Misstating the Obvious

Krugman’s on the rampage against the tax cut, and he’s got the Financial Times on his side. He claims we were getting a great deal on taxes already: Once the new round of cuts takes effect, federal taxes will be lower than their average during the Eisenhower administration. How, then, can the government pay for … Continue reading “Misstating the Obvious”

Krugman’s on the rampage against the tax cut, and he’s got the Financial Times on his side. He claims we were getting a great deal on taxes already:

Once the new round of cuts takes effect, federal taxes will be lower than their average during the Eisenhower administration. How, then, can the government pay for Medicare and Medicaid — which didn’t exist in the 1950’s — and Social Security, which will become far more expensive as the population ages? (Defense spending has fallen compared with the economy, but not that much, and it’s on the rise again.)

Gee, in how many ways is that deceptive? Here’s a few:

  • Federal income taxes don’t pay for social security, social security taxes do, and they were up to 6.8% of GDP in 2002 from 2% in 1955.
  • During the Eisenhower Administration, we were still paying for WW II, a real war that took longer than 3 weeks to win.
  • Individual federal income taxes averaged 7.7% of GDP during Eisenhower, and they were 8.3% in 2002. After this tax cut, they’ll still be higher than they were during Eisenhower.
  • The big growth in taxation since the ’50s has been at the state level – rising from 5% of GDP in 1947 to 9.6% today.
  • States are in trouble, and many will need to raise taxes soon, which will more than gobble up the latest round of federal tax cuts.
  • Percentage of GDP isn’t the best way to measure tax load, because of the effect that capital gains – not a part of the GDP – have on tax receipts. The highest level of taxes as a percentage of GDP was 10.3% in 2000, higher even than in 1944.
  • Before WW II, federal income taxes were below 1% of GDP, so we’re at very high levels historically. This is all on account of the concentration of power in Washington made possible by the New Deal and some creative work by the Supreme Court since the 1930s.

    • Generally speaking, I’d rather that Sacramento spend my tax dollars than Washington. That’s not because I like the ruling party there better, it’s because it’s closer to home and more accountable; it’s also consistent with federalism. Some would rather that Washington spend them; but who wants to pay rising taxes at both the state and federal levels?

    I don’t.

    Source: Congressional Research Service report.

    UPDATE: Meanwhile, back in the real world, the California Legislature is preparing to raise taxes on income, sales, tobacco, and cars:

    …the Davis budget proposal also includes a half-cent sales tax increase to repay the deficit bonds along with increases on cigarette taxes and income taxes for individuals earning more than $150,000 and couples whose combined salaries exceed $300,000.

    Death Row on Gitmo?

    This doesn’t strike me as highly credible, but you can make up your own mind: THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber. Perhaps there are plans for military tribunals, some of which could result in death penalties, but there’s an obvious … Continue reading “Death Row on Gitmo?”

    This doesn’t strike me as highly credible, but you can make up your own mind:

    THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.

    Perhaps there are plans for military tribunals, some of which could result in death penalties, but there’s an obvious attempt at sensationalism here.

    FCC rule changes

    ABC’s Frisco station, KGO-TV, had a little get-together for the national audience with Peter Jennings and a bunch of local media folks (the PG&E guy from the Bay Guardian, local news anchor Pete Wilson, an ethnic media guy, the deputy editor of the Frisco Comical, and Barbara Simpson, the right-wing talk radio “Babe in the … Continue reading “FCC rule changes”

    ABC’s Frisco station, KGO-TV, had a little get-together for the national audience with Peter Jennings and a bunch of local media folks (the PG&E guy from the Bay Guardian, local news anchor Pete Wilson, an ethnic media guy, the deputy editor of the Frisco Comical, and Barbara Simpson, the right-wing talk radio “Babe in the Bunker”) and a live studio audience.

    One of the subjects was the proposed FCC rule changes that will allow more consolidation. So obviously, this discussion didn’t happen, because if it did there could be no Blackout. Seriously, it was the one issue that all panelists agreed on, left, right, center, and loony: bad, bad, bad. It was as if you had proposed privatizing the schools to a meeting of the teachers’ union.

    Which leads me to believe it must be a good idea.

    I was wrong

    A couple of days ago, I claimed Lawrence Lessig had censored a comment I left on his blog. He protested that he’d done no such thing, and in fact allowed me to leave the comment. So I do believe Prof. Lessig is telling the truth and I misconstrued a software or network problem as censorship. … Continue reading “I was wrong”

    A couple of days ago, I claimed Lawrence Lessig had censored a comment I left on his blog. He protested that he’d done no such thing, and in fact allowed me to leave the comment. So I do believe Prof. Lessig is telling the truth and I misconstrued a software or network problem as censorship.

    I was wrong to impugn Prof. Lessig’s honor, and I apologize.

    WiFi Bubble

    Business Week online has an interesting article about over-hyped WiFi: A year ago, Sean Marzola was the CEO of one of Silicon Valley’s hottest Wi-Fi startups. Embedded Wireless Devices in Pleasanton, Calif., had set out to design chips for Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) access points — “hot spots” — that permit wireless Internet access within a … Continue reading “WiFi Bubble”

    Business Week online has an interesting article about over-hyped WiFi:

    A year ago, Sean Marzola was the CEO of one of Silicon Valley’s hottest Wi-Fi startups. Embedded Wireless Devices in Pleasanton, Calif., had set out to design chips for Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) access points — “hot spots” — that permit wireless Internet access within a radius of 300 feet. But about 18 weeks before EWD’s first product could start being manufactured, investors pulled the plug. Last August, EWD quietly closed its doors, leaving Marzola an entrepreneur without a home.

    Note to venture capitalists: If you’re funding WiFi chips, you’ve been had. Intel, Broadcom, TI, Intersil, and Samsung will own this market, not foundry-less startups. You’ve been warned.

    Politics of Dead Children

    You know the story: the sanctions against Iraq (now lifted, praise Allah) caused the deaths of millions of innocent Iraqi babies. Only it’s not true, as the Iraqi doctors are now free to say: Under the sanctions regime, “We had the ability to get all the drugs we needed,” said Ibn Al-Baladi’s chief resident, Dr. … Continue reading “Politics of Dead Children”

    You know the story: the sanctions against Iraq (now lifted, praise Allah) caused the deaths of millions of innocent Iraqi babies. Only it’s not true, as the Iraqi doctors are now free to say:

    Under the sanctions regime, “We had the ability to get all the drugs we needed,” said Ibn Al-Baladi’s chief resident, Dr. Hussein Shihab. “Instead of that, Saddam Hussein spent all the money on his military force and put all the fault on the USA. Yes, of course the sanctions hurt – but not too much, because we are a rich country and we have the ability to get everything we can by money. But instead, he spent it on his palaces.”

    Saddam ordered dead baby bodies refrigerated so they could be used as propaganda.

    Thank you, Molly Ivins

    A reader on BuzzMachine… by Jeff Jarvis makes the following astute observation on Molly Ivins, Texas’ answer to Bob Scheer: Until her dying day, Molly will never, never, ever get over the 1994 Texas gubenatorial election, so any comments she makes about U.S. policy, domestic (where at least she’s consistant) or foreign have to be … Continue reading “Thank you, Molly Ivins”

    A reader on BuzzMachine… by Jeff Jarvis makes the following astute observation on Molly Ivins, Texas’ answer to Bob Scheer:

    Until her dying day, Molly will never, never, ever get over the 1994 Texas gubenatorial election, so any comments she makes about U.S. policy, domestic (where at least she’s consistant) or foreign have to be seen in that light. If Bush did it, she’s against it, and one of these days, everyone else will see the light and Ann Richards will be avenged.

    (Ironically, thanks to Molly’s connections to some of the key media elites due to her past work with the New York Times and current writings in publications like The Nation, too many media people out of New York and Washington have, since the mid-1980s, gone to Ms. Ivins for the inside stuff on what Texans are really thinking, which given Texas’ political leanings, is about like going to former New York City mayoral candidate William F. Buckley, Jr., to get the hot tips on the inner workings of the New York City Council. But that’s what they did in the late ’90s trying to get a handle on Bush, and its also when Molly coined the term “Shrub” and pretty much helped fix the image in many minds that Bush was an idiot, which helped cause the Gore campaign to “misunderestimate” him in the 2000 election.

    Had Molly not had so much animus towards GWB over the ’94 election and had said to her friends outside of Texas, “Watch out for this guy, he’s craftier than he looks and sounds,” there’s a strong possibility the Gore people would have done a better job from the start of the campaign and Al would have been elected president. So Karl Rove ought to slip a few extra bucks in Ms. Ivin’s direction for her contribution to putting Bush over the top, and making the liberation of Iraq possible.)

    Posted by John at May 22, 2003 05:44 PM

    Word.

    Canard-o-Matic

    Stefan Sharkansky has done an amazing feat of research in the Robert Scheer Canard-o-Matic, a chart of the repetitive set of canards that recur in Scheer’s columns. Like any good citizen, Scheer recycles. Or maybe he composts, I’m not sure.

    Stefan Sharkansky has done an amazing feat of research in the Robert Scheer Canard-o-Matic, a chart of the repetitive set of canards that recur in Scheer’s columns.

    Like any good citizen, Scheer recycles. Or maybe he composts, I’m not sure.