Tag Archives: Money/Economy/Taxes
I wonder what Paul Krugman would say about this?
The Aggregate Demand has been Stimulated.
Take it to the bank: Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to raise minimum wage to $22 per hour
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, suggested raising the minimum wage to $22 per hour is only logical if you look at the numbers.
“If we started in 1960, and we said [that] as productivity goes up … then the minimum wage was going to go up the same … if that were the case, the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour,” the senator said, at a recent Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on “Keeping up with a Changing Economy: Indexing the Minimum Wage.”
(Read more)
***
This deserves a double face palm.
Hitler reacts to Cyprus bailout
“Those who warned me to covert my money into gold, go get yourself some crepes.” :)
Government Bureaucrats
They’re pretty much the same, where ever you go.
Outrageous plan for $264 billion mega-city in Korea
Investment, resources, aspirations, dreams all flow toward economic liberty.
TAKE that, Dubai!
It may look like something out of Star Wars, but this is actually Korea’s latest tourism project, set to rival the extravagance on show in Dubai.
At $264 billion, the ambitious plan would see the creation of a gigantic city on the islands of Yongyu-Muui in the port of Incheon, close to Incheon International Airport.
Ha! “Importace of Tax Return Accuracy”
$80,000 bullets in endless “global” war
Swedish IRS films pro-tax ad in Estonia to avoid paying Swedish taxes
If you Google translate this article, you’ll see that the Swedish IRS filmed a series of pro-tax ads in Estonia in order to avoid paying the higher Swedish taxes!
Thomas Sowell (the only Neo-con I admire) — Fallacies of Race and more
* Slavery not racial.
* Bigger income gap between East / West Europeans, than Black / White Americans.
* Hispanic Household Income > Black Household Income, but Hispanic Individual Income < Black Individual Income. (Hint: Hispanic families are larger.)
* Black families more harmed by welfare than slavery.
* Racism is NOT discrimination.
***
The Vulgar Pride of Intellectuals
* “At the heart of the social vision prevalent among contemporary intellectuals is the belief that there are ‘problems’ . . . and ‘solutions’ . . .”
* “There has probably never been an era in history when intellectuals have planed a larger role in history than the era in which we live.”
* “Intellectuals give people who have the handicap of poverty the further handicap of a sense of victimhood.”
* Acknowledging that wealth is created (instead of arguing over its distribution) would devestate intellectuals’ world view.
* “[Although intellectuals pay a lot of attentions to inequality among racial groups], seldom . . . has this attention been directed . . . toward how the less economically successfull . . . might improve themselves by availing themselves of the culture of others around them.”
(For example, Scots embraced English language and culture to their great benefit in the mid 19th century.)
* “Black unemployment rates were lower than that of whites as long ago as 1890.”
* Minimum wage laws have wreaked havoc upon black employment.
* “Sweeping claims for the benefits of . . . diversity in innumerable institutions . . . have prevailed without a speck of evidence being asked for or given.”
* “At the same time you’re getting all this mouthing of diversity, there’s an extremely narrow ideological conformity that’s being enforced.”
* “In Chicago (unlike Harvard), economics was a full contact sport.” (HA!)
* “I was a Marxist when I went into Milton Friedman’s course. I was a Marxist when I came out. . . . [and then] I went to work for the government . . . . I realized other people’s well being would never be the priority of politicians and bureaucrats.”
* “The road to hell is paved with Ivy League degrees.”
* “I love the use [Obama’s] of the word opportunity. You know, I had just as much opportunity as Michael Jordan to become an NBA star. It just so happened that there was some difference in skill.”
***
The Difference Between Liberal and Conservative
Liberal premise: There is nothing in human nature that would cause us to be unhappy. It’s the fact that we have the wrong institutions.
Conservative premise: Man is flawed from day one and there are no solutions, only trade offs.
Most liberal ideas can be destroyed by three questions:
1. Compared to what?
2. At what cost?
3. What hard evidence do you have?
***
On Occupy Cry Babies
***
On Iran
Suburbs secede from Atlanta – ‘Detroit of the South’ bludgeoned by troubles
As Detroit – beset by violence, debt and social woes – prepares to undergo a historic takeover by the Michigan state government, the city of Atlanta could be sliding toward a similar fate.
Some are quietly wondering whether Atlanta is in danger of becoming “the Detroit of the South.”
The city has experienced an ongoing succession of government scandals, ranging from a massive cheating racket to corruption, bribery, school-board incompetence and now the potential loss of accreditation for the local DeKalb County school system.
For several years, problems of this sort have fueled political reforms, including the creation of new cities in northern Atlanta suburbs. Due to the intensification of corruption scandals in DeKalb, some state-level reform proposals could become national news very soon.
‘Super-white majority’ cities
As a result of the unsavory politics in urban Atlanta, northern suburban communities acted to distance themselves. Beginning in 2005, many communities began the process of incorporating into cities.
Thus far, Milton, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chattahoochee Hills and Johns Creek have done so.
These cities, after breaking away politically from urban Atlanta, have become so successful that a libertarian think tank, the Reason Foundation, has featured Sandy Springs as a model of effective government. The Economist has also applauded the northern Atlanta cities for solving the problem of unfunded government pension liability and avoiding the bankruptcy that looms over some urban areas. The new cities may soon be able to create their own school districts, which would free them even further from the issues besetting Atlanta.
While incorporation has been popular with residents of the new cities, not all of Atlanta is as satisfied. The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus filed a lawsuit in 2011 to dissolve the new cities, claiming they were a “super-white majority” and diluting the voting power of minorities.
A key leader in the black community and a driving force in support of the lawsuit, who wishes to remain anonymous, bemoaned the “disturbing tendency of black electorates to not elect the smartest and brightest, or even the cleverest.”
Read more at www.wnd.com/2013/03/suburbs-secede-from-atlanta/#2Ir67gtHYZL9wcwq.99
March 18, 2013. Krugman gets something right
Why Would Putin Condemn Cyprus Bankster Theft?
The story:
Russia condemns ‘unfair’ Cyprus bank levy as bailout fears grow
On one hand, the economy of a government is their “sphere of exploitation” (to use Hoppe’s term from Austrian vs. Marxist Class Analysis). So why would Putin not welcome this action, which punishes those who dare escape his sphere of exploitation, and will likely discourage others from escaping?
Two reason:
1) Russia wants to improve itself by attraction rich, capable entrepreneurs from the west, like the Frenchman Depardieu.
2) In the twisted, counter intuitive world of post-Soviet economies, the exploiters are often trying to escape their own prison. I suspect most politicians of post-Soviet countries had money in Cyprus.
Taking candy from babies – Cypriot Banksters, under EU pressure, rob everybody
Now that the precedent has been set, now that a western government has simply closed banks and helped itself to between 6.7 and 10 percent of each depositor’s money, I wonder if I should close my IRA.
Waiting thirty years for a tax break under these conditions seems ridiculous. The dollar will certainly collapse before then. The only question is how audacious the crimes of politicians will be when their system is in its death throes.
Let’s wait and see how big a bank run this action sparks.
#Cyprus Depositors Vent Fury Through Social Media
***