Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: Nick Hanauer - Businessweek
simply the best, most logical explanation of things i’ve ever read.
dcwhip
politics, people, press
When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around. It is unquestionably true that without entrepreneurs and investors, you can’t have a dynamic and growing capitalist economy. But it’s equally true that without consumers, you can’t have entrepreneurs and investors. And the more we have happy customers with lots of disposable income, the better our businesses will do. That’s why our current policies are so upside down. When the American middle class defends a tax system in which the lion’s share of benefits accrues to the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer. And that’s what has been happening in the U.S. for the last 30 years. Since 1980, the share of the nation’s income for fat cats like me in the top 0.1 percent has increased a shocking 400 percent, while the share for the bottom 50 percent of Americans has declined 33 percent. At the same time, effective tax rates on the superwealthy fell to 16.6 percent in 2007, from 42 percent at the peak of U.S. productivity in the early 1960s, and about 30 percent during the expansion of the 1990s. In my case, that means that this year, I paid an 11 percent rate on an eight-figure income. One reason this policy is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough superrich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the average American, but we don’t buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, I go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally. It’s true that we do spend a lot more than the average family. Yet the one truly expensive line item in our budget is our airplane (which, by the way, was manufactured in France by Dassault Aviation SA), and those annual costs are mostly for fuel (from the Middle East). It’s just crazy to believe that any of this is more beneficial to our economy than hiring more teachers or police officers or investing in our infrastructure.
JasenComstock: Herman Cain is reassessing his campaign, which means Herman Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair and, you know, sexual...
And I continue to be amazed at the fact that there are people out there who continue to risk destroying their party by believing that they simply would not get caught. Can you imagine if Edwards got the Democratic nod or Weiner took a shot at the senate or Cain was the…
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Did we break the ONA Issues Tumblr? We logged in today and the text on all of our previously published posts were blacked out.
On second look, we saw that Tumblr is raising awareness about the Protect-IP Act and the Stop Online Privacy Act, which are being debated in Congress today. As users log in to their Tumblr dashboards, posts are blacked out as if censored and there is a link at the top of the page which takes users to a post hosted on Tumblr’s site encouraging users to take action.
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Graphic: Mapping a superpower-sized military
Despite the pending troop withdrawals in Iraq and those in Afghanistan between now and 2014, the United States remains a superpower on a scale not seen since the days of the Caesars. With this in mind, the National Post’s Richard Johnson takes a look at the scale of America’s forces.
i’m moving to one of those blobs on the southern east coast.
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i know i’ve said this before, but the concept of having a house in which my lights are on so i can see inside of it but someone i can’t see outside (see: lights being on in my house) seeing inside freaks me ooouuuuuuut.
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omg! @elementstyle i didn’t see this at #HMPKT, if I did I would have fainted.
want, want, wantttttttttttttttt.
no… but it is completely antithetical to a lot of people on one side of the political aisle. not my side…. but a nameless, not pointing fingers at THEM side.
(Source: axiomecho)
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this reminds me of my absolutely favorite books in the world by nick bantock
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Caught On Camera of the Day: A student at an Ohio high school who beat “the holy living crap” out of a gay classmate inside a classroom was suspended for all of three days.
The 15-year-old victim reportedly chipped a tooth, and has a possible concussion.
According to ABC 6 News, the same bully had left anti-gay comments on Union-Scioto High School’s Facebook page two days prior to the attack.
The mother of the victim intends to pursue the matter through the prosecutor’s office. “For all the people out there that have that hate in their heart, they need to let it go,” she says. “Because, you know, people are gonna be who they are.”
If you would like to reach out to the school, Dan Savage has posted contact info on Slog.
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Hey! I don't know that the bunnyvictorious ask box is working, but it's back! That's great! Welcome back bunnyvictorious!
via vrai-lean-uh
THE RESURRECTED BUNNNNNNNY!
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