How much does this small change mean for the government? So sayeth the WSJ:
This is a sneaky way for politicians to pry more money out of workers every year without having to legislate tax increases. The negative effects of failing to index compound over time, yielding a revenue windfall for government as the years go on. The House tax surcharge is estimated to raise $460.5 billion over 10 years, but only $30.9 billion in 2011, rising to $68.4 billion in 2019, according to the Joint Tax Committee.
Yes! Woohoo! Let’s pay for those baby-boomers and their free health care! Awesome!!
We were discussing Ralph Waldo Emerson in class today. I can’t remember exactly how I got on the topic, but I asked my students if they still believed that America was a land of opportunity, where anyone could come and be moderately successful if they were willing to work hard.
This class is made up of all international students: one student from Greece, one from Korea, and about fifteen from China. But they all agreed on the answer to my question.
Yes, America is still a land of opportunity.
I was a little shocked. Had my cynicism about the American Dream somehow blinded me to a truth my students saw? Is it really still the case that anyone with a few bucks and a strong work ethic can do well-enough in America? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure I believe that anymore; me, a patriotic, conservative American!
But my students, all from the outside of this country, think I am wrong not to believe in the American Dream.
John Unger: “The best thing that ever happened to me was the night an angry, messed up cab driver pulled me into the back room of a 24 hour diner and held a huge handgun to my head for over ten minutes, all the while describing in intricately fetishistic detail exactly what would happen when he pulled the trigger.” Seriously?!
The Peace Prize itself has become something of a joke in recent years (Jimmy Carter? Algore?) But, seriously folks: besides plunging this country into massive debt, what has this man done?
[Sorry for the short posts lately, getting ready to move into a new apartment in Beantown and still have to do that work thing. Hopefully, things will calm down soon. -ed.]
For some strange reason, Congress has exempted itself from being serviced under a possible “public option” health care plan. Why on earth would that be?
ASIDE: It occurs to me that if there really is a “right” to health care, the federal government is not allowed to do anything about it. Why? The 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Since the providing of health care is not an enumerated power of the federal government, they aren’t allowed to do it.
Scientists: “Those who abstain from alcohol are also more likely to lack social skills and have higher levels of anxiety, it was claimed. Non-drinkers even have more mental health issues than those considered heavy drinkers, the survey found.” Hah! In your face teetotalers!
So says the NYTimes. But wait: “In short a New York Times article, an article from The Newspaper of Record, is based entirely on a reporter talking to her chums.”
