Political Economy category archive
“These Guys Are Idiots!” 0
Thom explains how the Republican tax plan counter-intuitive and destructive.
Of course, the Republican tax plan is powered by the Republican belief that their is no such thing as the common good.
Tax Evasion 0
At The Bangor Daily News, David Farmer sums up the Republican strategy to tax the poor to enrich the rich:
How to pass bad tax bill: Move fast, lie about impacts, hope for the best.
Follow the link for details.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
In the Hartford Courant, Colin McEnroe looks at the results of Tuesday’s elections and makes a some predictions. In particular, he suggests that the inside-the-beltway punditocracy will invariably draw the wrong conclusions (after all, that’s what they do–he doesn’t say that, I do).
I particularly want to highlight his “Three Commandments of Political Analysis”:
II. Thou shalt occasionally ignore I.
III. If a Libertarian lieth with a Green, everything whereon they subsequently sitteth shall be unclean.
In the bulk of his column, he focuses on item II, suggesting that Tuesday’s outcomes may well offer lessons for the 2018 national races; follow the link for his reasoning.
I want to comment a bit on item III:
Remember, a Libertarian is one who seeks an elaborate, fancy-smancy rationale for denying the existence of the common good. Libertarianism is a creed that appeals most notably to 15-year-old boys, regardless of their ages.
For all practical purposes, a Libertarian in today’s political scene is little more than a Republican who’s ashamed to admit it.
The Axman Cometh 0
Paul Krugman has the details. Here’s a nugget:
Oh, wait — did you think I was talking about Donald Trump? I’m talking about Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, an obvious phony who nonetheless convinced the rubes — that is, much of the news media and the political establishment — that he was a brilliant fiscal expert. What we’re witnessing now is the end of the charade, the political equivalent of what happened when graduates of Trump University tried to get some value in return for their money.
Tax Cheats 0
Jay Bookman considers Republican justifications for tax “reform” and finds them questionable.
