tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post6871358445212612252..comments2024-03-14T11:09:32.759-05:00Comments on Falkenblog: All Good Ideas Go Too FarEric Falkensteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07243687157322033496noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-62387628714129952712012-09-25T14:30:14.408-05:002012-09-25T14:30:14.408-05:00when capital becomes too concentrated there is a n...when capital becomes too concentrated there is a natural tendency for working people to be pushed toward subsistence, as a rentier class extracts wealth from them. from an evolutionary perspective, this is maladaptive. the evolutionary adaptive environment optimized humans to live in a much more egalitarian society than capitalism produces in one of its concentrated phases. see Wilkinson's talk at ted.org. inequality is bad for a society's health, quite literally, regardless of what the false god of Econ preaches, wearing its ideological blinders.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-81420368122773574442012-09-23T18:56:07.866-05:002012-09-23T18:56:07.866-05:00I love your blog. Keep up the good work.I love your blog. Keep up the good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-83021035425617461342012-09-22T20:09:32.375-05:002012-09-22T20:09:32.375-05:00Now that I've typed the data in...
http://lnx...Now that I've typed the data in...<br /><br />http://lnx-bsp.net/RomTax2010_tot.png<br /><br />Same as above but plotted by <b>total</b> number of zero-tax federal tax returns (not percentage). I can't see any trend in that, but Obama's side now has a bigger spread.<br /><br />Note that to win an election you would need to be considering the weighting of each state... some are worth more than others w.r.t. electoral colleges. Really you need to get tax data for each electoral college and split it on that basis, rather than by state, if you want a more meaningful result.Telhttp://lnx-bsp.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-19566676710675113672012-09-22T20:00:42.536-05:002012-09-22T20:00:42.536-05:00For What It's Worth:
http://lnx-bsp.net/RomTa...For What It's Worth:<br /><br />http://lnx-bsp.net/RomTax2010_pct.png<br /><br />That's the 2010 tax data from Taxfoundation against the Real Clear Politics "BATTLE FOR WHITE HOUSE" state by state polling. From what I can find, 2010 is the newest available data (and well past the "crunch" of 2008).<br /><br />There's a trend in that towards red states having a higher percentage of zero-tax tax returns, but the trend is a bit weak (dangerous to post scatter graphs round here with so many expert opinions, bit by all means have a go if you think the trend is strong). Also, Romney's side has a bigger spread.<br /><br />If you look at polls on the basis of individual voters rather than by state, you get a much stronger correlation.Telhttp://lnx-bsp.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-43788171133849817362012-09-22T09:46:20.397-05:002012-09-22T09:46:20.397-05:00Imagine all social transfers were re-framed as dis...Imagine all social transfers were re-framed as disability allowances, that is where every transfer payment is based on something the beneficiary is less good than average at for reasons deemed outside their control (e.g. school is paid for kids who were born to crap parents they can't easily replace, old age money is paid to people who are too frail to work rather than merely above some notional age, etc). Do you believe that would lead to markedly fewer social transfers?<br /><br />It may lower them a bit, but I doubt that it would be by much for a given social standard of how much help the disabled should get, that is I suspect the recipients you don't like (those who both don't deserve and would be better off without transfers because they're not disabled) represent a relatively small fraction of aggregate social spending.<br /><br />Incidentally, with enough explanation, it's a programme you could probably get most of the left to agree with. After all most of the difference between left and right really boils down to how one defines disability, it's just a pity the core of the debate is so often buried under mountains of rhetorical irrelevance.<br />cighttp://commentisglee.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-56020362400436886212012-09-22T09:38:19.984-05:002012-09-22T09:38:19.984-05:00^ lol. Nice try bro.
Try reading the numbers and ...<i>^ lol. Nice try bro.</i><br /><br />Try reading the numbers and words instead of looking only at the pretty pictures.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-82127692114814849662012-09-21T11:57:52.980-05:002012-09-21T11:57:52.980-05:00^ lol. Nice try bro. ^ lol. Nice try bro. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-25391419959454723862012-09-20T22:02:45.474-05:002012-09-20T22:02:45.474-05:00Eric--what do you make of the fact that the 47% sk...<i>Eric--what do you make of the fact that the 47% skew toward the Red States??<br />http://taxfoundation.org:81/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability</i><br /><br />A few problems:<br /><br />1) Data are old (2008). And WHEN in 2008...prior to crash, after?<br /><br />2) Ranks by % of pop. per state, instead of U.S. as a whole.<br /><br />Rank each state's TOTAL number of people with no tax liability (again, according to their "data"):<br /><br />1) CA<br />2) TX<br />3) FL<br />4) NY<br />5) IL<br />6) PA<br />7) OH<br />8) GA<br />9) MI<br />10) NC<br />etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-52332053464091076942012-09-20T17:46:15.590-05:002012-09-20T17:46:15.590-05:00I'd be glad to agree with Brooks if he wasn...I'd be glad to agree with Brooks if he wasn't on the Kovner gravy train. A man who went from playing the French horn to a life of think tank leisure is not a good spokesman for hard work or earned success. bjknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-13140936043005400832012-09-20T13:13:39.326-05:002012-09-20T13:13:39.326-05:00Most of Romeny's 47% are retirees, children, a...Most of Romeny's 47% are retirees, children, and poor people with jobs. A lot of these people vote Republican (more than 60% of the 65+ vote supports Romney over Obama).<br /><br />It's Romney's responsibility to convince a majority of voters to support him. He basically says it's almost impossible, there are all these moochers out there, they can't be reasoned with. He dodges his own personal responsibility by calling Obama voters lazy parasites.<br /><br />What's remarkable is that a good number of the people he writes off as hopeless actually vote Republican. He seems to think that the Republican platform is nothing more than tax cuts and has no idea how to appeal to voters with anything else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-89708516824411280952012-09-20T07:15:14.609-05:002012-09-20T07:15:14.609-05:00Eric--what do you make of the fact that the 47% sk...Eric--what do you make of the fact that the 47% skew toward the Red States??<br />http://taxfoundation.org:81/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability<br />Is this an example of Brooksian self-loathing? Red states' clinging to a favorable redistribution status quo? Dog whistle politics?<br /><br />Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02761794179449389484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-19102702430801093872012-09-20T05:42:08.900-05:002012-09-20T05:42:08.900-05:00Actually the Chinese have been knocked down to the...Actually the Chinese have been knocked down to the #3 slot of biggest UST holders. I think the US SS fund is #1 but #2 is our own Federal Reserve, which now prints money out of thin air to buy the vast majority of debt issued by our Treasury every month (over 90% on the long end). Now that's an idea gone too far. <br /><br />It is also the OTHER big idea explicitly addressed by Romney in his now infamous and secretly recorded speech this May and recently published in 'Mother Jones' <br /><br />http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/full-transcript-mitt-romney-secret-video<br /><br />But of course, no one is willing to touch that one with a barge pole because it involves even more ugly math than figuring out how much "47%" is.Mercurynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-74469790344102528782012-09-19T21:11:09.997-05:002012-09-19T21:11:09.997-05:00> perpetual forced charity
If it is forced it ...> perpetual forced charity<br /><br />If it is forced it is not charity, it is theft. Calling a spade a spade will go along way to ending the practice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com