Milton Friedman on Wealth Redistribution
I’m a sucker for Milton Friedman videos and I’m a sucker for people explaining the secondary effects of economic regulations: the unseen that comes after the seen. Friedman does that here, schooling a student on how a 100% inheritance tax on wealth would destroy our society.
The S&P Downgrade
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An oldie from August, that I’ve been hanging on to, for some reason. Veronique de Rugy breaks down S&P’s memo about why they downgraded US debt to an AA+ rating.
The bottom line:
In other words, to avoid a downgrade, it would have been key in S&P’s opinion to show signs of willingness to cut (contain) Medicare …
Three Policies That Gave Us the Jobs Economy
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Amity Shlaes on what sparked the job growth of the 1980′s.
The era didn’t start well. The mid-1970s were a dead period. Then suddenly, from 1977 to 1978, new private capital devoted to venture capital increased by 15 times, to $570 million in 1978 from $39 million the year before.
In …
Why Not Pay Higher Taxes?
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The usual liberal complaint against the conservative opposition to higher income taxes is greed and the better-offs’ self-serving reluctance to pay their “fair share.” But while perhaps true in some instances, I don’t think that is an accurate writ against most of those in that now demonized $200,000 and above categories who resent …
The Buffett Rule is Unfair (and I Oppose It)
President Obama is proposing a new principle: the “Buffett rule”
President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.
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Obama’s Job Plan: A Never-Never Bill
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Megan McCardle is annoyed that President Obama wasted her time with a job’s plan that he’s not actually interested in passing.
If the president were serious about providing stimulus, he would pay attention to the work of his old CEA chair, and pay for the jobs bill by decreasing the growth rate of something-or-other …
Zygi Wilf Can Buy His Own Stadium
Zygi Wilf, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton discuss new Minnesota Vikings stadium – ESPN
When Gov. Mark Dayton and state lawmakers announced that the outlines of a new budget deal were in place, the Minnesota Vikings were hoping that the door was finally open to discuss their plan for a new $1 billion stadium in …
Once Again, We Cannot Pay For Social Security By Ending the Bush Tax Cuts on High Earners
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You may have seen charts floating around that supposedly show that we could pay for the Social Security shortfall by simply rolling back the Bush tax cuts “for the rich”. Megan McCardle has seen those charts too and she explains why they’re misleading and wrong.
The CBPP gets its figure by taking present values …
The Role that Bush-Era Tax and Spending Policies Play in the Deficit
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The Tax Foundation crunches the numbers to see if it’s true that “the economic downturn, President Bush’s tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years.”
1) Tax revenues have fluctuated largely with the economy, dropping precipitously in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, …
Why 70% Tax Rates Won’t Work
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Alan Reynolds is great in explaining the income tax facts of life. Higher tax rates on the rich do not bring in nearly as much revenue as lower tax rates. It’s important to emphasize that tax rates are not the same as tax revenues. Higher rates do not automatically bring higher revenues. In fact, historically, …