I am sitting in the San Antonio airport, waiting for my flight back home, reflecting on an excellent Values and Capitalism retreat here and–the subject of this blog–my walk yesterday. My goal was to walk to a bookstore about two miles from my downtown hotel. I had mapped it out using Googlemaps and set out […]
Archives
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The City of Man
15 Jan 2017
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In an article from CNS News dated December 16, 2016, we have the new but predictable Census Bureau statistics on median income for households in counties of the United States. The first four richest counties are, …, you guessed it, all in the Washington, DC area, and range from about $99,000 per year to $122, […]
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I think most of us can now certainly agree: even if we give Mr. Trump his claim that he is the most brilliant businessman ever, and his paying low or no taxes is due to his incredible financial acumen, we cannot help but conclude either he is a particularly poor politician or he simply does […]
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Miscellaneous Interesting (and Weird) News
13 Sep 2016
There are all sorts of interesting and disturbing issues and events out there in the news these days, some obscure and others more obvious and with greater implications. Below I simply want to list a few I have been reading about in recent days, and then later perhaps write some longer blogs on some of […]
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Who Really Benefits from Internet Sales Taxes?
28 Aug 2016
So it seems Bob Goodlatte, a Republican House member from Virginia has introduced for circulation among his Judiciary Committee colleagues a framework proposal for taxing internet sales transactions, something “brick and mortar” stores have wanted for some time. Goodlatte’s aide says the plan is simple and fair. As an article on the plan states, “Internet […]
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The Obamacare Slow Leak
22 Aug 2016
Maybe you have read some articles in the past weeks about insurance providers leaving the Obamacare market in some states (I just read another one today). Well, it likely will get worse. Here is what is happening. First we need to understand how Obamacare works. The entire scheme was predicated on the ability to tax […]
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I have so far avoided taking any position on the two main candidates for president. For my colleague Mark Smith, don’t worry, I will. I intend to continue the path of avoidance in this blog. Today I would like to examine and evaluate each candidate’s economic program. I say nothing about their personal morality, or […]
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In a National Review article of June 21, 2016, Michael Barone explored the question of whether the United States economy has shown any growth, and if not, why not. The article, entitled “Why We have—and Probably Will Keep Having—Sluggish Job Growth,” relies on a recently published book by the economist Arnold Kling, Specialization and Trade: […]
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Happy Tax Day (Late)
19 Apr 2016
Below is a chart comparing categories of income tax between 1913 and 2016, published by Americans for Tax Reform. Note the categories labeled “Top Tax Bracket Threshold” and “Family Standard Deduction,” both adjusted in terms of today’s dollars. Our tax liability now begins at 25 times the amount it began at in 1913. Our deduction […]
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Taxes Versus Spending
02 Mar 2016
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a DC group, had this to say about Ted Cruz’s campaign proposals: “Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has, by our count, put forward seven sets of policy proposals on his campaign website covering areas such as immigration, military spending, and tax reform. By our very rough […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach