About those taxes.......

The problem with Capital gains taxes, is that its not their rates that determine economic activity, It's the anticipated change in their rates. If rates are scheduled to go up, a flurry of selloffs will follow resulting in stocks losing value and more cash (and cash equivalents) being hoarded. If rates are scheduled to go down, then investors will prefer to sit tight on their appreciated assets, and wait for the taxes to drop before they cash in. The resulting distortions are what cause people to claim that lowering taxes cause revenue windfalls. They're one shot deals that don't continue after the new rates are settled in. I personally find it difficult to justify that people who live on their investments are taxed significantly less than people who earn salaries. I'm all for simplifying the tax code but none of the proposals on the table do anything but make the stratifying of our society even worse than it already is.

Re: The vanishing Middle Class

What's actually killing the middle class is the disparity in standards of living between the USA we know and love and the rest of the developing world. Neither party is actually willing to discuss the problem in detail because neither party has a solution. The difference though is that Obama is at least willing to use phrases like 'investing in education' and such to act a:as if the problem exists and b: as if something can be done about it. Romney OTOH, simply wants to make sure that money earned offshore can be repatriated tax free.

Responding to the quote below:

Whether we like it or not, we're going to move away from manufacturing towards a service based economy There's the problem in a nutshell. Whenever we think of any activity that earns money, we have to ask ourselves, "How does this add value?" Measured in terms of fulfilling actual human needs as opposed to simply drawing attention and cash, the only activities that actually add value are farming, manufacturing and transportation. Everything else is a matter of trading cash for vapor. Thinking that the American economy can make do without actually producing anything is the number one fundamental problem with out current economy. It's also the number one topic that everyone refuses to talk about.

I'll need this for tomorrow.......

Some edumacation for the trolls:

There has been a five percentage-point Democratic advantage, on average, in Fox News polls this year. In this poll, the Democratic edge is nine points. That may or may not be on the high side, although it is similar to other recent national polls conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, which puts Democrats up 11 percentage points and the Pew Research Center, with Democrats up by 13 percent.

That my friends is Fox news taking away the number one excuse the Teaheads offer when confronted with a negative poll. OVERSAMLPLING!!!!!!! Link

Every Day Is Thursday.

This appeared within 24 hours of a "FactCheck" that came to the opposite conclusion. Posted here for easy access.

Quick Test

2012-07-US-Sapphire 1

The two most important counters to the Obamacare as tax increase meme:

1: In the anti-injunction section of his ruling Roberts makes clear that the Congress did not intend for the penalty to be regarded as a tax. Anyone who uses this as a basis to claim that "Obama lied" about raising taxes are themsleves, lying. 2: It's a tax that NO ONE has to pay. The mandate is not a tax. The penalty is. It results in no ones taxes going up except in the rare event that they steadfastly refuse to provide for their own medical care. Furthermore the HCR law DOES include some taxes which the Republicans are respinning as affecting earners under 250K. But in each case, the claim is based on the actual payers of the tax passing them on to their customers as higher prices. This does NOT constitute a tax. People who claim otherwise are lying

Where I can Find Them

SB 1070 falls.

No one covering the latest Supreme court ruling seems to be noticing this crucial point:

(2) It is not clear at this stage and on this record that §2(B), in practice, will require state officers to  delay the release of detainees for no reason other than to verify their immigration status.  This would raise constitutional concerns.   And it would disrupt the federal framework to put state officers in the position of holding aliens in custody for possible unlawful presence without federal direction and supervision.  But §2(B) could be read to avoid these concerns.  If the law only requires state officers to conduct a status check during the course of an authorized, lawful detention or after a detainee has been released, the provision would likely survive preemption—at least absent some showing that it has other consequences that are adverse to federal law and its objectives.  Without the benefit of a definitive interpretation from the state courts, it would be inappropriate to assume §2(B) will be construed in a way that conflicts with federal law.  Cf.  Fox v.  Washington, 236 U. S. 273, 277.  This opinion does not  foreclose other preemption and constitutional challenges to the law as interpreted and applied after it goes into effect.  Pp. 22–24.

In other words 2(B) stands if and only if in actual practice it is not allowed to be the basis to detain anyone.

It has become fashionable now that Obama has created a 'Dream Act by Fiat" for Republicans to complain that he 'didn't do anything about immigration" when the Democrats controlled Congress.

Senate Republicans Block DREAM Act for Illegal Immigrants"

Needless to say, this is a lie........

The Individual Mandate Circa 1993

Left on a techie thread.....

Every time I call a company have to navigate a seven layer maze in order to reach a human I am reminded that the entire rationale for the technology that businesses buy is to eliminate jobs. In a day and age when entry level positions simply don't exist, celebrating additional triumphs of robotic thinking strikes me as horribly misguided.

I'm posting this as a constant reminder that no matter how far we think we have come, the past is not too far behind us. This is a page from The Rand McNally Grammar School geography textbook published in 1899.This is what my paternal Grandfather was taught in school!

The difference between Jobs, Job losses and Job loss rates seems to confuse people so I thought I'd draw my own picture. The blue bars represent the public sector job loss data that is often published on Left leaning sites including the White House. The red line is just the sum of those job losses or if you want, just label it Jobs. The green line (with the black trendline) is the month to month variation of the red line. I only mention it because Heritage once created a graphic designed to treat it as significant that there was an inflection point in it just as HCR was passed. I hope this chart demonstrates just how ridiculous THAT chart was.

On Gay marriage and Obama's 'evolution'

I'm delighted that Obama cited the Golden Rule as one basis of his decision. What strikes me more than anything is the volume of Scripture that people have to ignore in order to justify actively opposing Gay Marriage. If the Gospel teaches us anything its that 1: Our responsibility is to keep our own House in order and concern over condemning others is itself sinful. 2:Prayer should be a private matter between you and your Creator and that public displays of piety count for naught. 3: We are ultimately judged by how we treat prisoners and beggars and outcasts. Engaging in behavior designed to create outcasts is directly contrary to Jesus's direction. It never ceases to amaze me how many people fail to notice these simple points.

Decisions, decisions......?

What I find fascinating at this point is the Republicans seem completely undecided whether Obama is a ruthless thug or a spineless pushover. Having to decide definitely throws them off their game.

The Buffet Tax.....

As an actual policy proposal, the Buffet tax is a really bad idea. It just adds an additional layer of if/then calculations to a tax code that's already virtually incomprehensible. The value it brings to the campaign though is that it demonstrates in stark terms that the Right doesn't care about deficits and in spite of all the wailing and rending of garments, they never did. The fact that it would only cover a small percentage of the deficit is NOT an argument against it. If I have a chance to save 15% on my mortgage payments by refinancing, I'm not going to turn it down just because I still have to pay the rest. The bottom line is that the entire campaign strategy being presented now, is a direct result of the debt limit battle in August. Having demonstrated that Eric Cantor's agenda has dire real world consequences, Obama's now going to run directly against it.

Old Time Rock 'N Roll (Solo Break)

Comment on the IL Primary.

Illinois is unique in that it has all the demographic elements of the entire country laid out in sharply defined geographical boundaries. The city of Chicago is ethnically diverse and solidly Democratic. The surrounding counties (DuPage and Lake) in particular are entirely filled with the sort of preserve-my-wealth Republicans who nevertheless feel comfortable with the city, actually know gay people and are mostly uninterested in the Culture wars. From I-80 south OTOH the entire rest of the State is cornfields peppered with pop. 2000 town and a few minor almost-urban areas (Champaigne, Kankakee, Peoria, Springfield, Joliet) It is there, where fear of strangers, open unapologetic racism, and religious certainty are all welcome, that Santorum is able to shine. The reason that Romney is the inevitable nominee, is that the third category is a large area but very sparsely populated. (Don't tell any of those inhabitants that they don't represent the real America though) Those are fighting words!