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links for 2009-10-28
on Oct 28, 2009 in Uncategorized Beers of The Times – Call It Stout, Though It Isn't – Review – NYTimes.com PEOPLE get stuck on the word stout. It confuses, the way it connotes size and fleshiness. And the color, too — inky, impenetrable black — suggests ma...
Progressives for a value-added tax?
on Oct 28, 2009 in domestic policy policy politics budgets taxation Via Megan McArdle is this interesting graph from the Congressional Budget Office showing the impact the recession has had on tax revenues, organized by type of tax: I am also surprised to see that revenue from payroll taxes has essentially remained...
In which Jamelle complains about the Senate, again
on Oct 28, 2009 in politics institutional reform In an otherwise decent piece about Harry Reid’s continuing attempt to corral support for the public option, this paragraph sticks out like a sore thumb: Just six weeks ago the public option appeared to be dying, under fierce attack by the insur...
I am shocked – shocked – to learn that black people aren’t all that jazzed on America
on Oct 22, 2009 in black people conservatives history politics republicans polling racism simple answers to simple questions (cross-posted from the League of Ordinary Gentlemen) Even if Rasmussen’s poll is accurate and only 14 percent of African-Americans say that American society “is generally fair and decent” (down from 55 percent from February), this...
Deep Inside of a Parallel Universe
on Oct 22, 2009 in politics health care nihilism republicans (cross-posted from the League of Ordinary Gentlemen) Reihan doesn’t think that we should dismiss Republican intransigence as irrational or nihilistic (via Andrew Sullivan): Among Democrats and liberals, there is a belief that Republican opposi...
How to Sell a Tax Increase
on Oct 22, 2009 in domestic policy policy politics bruce bartlett fiscal responsibility taxation I am nowhere near informed enough to offer any intelligent commentary on economic policy, but I am pretty good at political analysis. And so instead of focusing on the economic part of Bruce Bartlett’s argument against cutting payroll taxes,...