TAX POLITIX
The Politics of Taxes
Tax Cuts = Terrorism?
You can't make this stuff up. This Democrat temper tantrum was reported by RollCall. "Following several hours of floor speeches hammering the GOP, a handful of Democrats including Sens. Bob Menendez (N.J.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.),Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jack Reed (R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) attacked Republicans in a press conference, repeatedly using the word “hostage” to characterize the status of middle-class tax cuts. “Do you allow yourself to be held hostage and...
F. A. Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom”
It's worthwhile to periodically re-read a good book. Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" is a mere 31 pages long. The book itself can be downloaded here. A longer version (96 pages) with commentary can be downloaded here. Take a few minutes to read it this weekend. You'll be glad you did.
The Truth About IRA Conversions
In just another example of the federal government cooking their books in ways that the SEC would say are criminal, lets look at the Roth IRA conversion. Individuals are flocking to convert their traditional IRA’s to a Roth, paying full current income taxes on the amount converted in exchange for the potentially huge benefit of never having to pay taxes on future distributions – neither on the principal, nor any income or gains earned in that account. But what is really going on here? The...
Barack von Bismarck
More good reading today--this one coming out of the Acton Institute. A short piece, nevertheless it points out that Otto von Bismarck was the father of the welfare state, and maintains that Obama is following Bismarck's vision of government. Read below. by Anthony B. Bradley The November congressional elections are not so much a referendum on the Obama administration as a check on whether President Barack Obama’s implementation of a Bismarckian vision of government will continue. Otto von...
Thoughtful Reading: Thomas Sowell
As we head into the election homestretch, I wanted to share with you a brief but poignant essay by economist Thomas Sowell over at the Jewish World Review. Sowell reminds us of the disastrous effects of government intervention into the economy during the Great Depression--a situation that is being paralleled today. Songs that are "golden oldies" have much less pleasant counterparts in politics-- namely, ideas and policies that have failed disastrously in the past but still keep coming back to...
Geitner's Goal: Rebalanced World Economy
Another example of the Obama Administration using the yardstick of "fair". While talking about guidelines for world exchange-rate policies, Timmy Geitner tells the WSJ, "Right now, there is no established sense of what's fair". If that was not bad enough, this admission came during an interview where he discussed his desire to "advance efforts to 'rebalance' the world economy so it is less reliant on U.S. consumers". "Fair" and "Rebalance" are code words for redistribution of wealth. This has...
NYC Pensions: Too Much
Catching up on some old reading this weekend, I wanted to share Bloomberg's wry observation of the current state of the NYC pension fund. “It's overstating it a little bit to say the only one who's done that well is Bernie Madoff, but 8% for a long period of time is not something that very many pension funds have ever achieved.” Gotta say, I love how Bloomberg (correctly) compares the pension fund to fraud. It's just like Social Security, the biggest Ponzi scheme of all. Because some content...
Fear the Boom and Bust
Have a little economic fun! If you haven't seen this fun video on basic economics, take a 7:32 break and enjoy. It's Hayek vs Keynes, cleverly rapped to give the fun overview of the battle of two influential economists. My link below includes the video and the lyrics. (Go Hayek!)
Lame Ducks and the AMT Patch
Ed Barnes at Fox News is one of the very few people talking about the AMT these days, but if the AMT doesn't get its annual patch, the economic repercussions could be catastrophic. This leaves me to wonder if this is a political tactic from the Left, who will fancy themselves as the "hero for the middle-class" by passing the necessary patch adjustments at the 11th hour. Or perhaps they plan to use it as a bargaining chip with regard to the Bush tax cuts, a loathsome prospect. Worse still, the...
ObamaCare in Court
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