Michael Barone, whom I usually respect, confuses, like most Republicans, the issue about tax rates. Yes, when Kennedy cut the top rate from 90% to 70%, federal revenues did actually go up. And when Reagan cut the top rate to […]
Politics
Progressive Consumption Taxes
I agree with Frank, not with Henderson. I have a lot less problem with progressive consumption taxes on the rich than with progressive income taxes. That way if the rich use their money constructively, for capital investment, saving, or philanthropy, […]
David Stockman, Again
In this article, David Stockman, although both a hard-money man and a social liberal, comes out against continuing the G. W. Bush tax cuts! Read it to find out why. Related: “The Triumph of Politics Over Economics” by Nick Gillespie […]
2011 is not 1995
I confess that I was hoping that 2011 would be 1995. After all, we had just climbed out of a serious recession in the earlier part of that decade – dwarfed by the more recent one of course, but big […]
Club Wagner
I have asked to become a member of Club Wagner. I cannot be both that and a California Republican, that has been made abundantly clear. Related: “Club Wagner” by Douglas Holtz-Eakin at NYTimes.com Blogs Related: “Conservatives for Higher Taxes” by […]
The Triumph of Politics Over Economics
In this article, David Stockman, although both a hard-money man and a social liberal, comes out against continuing the G. W. Bush tax cuts! Read it to find out why. Related: “The Triumph of Politics Over Economics” by Nick Gillespie at Reason.com
Taxes and the Schadenfreude of the Rich
It is unwise for a state to be too dependent on the fluctuating incomes of the rich – or, for that matter, in my view, any organization. Instead of this being made an argument for “lower taxes on the rich,” […]
Tort Reform and Avoiding Lawyers: Good and Bad Ways To Do It
One of the features of our legal system is that if an organization or business rips you off for $3 million, it’s pretty easy to get justice, but if it rips you off for $30, you’re out of luck unless […]
California Republicans Are Crazy. Like a Fox.
David Atkins of Calitics on the left suggests that for the Republican Establishment, the magic 34% in one house of the legislature is enough, under the California Constitution, to achieve their purposes. Warning: Calitics is too far to the left […]
The Courage Factor
The Economist on Obama’s general lack of courage. He campaigned on ‘audacity’ and ‘we can’ but it looks like we don’t. Remember you heard it first here on Blue Kennel. I hadn’t quite thought of ‘allergy to antithesis’ in terms of […]