a tax return receive a “taxpayer receipt.” This receipt would tell them to the penny what their taxes paid for based on the amount they paid in federal income taxes and FICA."
taxes  us  government  money  deficit  policy  education  classideas  statistics  truth  from delicious
october 2010 by robertogreco
A letter to my students « The Reality-Based Community [via: http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2010/08/you-have-been-the-victims-of-a-terrible-swindle.html]
"Welcome to Berkeley, probably still the best public university in the world. Meet your classmates, the best group of partners you can find anywhere. The percentages for grades on exams, papers, etc. in my courses always add up to 110% because that’s what I’ve learned to expect from you, over twenty years in the best job in the world.<br />
<br />
That’s the good news. The bad news is that you have been the victims of a terrible swindle, denied an inheritance you deserve by contract and by your merits. And you aren’t the only ones; victims of this ripoff include the students who were on your left and on your right in high school but didn’t get into Cal, a whole generation stiffed by mine. This letter is an apology, and more usefully, perhaps a signal to start demanding what’s been taken from you so you can pass it on with interest. …"
via:lukeneff  california  government  taxes  society  politics  2010  babyboomers  boomers  generations  infrastructure  greed  selfishness  policy  history  fyigm  schools  proposition13  civilization  socialcontract  toshare  jacobdavies  michaelohare  from delicious
august 2010 by robertogreco
Are the American people obsolete? - U.S. Economy - Salon.com
"Have American people outlived their usefulness to rich minority in the US? A number of trends suggest the answer may be yes.<br />
<br />
In every industrial democracy since end of WWII, there has been a social contract btwn the few & many. In return for receiving disproportionate amount of gains from economic growth in capitalist economy, rich paid disproportionate % of taxes needed for public goods & safety net for majority.<br />
<br />
In N America & Europe, economic elite agreed to this bargain because they needed ordinary people as consumers & soldiers. W/out mass consumption, factories in which rich invested would grind to halt. W/out universal conscription in world wars, & selective conscription during Cold War, US & its allies might have failed to defeat totalitarian empires that would have created a world order hostile to market economy.<br />
<br />
Globalization eliminated 1st reason for rich to continue supporting this bargain at nation-state level, while privatization of military threatens other…"
northamerica  globalization  economy  economics  future  outsourcing  rich  money  capitalism  immigration  politics  history  michaellind  class  disparity  emmigration  labor  war  military  privitazation  elite  socialdemocracy  taxes  society  poverty  international  capital  from delicious
august 2010 by robertogreco
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!: Circulate This Graph Everywhere
"It turns out that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire will only hurt people earning more than $300,000 per year. And it appears as if keeping the Bush tax cuts in place would force people earning $60-150,000 to pay slightly more." [via: http://scudmissile.tumblr.com/post/893384541/circulate-this-graph-everywhere-it-turns-out]
taxes  taxcuts  georgewbush  policy  politics  us  barackobama 
august 2010 by robertogreco
Op-Ed Contributor - Four Deformations of the Apocalypse - NYTimes.com
"The day of national reckoning has arrived. We will not have a conventional business recovery now, but rather a long hangover of debt liquidation and downsizing — as suggested by last week’s news that the national economy grew at an anemic annual rate of 2.4 percent in the second quarter. Under these circumstances, it’s a pity that the modern Republican Party offers the American people an irrelevant platform of recycled Keynesianism when the old approach — balanced budgets, sound money and financial discipline — is needed more than ever."
economics  policy  georgewbush  taxes  reagan  reaganomics  republicans  deficits  balancedbudets  budget  2010  money  finance  debt  nationaldebt  texcuts  disparity  wealth  us  government  davidstockman 
august 2010 by robertogreco
Robert Reich (Slouching Toward a Double Dip or a Lousy Recovery at Best)
"irony is that had there been no bank bailout in 2008-09, no large stimulus & no extraordinary efforts by Fed to pump trillions of $ into economy, we’d have had another Great Depression. & because it would have sucked almost everyone down with it, nation would have demanded larger & more fundamental reforms that might have lifted everyone & set US & world on more sustainable path toward growth & shared prosperity: rebuilding of nation’s infrastructure & alternative energies, single-payer health care, cap on size of big banks & resurrection of Glass-Steagall, earnings insurance, an Earned Income Tax Credit that extended into middle class & a truly progressive tax coupled w/ price on carbon to pay for all of this over long term.
robertreich  economics  greatdepression  greatrecession  missedopportunities  bailouts  2008  2009  2010  banking  finance  glass-steagall  taxes  sustainability  energy  policy  politics  infrastructure  equality  stimulus 
july 2010 by robertogreco
Editorial - Cutting Off the Unemployed - NYTimes.com
"All indications are that when the Senate finally does pass a bill, it will be stingy and cynical — hacking away at jobless benefits and fiscal aid to cash-strapped states, while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy and other well-connected political donors.
unemployment  taxes  government  2010  loopholes  class  disparity  incomegap 
june 2010 by robertogreco
A VC: Why Taxing Carried Interest As Ordinary Income Is Good Policy
"We have witnessed financial services (think asset management, hedge funds, buyout funds, private equity, and venture capital) grow as a percentage of GNP for the past thirty years. The best and brightest don't go into engineering, science, manufacturing, general management, or entrepreneurship, they go to wall street where they will get paid more. And on top of that, we have been giving these jobs a tax break. That seems like bad policy. If we force hedge funds and the like to compete for talent on a more level playing field, then maybe we'll see our best and brightest minds go to more productive activities than moving money around and taking a cut of the action. .. It's time for asset managers to start paying their fair share of taxes. We are among the most highly compensated people in the world. And we've been getting a huge tax break for years. It's not right and I am happy to see our government finally do something about it."
fredwilson  finance  law  management  money  policy  politics  taxes  us  taxbreaks  2010  carriedinterest  interest 
june 2010 by robertogreco
College, Inc. « The Quick and the Ed
"problem with for-profit higher education...people like Clifford are applying private sector principles to an industry w/ a number of distinct characteristics. Four stand out. [1] it’s heavily subsidized. Corporate giants like the U of Phoenix are now pulling in 100s of millions of dollars per year from taxpayers, through federal grants & student loans. [2] it’s awkwardly regulated. Regional accreditors may protest that their imprimatur isn’t like a taxicab medallion to be bought & sold on open market. But as the documentary makes clear, that’s precisely the way it works now. (Clifford puts the value at $10 million.)
money  education  forprofit  profits  markets  highereducation  highered  collegeinc  corruption  taxes  subsidies  experience  value  reputation  consumption  consumers  consumerprotection  regulation 
may 2010 by robertogreco
Tuttle SVC: Tobin Tax!
"If education was partially funded by a tax on financial transactions, a Tobin Tax, as Robert Reich proposes below, the net effect of today's market hiccup would be... more money for schools!
robertreich  tomhoffman  tobintax  schools  funding  publicschools  education  policy  taxes  finance  transactions  money  wallstreet  economics  humancapital 
may 2010 by robertogreco
Fisher: Daring to question Prop. 13 - San Jose Mercury News
"how many people actually dig through the local tax records to find out how Proposition 13 has affected their community? That's what Bestor did. Now she's convinced that the unintended winners under Proposition 13 are commercial landlords. They have managed to shift the tax burden onto those very homeowners who so adamantly defend the status quo.
california  proposition13  taxes  property  commercial 
march 2010 by robertogreco
Will Millennials leave US to avoid becoming the 'chump' generation? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
"If Millennials realize they're going to have to pay the fiscal price for baby boomers' sins, they might choose to leave the US for more financially friendly locations...As baby boomers retire, higher federal spending on Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid may boost Millennials' taxes & squeeze other government programs. It will be harder to start & raise families. Millennials could become the chump generation. They could suffer for their elders' economic sins, particularly the failure to confront the predictable costs of baby boomers' retirement. The threat America faces is a world that competes for our greatest natural resource: it's young. If we make the tax climate hellish, the U.S. is going to suffer outmigration as places like Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile realize what an opportunity they have to cream our entrepreneurial talent."
us  policy  taxes  politics  economics  generations  babyboomers  millennials  geny  generationy 
march 2010 by robertogreco
A closer look at New Jersey taxes « Schoolfinance101's Blog
"often hear radio pundits ranting about NJ’s supposed highest in the nation taxes – that are driving people out of the state. I’ll tackle the migration issues in a later post, but any attempted link to tax policy as a single driver is a stretch...I have previously addressed absurdity of “Small Business Survival Index,” as a standard for measuring whether or not a business should or would locate in a particular state.
newjersey  taxes  schools  publiceducation  statistics 
february 2010 by robertogreco
Are Old People Bankrupting America? | The Atlantic Wire
"As health care costs balloon, swelling the budget and the deficit, elderly Americans are consistently the biggest consumers. This isn't their fault. They simply require more--and more expensive--treatments. These treatments are billed to Medicare, which hands the bill to the federal government, which needs tax revenue to pay it.
healthcare  us  taxes  age  seniorcitizens  politics  voting  debt  society  generations  selfishness  gotminsoscrewyou  money  policy  spending 
february 2010 by robertogreco
Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many - The Denver Post
"tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks & feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of urban fabric. More than 1/3 of streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday...police helicopters are for sale on Internet...city is dumping firefighting jobs, vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops...parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them w/ signs urging users to pack out litter. Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once per 2 weeks...Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; flower & fertilizer budget is zero. City rec centers, indoor & outdoor pools & handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding...Buses no longer run on evenings/weekends...city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on regional authority that can meet only about 10% of need."
infrastructure  collapse  taxes  peakoil  states  gop  colorado  politics  urban  news  coloradosprings  services  cities 
february 2010 by robertogreco
National Journal Magazine - U.S. Versus Europe: No Winner
"Which has the superior economic model, the United States or Europe? The question keeps coming up and never gets resolved. It is having another go-round at the moment, with the adversaries lining up as usual. Conservatives say that Europe's social-democratic model is bound for the landfill of history. Progressives defend the model, even if they usually stop short of recommending it outright.
us  europe  economics  individualism  society  socialism  democracy  taxes  policy  politics  progressives  government  scandinavia  denmark  france  sweden  netherlands  paulkrugman  productivity  work  well-being  employment  efficiency  effort  growth  assimilation  immigration  class  optimism  innovation  competitiveness  labor 
january 2010 by robertogreco
Tuttle SVC: RI, the South, and the Chance for Success Index [Funny that this appears just after discussing California's constitutional and economic crises, Prop 13, high taxes in New Jersey, the state of public schools, and the such with the old man...]
[...When I mentioned that NJ taxes have bought some of the best public schools in the country, he scoffed.] "One thing that's funny is that the next day there was a post on Flypaper about the sad state of New Jersey's schools, which rank #2 on the unmodified CFSI score and #1 on the adjusted CSFI.
policy  education  leaders  money  taxes  politics  us  national  tomhoffman  states  newjersey  california  texas  newengland  florida  experts 
january 2010 by robertogreco
Worldchanging: Bright Green: New Report: U.S. Road Funding From Non-Road Users Doubled in 25 Years
"The myth that U.S. roads "pay for themselves" thanks to user fees is a subject that's likely familiar to many Streetsblog readers -- but just how much of the nation's highway funding is provided by charging drivers?
roads  funding  transportation  us  highways  freeways  taxes  government  subsidies  cars  driving 
november 2009 by robertogreco
Megan Cottrell - One Story Up – Don’t fall in the poverty trap – you might never get out… - True/Slant
"Until you earn about $40,000 a year, you’re pretty much stuck in poverty, an economists’ numbers show.
economics  government  money  poverty  us  policy  traps  incometraps  income  taxes  benefits  healthcare  via:migurski 
november 2009 by robertogreco
The Big-Spending, High-Taxing, Lousy-Services Paradigm by William Voegeli, City Journal Autumn 2009
"California taxpayers don’t get much bang for their bucks. ... For California’s governmental-industrial complex, a new liberal administration and Congress in Washington offer plausible hope for a happy Hollywood ending. Federal aid will replace the dollars that California’s taxpayers, fed up with the state’s lousy benefits and high taxes, refuse to provide. Americans will continue to vote with their feet, either by leaving California or disdaining relocation there, but their votes won’t matter, at least in the short term. Under the coming bailout, the new 49ers—Americans in the other 49 states, that is—will be extended the privilege of paying California’s taxes. At least they won’t have to put up with its public services."
california  government  economics  politics  education  texas  taxes  libertarian  democrats  socialism  liberalism  spending  federalism 
november 2009 by robertogreco
Matthew Yglesias » Taxes, Taxes Everywhere
"there’s no way to have a progressive renaissance in the United States unless progressives find some politically feasible way of directly making the case that higher taxes for better services can be a good trade. And it’s worth trying to be honest about this. The other American journalists I’m traveling with, all lefty environmentalist types, can’t stop complaining about how expensive basic consumer goods are here. And it’s true, stuff’s expensive! But college and preschool and doctors and hospitals are all free, and the carbon emissions are low. This is, I think, a good trade but it really is a trade. Low taxes plus cheap dirty energy and large numbers of poor people will give you cheaper restaurants."
matthewyglesias  taxes  denmark  us  policy  politics  society  qualityoflife  well-being 
october 2009 by robertogreco
Half an Hour: Tax Credits: The Oregon Example
"Oregon, especially, has been the locus for numerous quality-of-life reforms over the years.
oregon  well-being  qualityoflife  people  policy  politics  economics  taxes  place  productivity  portland  reform  progressivism 
august 2009 by robertogreco
USAspending.gov
"The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) requires a single searchable website, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award:
politics  economics  us  policy  data  database  statistics  api  taxes  accountability  finance  congress  spending  budget  transparency  government  money 
july 2009 by robertogreco
Features: 'A narrower Atlantic' by Peter Baldwin | Prospect Magazine May 2009 issue 158
"Despite America’s move to the left under Obama, it’s still assumed that Europe & America are fundamentally different—in their economies, societies & values. But this is a myth...If we compare 4 areas: economy, social policy, environment & religion & cultural attitudes, the evidence in each case allows 2 conclusions. First, Europe is not a coherent or unified continent. The spectrum of difference within even the 16 countries of western Europe is far broader than normally appreciated. Second, with a few exceptions, the US fits into this spectrum...If there is anything that most separates American society from Europe, it is the continuing presence of an ethnically distinct underclass...No one is arguing that America is Sweden. But nor is Britain, Italy, or even France. And since when does Sweden represent “Europe”—at least anymore than the ethnically homogenous, socially liberal state of Vermont does America? Europe is not the continent alone & certainly not just its northern regions."
us  europe  culture  society  statistics  demographics  crime  poverty  literacy  education  socialism  nationalism  comparison  politics  similarities  differences  income  policy  socialpolicy  spending  perception  oil  environment  recycling  consumption  books  reading  energy  religion  govenment  science  barackobama  georgewbush  stereotypes  taxes  economics  evolution  health  families  healthcare  agriculture  secularism  healthinsurance  values 
june 2009 by robertogreco
Firedoglake » The Reaganites Self-Inflicted Recession
"However, as even Republican strategists note, this exposes the real division in the Republican coalition, not between social and economic conservatives, but between exurbanites, and suburbanites. It is very easy to persuade exurbanites that they aren't socialists, even as they work on military bases, land leased at concessionary rates for mining, subsidized agriculture, waste facilities, and prisons. It is far harder to convince suburbanites of the evils of government, when they live in a place that is made safe by government, and whose value comes from subsidized education and transportation. The internal contradiction of Reaganism, then, has produced a vast self-inflicted wound on the very people who mobilized for it."
via:migurski  politics  economics  democrats  republicans  conservatism  california  cities  exurbs  suburbs  us  taxes  reagan  unemployment  recession 
june 2009 by robertogreco
Should Bike Riders Be Taxed? | GOOD
"I subscribe to the idea that we should tax things we want less of, not more of. I stole that idea from Hendrik Hertzberg’s well-argued New Yorker comment, in which he suggests “scrapping the payroll tax altogether and replacing the lost revenue with a package of levies on things that, unlike jobs, we want less rather than more of—things like pollution, carbon emissions, oil imports, inefficient use of energy and natural resources, and excessive consumption.” I think the same rules should apply here."
bikes  transportation  taxes 
april 2009 by robertogreco
Laurent Haug’s blog » Crisis or transition?
"crisis or transition? The numbers that make news...are pretty bad, but...the whole picture? Yes, the banks are under attack & deservedly so. Their model is based on world that does not exist anymore. Like music industry before, banks have been refusing innovation, sitting on their assets without noticing that society was changing faster than ever. Customers have changed..., employees have changed, needs have evolved... There is a price for arrogance (it cuts you from your clients), lack of agility (you can’t follow change), heritage (having an history can be bad for you. ... I understand we all have a partial view of the world...I am no exception...these are weak signals, not backed by scientific numbers, which might not weight much in the face of reimbursing 1000s of billions of screw ups. But I am asking a question: is this really the sub primes, or are we facing a peak of inadequacy between large companies & the world they live in? Is this a crisis, or a transition to a new world?"
laurenthaug  change  crisis  transition  2009  banking  finance  world  gamechanging  opportunity  optimism  pessimism  switzerland  swiss  taxes 
february 2009 by robertogreco
FT.com | Willem Buiter's Maverecon | Home loans in the US: the biggest racket since Al Capone?
"The extreme fiscal largesse bestowed on residential housing, directly and indirectly through mortgage interest deductibility, has led to a massive misallocation of investment in the US. There has been overinvestment in the private residential housing stock and underinvestment in just about every other form of fixed capital: infrastructure, public amenities of all kinds (sports facilities, public recreational facilities, parks etc.), commercial structures, plant and equipment. It is time to correct the distorted incentives that are at the root of this misallocation. The easiest way to do this, in the current tax system, is to end the deductibility of mortgage interest in the personal income tax, close down Fannie and Freddie and end the role of the US government in the provision of residential mortgages."
economics  housing  realestate  meltdown  crisis  finance  policy  mortgages  taxes  mortgagededuction  investment  stimulus  willembuiter  housingbubble 
february 2009 by robertogreco
A Whole Lotta Nothing: How to get my nerd vote
"Broadband Everywhere, Universal Healthcare, No federal taxes on internet purchases, Renew a commitment to Education, Renew a commitment to Science, Real changes to transportation, Allow early voting by mail, Revamp Copyright/IP law, Fund the patent office so it can do a better job, Open government"
politics  us  change  reform  healthcare  broadband  internet  taxes  science  matthaughey  education  bikes  transportation  business  smallbusiness  entrepreneurship  voting  elections  copyright  ip  open  opengovernment  patents 
october 2008 by robertogreco
Bike Hugger · Tax Break for Employers of Bike Commuters
"The $700 bazillion Wall Street bailout package has just one tiny thing that any cyclist should be pleased about. There is a $20/month tax break for employers for each bike commuter employee as an incentive for companies to reduce petrol consumption and infrastructure demands.
bikes  policy  incentives  green  commuting  tcsnmy  taxes  sustainability 
october 2008 by robertogreco
Reversal of Fortune: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com
"Describing how ideology, special-interest pressure, populist politics, and sheer incompetence have left the U.S. economy on life support, the author puts forth a clear, commonsense plan to reverse the Bush-era follies and regain America’s economic sanity." ... "When the American economy enters a downturn, you often hear the experts debating whether it is likely to be V-shaped (short and sharp) or U-shaped (longer but milder). Today, the American economy may be entering a downturn that is best described as L-shaped. It is in a very low place indeed, and likely to remain there for some time to come."
josephstiglitz  economics  us  crisis  bailout  2008  banking  finance  money  policy  politics  sustainability  energy  longterm  future  taxes  biofuels  oil  gamechanging  regulation  subprime  meltdown  recession  wallstreet  reaganomics  georgewbush  housing  jobs  markets  unemployment  freemarkets  greatdepression  wealth  disparity  lending  reform  change 
october 2008 by robertogreco
Barack Obama, A Free-Market-Loving, Big-Spending, Fiscally Conservative Wealth Redistributionist - NYTimes.com
"we need to bring about is the end of the era of unresponsive and inefficient government and short-term thinking in government, so that the government is laying the groundwork, the framework, the foundation for the market to operate effectively and for every single individual to be able to be connected with that market and to succeed in that market. And it’s now a global marketplace...Two [more] things...country’s health can’t be measured simply by its economic output. That output...“counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them” but not “the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play [AND] sustainability...current concerns about state of the planet...required something of a paradigm shift for economics."
barackobama  elections  2008  us  policy  government  taxes  wealth  infrastructure  sustainability  growth  markets  globalization  gamechanging  class  ronaldreagan  billclinton  robertrubin  robertreich 
august 2008 by robertogreco
The candidates define ‘rich’ - The Carpetbagger Report
"But somewhere along the line, we got to the answer: $5 million. As far as McCain is concerned, if you make $4.9 million a year, more than 99.9% of the population, you’re not quite rich. Just how out of touch is John McCain? On the one hand, he’s running ads talking about how “tough” times are “for the rest of us,” but on the other, McCain, one of Congress’ wealthiest members, thinks people who make millions of dollars a year aren’t quite rich, and he doesn’t want to bother them with taxes anyway."
wealth  taxes  elections  2008  johnmccain  barackobama  rickwarren 
august 2008 by robertogreco
David Byrne Journal: 07.28.2008: Almost Everything
"Brian added that the U.S. relies on what he aptly refers to as “cowardly socialism.” For decades at a time, we permit laissez-faire capitalists to espouse the harsh, invisible hand of the free market, until giants like Bear Stearns, Chrysler, and Fan
music  politics  brianeno  davidbyrne  stefansagmeister  taxes  socialism  policy  us  europe  government 
july 2008 by robertogreco
WorldChanging: Do Gas Taxes Cover the Costs of Roads?
"the idea that roads don't pay for themselves -- and instead, must sap money from other funding sources -- seems like quite an admission from a highway department"
infrastructure  oil  roads  taxes  transit  us  public  policy  transportation  politics  cars  texas 
july 2008 by robertogreco
David Byrne Journal: 05.28.2008: Robin Hood
"That’s the weird aspect of all these charity events — any evolutionary psychologist will tell us that beneath the lovely displays of altruism lie hidden, and perhaps not so hidden, benefits."
davidbyrne  charity  altruism  charities  government  taxes  art  society  psychology  money  class  elitism  power  us  wealth 
june 2008 by robertogreco
Freelancing, finance, self-employment | Salon Life
"Tired of getting gouged on your taxes? Sensing an impending mental breakdown? Here are tips for the self-employed, from someone who feels your pain."
freelancing  business  glvo  entrepreneurship  finance  freelance  money  taxes  tips  accounting 
april 2008 by robertogreco
Bike Snob NYC: Don't Tread On Me: Building a Nation of Cyclists
"we should stand up and demand recognition as a nation. In the meantime, there’s stuff we have and stuff we need. Let’s take a look."
bikes  humor  politics  taxes 
april 2008 by robertogreco
Bloomberg.com: Latin America - Argentina Suffers Beef Shortages as Strike Continues (Update3)
All true. We'll see how this develops. Just back from market with Enzo...saw a lot of empty space in meat department, one section was covered over. They're also limiting milk purchases to three liters of the incomplete selection that is still available.
argentina  buenosaires  crisis  food  markets  money  taxes  politics  government 
march 2008 by robertogreco
Indignación y movilizaciones de ruralistas tras el discurso de Cristina [some background info for the cacerolazos bookmarks]
"Manifestantes realizan protestas en distinas localidades bonaerenses y de otras provincias. En los cortes rechazaron en duros términos las declaraciones de la Presidenta sobre el paro. Y ratificaron que continuarán con los reclamos"
argentina  economics  taxes  government  protests  agriculture  food  money  politics  strikes 
march 2008 by robertogreco
« earlier      

related tags

abundance ⊕  accountability ⊕  accounting ⊕  activism ⊕  affluence ⊕  age ⊕  agriculture ⊕  alexisdetocqueville ⊕  altruism ⊕  americandream ⊕  analog ⊕  anarchism ⊕  antoninscalia ⊕  api ⊕  argentina ⊕  art ⊕  artists ⊕  assimilation ⊕  austerity ⊕  austeritymeasures ⊕  autoritarianism ⊕  babyboomers ⊕  bailout ⊕  bailouts ⊕  balancedbudets ⊕  baltimore ⊕  bananarepublics ⊕  banking ⊕  bankruptcy ⊕  barackobama ⊕  belief ⊕  benefits ⊕  biggovernment ⊕  bikes ⊕  billclinton ⊕  biofuels ⊕  bobherbert ⊕  books ⊕  boomers ⊕  borders ⊕  bp ⊕  brianeno ⊕  broadband ⊕  buckminsterfuller ⊕  budget ⊕  budgetcuts ⊕  buenosaires ⊕  busherataxcuts ⊕  business ⊕  california ⊕  campaignfinance ⊕  capital ⊕  capitalism ⊕  caring ⊕  carriedinterest ⊕  cars ⊕  caudillos ⊕  change ⊕  charities ⊕  charity ⊕  christophernewfield ⊕  cities ⊕  citizenship ⊕  civilization ⊕  clarencethomas ⊕  class ⊕  classideas ⊕  classism ⊕  classwarfare ⊕  closed ⊕  cloud ⊕  coffeeparty ⊕  collaboration ⊕  collapse ⊕  collectivebargaining ⊕  collegeinc ⊕  colorado ⊕  coloradosprings ⊕  commercial ⊕  commodities ⊕  commonproperty ⊕  commons ⊕  community ⊕  commuting ⊕  comparison ⊕  compassion ⊕  competitiveness ⊕  concentrationofwealth ⊕  congress ⊕  conservatism ⊕  conservatives ⊕  consumerprotection ⊕  consumers ⊕  consumption ⊕  control ⊕  copyright ⊕  corporations ⊕  corporatism ⊕  corruption ⊕  coworking ⊕  creditrating ⊕  crime ⊕  crisis ⊕  culture ⊕  cv ⊕  dailyshow ⊕  data ⊕  database ⊕  davidbollier ⊕  davidbyrne ⊕  davidsimon ⊕  davidstockman ⊕  deadlock ⊕  debt ⊕  debtceiling ⊕  debtcrisis ⊕  debtlimitkabuki ⊕  defense ⊕  deficit ⊕  deficitreduction ⊕  deficits ⊕  democracy ⊕  democrats ⊕  demographics ⊕  denmark ⊕  development ⊕  differences ⊕  digital ⊕  directdemocracy ⊕  disparity ⊕  distribution ⊕  driving ⊕  drugs ⊕  dwightdeisenhower ⊕  economics ⊕  economy ⊕  education ⊕  efficiency ⊕  effort ⊕  egalitarianism ⊕  egypt ⊕  elections ⊕  elite ⊕  elitism ⊕  elizabethwarren ⊕  emmigration ⊕  empathy ⊕  employment ⊕  energy ⊕  entitlement ⊕  entrepreneurship ⊕  environment ⊕  ephemeralization ⊕  equality ⊕  ethics ⊕  europe ⊕  evolution ⊕  excess ⊕  experience ⊕  experts ⊕  exurbs ⊕  ezraklein ⊕  fairness ⊕  families ⊕  federalism ⊕  finance ⊕  finances ⊕  financialcrisis ⊕  florida ⊕  food ⊕  force ⊕  foreclosures ⊕  forprofit ⊕  foxnews ⊕  france ⊕  fredwilson ⊕  freedom ⊕  freelance ⊕  freelancing ⊕  freemarkets ⊕  freeways ⊕  funding ⊕  fundraising ⊕  future ⊕  fyigm ⊕  gamechanging ⊕  gdp ⊕  generations ⊕  generationy ⊕  geny ⊕  geography ⊕  georgelakoff ⊕  georgewbush ⊕  glass-steagall ⊕  global ⊕  globalism ⊕  globalization ⊕  glvo ⊕  goodfortune ⊕  google ⊕  googleearth ⊕  googlemaps ⊕  gop ⊕  gotminsoscrewyou ⊕  govenment ⊕  government ⊕  graphics ⊕  graphs ⊕  grassroots ⊕  greatdepression ⊕  greatrecession ⊕  greatrepression ⊕  greece ⊕  greed ⊕  green ⊕  growth ⊕  ha-joonchang ⊕  handstied ⊕  havesandhavenots ⊕  health ⊕  healthcare ⊕  healthinsurance ⊕  highered ⊕  highereducation ⊕  highways ⊕  history ⊕  housing ⊕  housingbubble ⊕  humancapital ⊕  humor ⊕  hyperlocal ⊕  identity ⊕  ideology ⊕  illness ⊕  illth ⊕  immigration ⊕  incentives ⊕  income ⊕  incomegap ⊕  incomes ⊕  incometraps ⊕  individual ⊕  individualism ⊕  inequality ⊕  inequity ⊕  influence ⊕  infographics ⊕  information ⊕  infrastructure ⊕  inheritance ⊕  initiatives ⊕  innovation ⊕  instabiity ⊕  insurance ⊕  intefrity ⊕  interest ⊕  international ⊕  internet ⊕  interviews ⊕  investment ⊕  ip ⊕  jacobdavies ⊕  jamessurowiecky ⊕  jerrybrown ⊕  jerrysanders ⊕  jobcreation ⊕  jobs ⊕  johannhari ⊕  johnmccain ⊕  jonathanrowe ⊕  jonstewart ⊕  josephstiglitz ⊕  journalism ⊕  jprangaswami ⊕  juancole ⊕  kochbrothers ⊕  labor ⊕  land ⊕  landvaluetax ⊕  latinamerica ⊕  laurenthaug ⊕  law ⊕  lawenforcement ⊕  leaders ⊕  left ⊕  lending ⊕  liberalism ⊕  libertarian ⊕  libertarianism ⊕  libraries ⊕  life ⊕  literacy ⊕  lobbying ⊕  local ⊕  longterm ⊕  loopholes ⊕  losangeles ⊕  luck ⊕  lvt ⊕  management ⊕  mapping ⊕  maps ⊕  marketfundamentalism ⊕  markets ⊕  marxism ⊕  matthaughey ⊕  matthewyglesias ⊕  matttaibbi ⊕  measurement ⊕  medicare ⊕  medicine ⊕  meltdown ⊕  metrics ⊕  michaellind ⊕  michaelohare ⊕  middleclass ⊕  military ⊕  millennials ⊕  misconception ⊕  missedopportunities ⊕  mobility ⊕  money ⊕  morality ⊕  mortgagededuction ⊕  mortgages ⊕  music ⊕  myths ⊕  national ⊕  nationaldebt ⊕  nationalism ⊕  netherlands ⊕  networking ⊕  newengland ⊕  newjersey ⊕  neworleans ⊕  news ⊕  nicholaskristof ⊕  nola ⊕  nonprofit ⊕  nordiccountries ⊕  northamerica ⊕  objectivism ⊕  oecd ⊕  oil ⊕  open ⊕  opengovernment ⊕  opportunity ⊕  opression ⊕  optimism ⊕  oregon ⊕  outsourcing ⊕  patents ⊕  paulfarrell ⊕  paulgraham ⊕  paulkrugman ⊕  peakoil ⊕  pensions ⊕  people ⊕  perception ⊕  perspective ⊕  pessimism ⊕  petitions ⊕  philanthropy ⊕  place ⊕  plutocracy ⊕  poetry ⊕  police ⊕  policy ⊕  politics ⊕  poor ⊕  portland ⊕  postnational ⊕  poverty ⊕  power ⊕  prisons ⊕  privateproperty ⊕  privitazation ⊕  productivity ⊕  profits ⊕  progress ⊕  progressive ⊕  progressives ⊕  progressivism ⊕  property ⊕  propertytax ⊕  proposition13 ⊕  prosperity ⊕  protest ⊕  protests ⊕  psychology ⊕  public ⊕  publiceducation ⊕  publicschools ⊕  qualityoflife ⊕  reading ⊕  reagan ⊕  reaganomics ⊕  realestate ⊕  recession ⊕  recycling ⊕  redevelopment ⊕  redistribution ⊕  referendums ⊕  reform ⊕  regional ⊕  regulation ⊕  reihansalam ⊕  religion ⊕  representativedemocracy ⊕  republicans ⊕  reputation ⊕  residency ⊕  revenue ⊕  revolt ⊕  revolution ⊕  rich ⊕  rickwarren ⊕  right ⊕  roads ⊕  robertreich ⊕  robertrubin ⊕  ronaldreagan ⊕  samharris ⊕  sandiego ⊕  savings ⊕  scandinavia ⊕  scarcity ⊕  schools ⊕  science ⊕  scotus ⊕  secularism ⊕  self-interest ⊕  selfishness ⊕  seniorcitizens ⊕  services ⊕  sharing ⊕  similarities ⊕  smallbusiness ⊕  social ⊕  socialcontract ⊕  socialdemocracy ⊕  socialism ⊕  socialmobility ⊕  socialpolicy ⊕  socialprograms ⊕  socialsafetynet ⊕  socialsecurity ⊕  society ⊕  specialinterests ⊕  spending ⊕  stagnation ⊕  statelessness ⊕  states ⊕  statistics ⊕  stefansagmeister ⊕  stem ⊕  stereotypes ⊕  steveerie ⊕  stimulus ⊕  strikes ⊕  subprime ⊕  subsidies ⊕  suburbs ⊕  superrich ⊕  supremecourt ⊕  sustainability ⊕  sweden ⊕  swiss ⊕  switzerland ⊕  tarp ⊕  tax ⊕  taxation ⊕  taxbreaks ⊕  taxcuts ⊕  taxes ⊖  taxrates ⊕  tcsnmy ⊕  teaparty ⊕  technology ⊕  texas ⊕  texcuts ⊕  thewire ⊕  thirdculture ⊕  thirdworldamerica ⊕  timothylee ⊕  tippingpoint ⊕  tips ⊕  tobintax ⊕  tomhoffman ⊕  toshare ⊕  trade ⊕  transactions ⊕  transit ⊕  transition ⊕  transparency ⊕  transportation ⊕  traps ⊕  treme ⊕  trickledowneconomics ⊕  truth ⊕  tylercowen ⊕  uk ⊕  ukuncut ⊕  un-national ⊕  uncut ⊕  unemployment ⊕  union ⊕  unionbusting ⊕  unions ⊕  unlucky ⊕  urban ⊕  us ⊕  usuncut ⊕  value ⊕  values ⊕  vat ⊕  via:cburell ⊕  via:chrisberthelsen ⊕  via:javierarbona ⊕  via:jeeves ⊕  via:lukeneff ⊕  via:migurski ⊕  via:preoccupations ⊕  visual ⊕  visualization ⊕  voting ⊕  vulnerability ⊕  wallstreet ⊕  war ⊕  warrenbuffett ⊕  we ⊕  wealth ⊕  wealthcreation ⊕  wealthdestruction ⊕  wealthdistribution ⊕  wealthy ⊕  web ⊕  well-being ⊕  wikileaks ⊕  willembuiter ⊕  williamstafford ⊕  wisconsin ⊕  wisdom ⊕  wisonsin ⊕  work ⊕  world ⊕  writing ⊕  youth ⊕ 

Copy this bookmark:



description:


tags: