moldybluecheesecurds 2
Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday, May 07, 2012
"Mystery of the Disappearing Bees: Solved!” announced a Reuters headline. Ah, if only that were true...."
““Mystery of the Disappearing Bees: Solved!” announced a Reuters headline. Ah, if only that were true. Even if neonicotinoids were banned tomorrow, honeybees would still be in big trouble.”
- The honeybees are still dying - Boing Boing
- The honeybees are still dying - Boing Boing
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Approaching taxes from data, not politics
I came across these two analyses months ago and never had time to share. Basically, it's an analysis of our federal income tax system doing two things:
- Finding out if there's anything to the Laffer Curve
- Determining what the optimal top marginal tax rate is for maximizing economic growth
The short answers are: no, it's upside-down; and, 65% should be the top marginal tax rate.
In more detail, then. Economist Mike Kimel tackles the Laffer Curve first - an upside-down 'U' chart that purports to show an optimal top marginal tax rate to maximize growth. In practice, partisan Republican "economists" use this to argue that tax rates should always be lower because it will actually mean more tax revenue.
The data disagree. Kimel illustrates that the proper Laffer Curve is a right-side-up 'U' – the Kimel Curve – with a minimum around 32% for the top marginal tax rate (the top rate is currently 35%, down from 90% or more during the 1950s and 60s, 50% during Reagan's first term and ~40% during the first Clinton term). In other words, both raising or lowering taxes could theoretically raise revenue.
However, tax policy isn't really about maximizing revenue. It's about providing services most efficiently and getting the best economic growth for the amount of taxes collected. And the historical data suggest that the optimal top marginal tax rate is 64%. It's a number that fits a lot better with the theory that government spending juices the economy (think education, infrastructure, and R&D) than the theory that government is stealing from the private sector's growth potential.
Fascinating.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
"In 2010, as I reported at the time, Amnesty International released a damning report about pregnancy..."
“In 2010, as I reported at the time, Amnesty International released a damning report about pregnancy and childbirth care in the United States. That report noted that American women are dying during pregnancy and childbirth at double the rate they were 20 years ago (from 6.6 per 100,000 live births in 1987 to 13.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2006).”
- Yes, childbirth is more dangerous for women than the abortion pill | MinnPost
- Yes, childbirth is more dangerous for women than the abortion pill | MinnPost
A very good, politics-free assessment of the constitutionality of Obamacare
Summary: the individual mandate is unprecedented and the law likely means nothing without it.
Conclusion: it’s too bad the insurance lobby torpedoed a government-funded option, because that would have been constitutional.
Here’s the link to part 3. Links to Part 1 and 2 in the article.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Justice
the party of fiscal responsibility found out that its trusted and twice-elected party chairman, Tony Sutton, resigned after over-spending nearly $2 million the party did not have
That sounds an awful lot like their legislative strategy as well. Borrow, shift, hide, but don’t dare pay for things!
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