Further Thoughts on Taxes and Spending
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William Voegeli takes on the idea that “it’s absurd to cut spending because we tax the wealthiest Americans less today than we did in 1955”.
First he illustrates that today’s rich pay more in taxes than the rich of 1955 did. (They pay more in real dollar terms, even if they do pay less in percentage …
Wisconsin Takes a Step Backwards in Police Accountability
I was disappointed to see that state Representative Robin Vos is undoing one of the good reforms that Governor Doyle put into place.
In the bad old days, Milwaukee police officers had cut a sweet deal that allowed them to keep collecting paychecks and benefits when they were fired by the police chief until …
Explaining Walker’s K-12 Cuts to the Kids
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Jeremy Shown does his part to “explain to the kids” what Governor Walker’s education cuts are and how students will be affected by them.
The student/teacher ratio here in Wisconsin is about 15 students for every teacher. I suspect your class may have more than 15 students because this ratio probably includes teachers who …
Another Record Month in the Red
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The U.S. ran a $233 billion deficit, just in February alone. Fun fact:
As noted in the Washington Times, the GOP’s proposed $61 billion in spending cuts is about 27 percent of the monthly deficit, while the Democratic plan — $6 billion — is just 3 percent of that figure.
Senator Rand Paul wants to cut $500 …
Walker’s Budget and Collective-Bargaining Reform
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Scott Walker has intended to cut state spending by $2.4 billion all along. The Budget Repair Bill, that limits collective bargaining, was intended to give local governments more tools to reduce costs besides just eliminating programs.
Christian Schneider details some of the ways that Walker’s repair bill will help cut costs.
The Politics of ObamaCare Funding
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Should (a) the “Cadillac tax” on employer-sponsored plans not be implemented as scheduled in 2018, and should (b) half of the Medicare savings provisions be repealed or otherwise not implemented the law will increase the deficit by up to $500 billion in its second decade.
That doesn’t look good. Raise your hands …
Union Power, By the Numbers
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A look at the top 10 political donors.
That’s five unions to two businesses and three other groups. Five out of ten is half, by my always-suspect English-major math. And who are those other groups? ActBlue is a Democratic clearinghouse, the trial lawyers are super-lopsidedly Democratic, and four out of five of the Realtors’ …
World War 2, Fiscal Austerity, and Economic Growth
I was wrong last night. I was attempting to argue a point about stimulus spending and whether or not government spending actually helped an economic recovery. To offer some support for my position, I tried to relay from memory a point that David Henderson made over at EconLog. To wit, Keynesian economists predicted that the end of government spending after World War 2 would precipitate a massive rise in unemployment and a return of recession.
The Power to Tax is the Power to Govern
[B]etter luck next time kids. Your Aldermen, County Board members, state Assemblymen, state Senators, and Governor long ago gave up the right to actually govern this state. As a result, they’re powerless to help you now.
A Deficit Neutral Health Bill Isn't Enough
Greg Mankiw explains the spending problems with the healthcare bill through a short, imagined dialog between two friends. Here’s the kicker:
Even if you believe that the spending cuts and tax increases in the bill make it deficit-neutral, the legislation will still make solving the problem of the fiscal imbalance harder, because it will …