Category: Politics

A common right-wing rejoinder to the leftist claim that the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes is that “The top 1% of earners in this country pay 34% of all taxes.” I’ve heard Rush pull this one out on a liberal caller, and I recently saw a TV show purporting to uncover “10 Popular Myths” use the same stat to convince people that the wealthy pay too much tax.

But doesn’t the statistic make a logic error by comparing the size of a group in population terms (1%) with the proportion of taxes they pay? Shouldn’t we instead compare the size of the group’s wealth with the proportion of their taxes?

According to taxfoundation.org, the top 25% of all earners earn 65% of the nation’s income. And the top 1%? They hold around 21% of all the wealth.

Of course, our system of terraced tax brackets does mean that wealthy people do pay more per dollar on their income taxes — they hold 21% of the wealth but pay 34% of the taxes. Whether they should pay more per dollar or not is a separate question — one that cuts to quick of any socialist vs. libertarian debate (and don’t forget that the wealthy also have access to any number of tax shelters that your average wage earner does not).

The point is that the statistic gets thrown around with an unspoken implication: That the top 1% should pay 1% of the taxes. If Rush and co. want to make this form of argument, they should be arguing that those controlling 21% of the wealth are paying 34% of the taxes. But that argument wouldn’t have nearly the same impact.

One also often hears the accompanying argument that the threshold for entry into the 1% club is not high — you “only” have to make around $300,000 to join the 1% club. While true, this stat ignores the fact that many of the top earners are actually wealthy beyond almost anyone’s dreams. “In 1999, 268 of the [top] 400 [earners] qualified as billionaires.”

In October, 60 Minutes investigated the ultimate old boys network Skull and Bones, which raises about 15 Yale playahs per year into its innermost cabal. The “Bonesmen” ultimately usher one another into positions of power in America – presidents, spies, Supreme Court Justices. George Bush is a Bonesman. But then, so is Senator Kerry. “President Bush has tapped five fellow Bonesmen to join his administration.” The group is cloaked in the utmost secrecy, and members won’t talk about its workings even to their closest confidantes. Or at least they never did until 60 Minutes got a bunch of the old boys talking.

Correction: Actually, Alexandra Robins got the Skull folks talking. 60 Minutes just reports here.

Thanks rinchen.

A U.S. sergeant on duty in Iraq had a panic attack after witnessing the mangled body of an Iraqi torn in half by American gunfire. When he sought counseling to deal with his grief, he was court-martialled for cowardice — a charge potentially punishable by death. The cowardice charge has since been dropped, and I know war is hell and all, but my god.

Unbelievable story at bushgreenwatch.com (nicely published out of MT) about how one of Bush’s judicial appointees argued for the continued bombing of a small island in the Pacific:

In the bird bombing case, conservationists sued to protect an important nesting island for migratory birds in the Pacific. They established that the U.S. military’s bombing of the island during live-fire training exercises violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Haynes’ team argued in a legal brief that conservationists actually benefit from the military’s killing of birds because it helps make some species more rare — and “bird watchers get more enjoyment spotting a rare bird than they do spotting a common one.” They argued the bombing was good for birds too, as it kept the island free of other “human intrusion.”

Though the judge received strong rebuke for the statement, Bush nominated him for a lifetime appointment.

Thanks Rinchen!

A previous post chewed on the vast discrepancy between a $300,000 Iraqi estimate to repair a particular bridge and an American bid to repair the same bridge at $50 million. Today, Gilbert sends along a Washington Post piece that helps put such cost discrepancies into perspective. It’s not that the American bids are without greed, but much of the cost difference is taken up in cultural differences. Americans see a bombed out cement factory and see the need to basically scrap it and rebuild from scratch. Iraqis, accustomed to doing a lot with a little, see a chance to clear out the rubble and get the darn thing online, even if at lowered capacity. The Iraqi improv may be more of a Band-Aid than a long-term solution, but still, cement does come out the other end. Then factor in things like insurance – Halliburton has had to waive subcontractor requirements such as hazard insurance, which isn’t even available in Iraq.

Everything is simpler than it seems. No, I mean, more complex.

The author of Bolinas’ Measure G wears burlap around her legs and neck, and paints her face in dark chocolate sprinkled with black pepper. She’s lived on the streets and in the woods for ages. The measure she wrote reads:

“Vote for Bolinas to be a socially acknowledged nature-loving town because to like to drink the water out of the lakes to like to eat the blueberries to like the bears is not hatred to hotels and motor boats. Dakar. Temporary and way to save life, skunks and foxes (airplanes to go over the ocean) and to make it beautiful.”

Nobody really knows what it means, but the petition gained enough signatures to get those exact words onto the ballot. Early polls indicate the measure will probably pass.

Mary Hodder posted an entry in the J-School’s bIPlog on the leak of certain internal Diebold memos. Diebold is sending cease and desist letters to universities whose students link to said leaks, and Swarthmore is falling for it. What’s really amazing about the memos is what they reveal about the attitude of the company to which our government has given millions of dollars to build voting machines. Choice quote: “If voting could really change things, it would be illegal .” Mary’s story was slashdotted, and we’re at 20x traffic today. The XServe’s handling it without a blip.