PJ O’Rourke said the problem with trying to soak the rich is that they can afford towels.
Exactly so. Let’s look at two examples. In 1990, in a fit of populism, the US passed a special tax on the purchase of yachts. These were the results:
1) The Government collected very little revenue from the tax.
2) The people who wanted yachts bought them anyway, although usually overseas to avoid the tax.
3) Many US yacht companies went bankrupt and were forced to lay off thousands of skilled craftsmen and other workers with good-paying jobs.
In attempting to punish the wealthy, the Government ended up screwing the middle class instead. This sort of backfire happens fairly frequently.
Lawmakers in Maryland, oblivious to what happened with the yacht tax, decided to put a special tax on millionaires in 2008. It was supposed to bring in an extra $106 million. Instead, the state lost $257 million.
Hey, only a person with the tiniest amount of common sense could have predicted that rich people would leave in order to avoid paying tens of thousands in taxes.
I’m going to write this in all caps because it needs to be:
HIGHER TAX RATES NEVER LEAD TO HIGHER REVENUES!
Never had, never will, never, ever, ever.
One would hope that such examples would illustrate the futile and counterproductive nature of luxury taxes. Alas, every leading progressive politician from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren rails against the rich. Amusingly enough, the last major attempt at soaking the rich, the Foreign Tax Account Compliance Act, was introduced by Democrat Charlie Rangel, who was censured for owing tens of thousands in back taxes for income he received from rent on overseas property.
He is so clueless he sponsored a law criminalizing the very thing he had been doing. That is truly a special kind of stupid.
But even stupider than that is trying to tax people who know the law, have a lot to lose, and are able to easily evade it.
Comments
263 responses to “Soak the Rich?”
*I* say avoision! /Kent Brockman
Is that John Kerry’s yacht that he docked in a different state to avoid taxes?
Na, he has a sailboat. A Broward would not send the right social signal. (That might be a Fedship. I have been out of that game a long time)
I think this site needs moar equality. Clearly Sloopy know what’s coming before us, so he can come up with snarky comments. I say we REVOLT! Off with their heads!!!
(ignore my comment down below, since I didn’t see Sloopy’s until after I entered “post comment.” Of course, that is TOTALLY not the reason I want a revolution)
I agree that the commenters here are revolting
*scratches nuts and farts* Wut?
Especially in a state where if you take a wrong turn, you could be in one of four other states in short order…
blockquote fail…
Was that the good edit fairy?
Not me – there are more than one it seems! Or you did it right the first time.
Is there a fiver under your pillow? Oh wait, that’s a different fairy.
Never forget that the Irsays moved the Colts out of Baltimore in the middle of the night because the Maryland legislature had tried that day to take the team via eminent domain.
Really?
Wow. They did the right thing then.
Yes, “they” being the legislature. The story is a bit more involved than simple ED.
When I caught an Easter egg watching The Wire (the union boss throwing darts at a photo of Irsay pinned on the dartboard), I laughed hysterically. I hope that fucker is frying in hell and that his idiot kid stumbles and falls into a woodchipper.
You are pretty much correct, but you unnecessarily overstate your case.
Income tax rates are infinitely higher than they were in 1912. And income tax revenue is infinitely higher than in 1912.
The same observation can be made with respect to FICA taxes.
The quoted statement is only true over a particular range of tax rates.
With ObamaCare, I faced an 800,000% effective marginal income tax rate as a self-employed consultant. You better believe that I took every legal adjustment to gross income and even turned down work to be sure that I wasn’t fall over the ObamaCare cliff. As a result, I have zero income tax and zero self-employment tax after the ObamaCare subsidy. In fact, I get refund of taxes that I never paid to the IRS. (I paid my taxes to Aetna instead.)
Yeah, the quoted statement is just wrong.
There is clearly an optimum rate of taxation to produce maximum return for the taxing entity, and it’s not zero, the only value that would make that statement true?
The optimum rate of taxation is zero. The rate that maximizes government revenue is significantly higher.
Ok, so you’re one of those Libertarians who doesn’t see a valid state role in preventing trusts from capturing markets?
Are you unconcerned with trust behavior, or do you imagine some other mechanism by which they will be prevented?
Because I’m pretty sure trusts distort markets and make them less-than-“optimum” for the non-trust participants in them… ?
Pretty much that: taxation is theft.
Are you unconcerned with trust behavior, or do you imagine some other mechanism by which they will be prevented?
Because I’m pretty sure trusts distort markets and make them less-than-“optimum” for the non-trust participants in them… ?
Trusts are rather ephemeral and toothless without a cronyist government to back them up.
Because there’s no way for a small number of economic players to capture a market without government involvement? I don’t understand your line of reasoning, could you please expand?
How do you capture a market? There are always substitutes, people can do without (or innovation can make the item redundant), or when prices get driven up new supplies can be profitably brought to market.
I seem to recall a panic over the Chinee controlling the world’s supply of rare earths. Not much of an issue now, is it?
At one point France was one of the largest producers of petroleum. Good thing we broke that up!
On the one hand – a corporation is a fictitious person created by the state – so the left’s paranoia about corporate control of the state is putting the cart before the horse. And you have a pretty hard time erecting barriers to competition without the power of the state to enforce them.
On the other hand – Smith stated that capitalists will gather and conspire and it is a very legitimate function of govt to police against that kind of thing. In the more or less real world, wealth and power are as attracted to each other as the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper. So Smith was asking for the govt (power) to work against its own natural inclination.
How strange that our institutions should be just as imperfect as the creatures that created them.
While I confess that I don’t have a great counter-argument, the above seems kinda magical in formulation?
How are there “always” substitutes? Every good or service is substitutable?
the above seems kinda magical in formulation?
There’s no magic about it. It’s all incentives. What incentive do I have to spend more money on a shitty monopolistic product? Even assuming that I’m pretty much required to purchase the product (internet service, for example), I’m not going to upgrade, I’m not going to recommend the service to friends, and I’m going to bail out at the first chance.
Let’s compare Microsoft Windows to Apple iOS. For the 90s and early 2000s, Windows was practically a monopoly (see the anti-trust prosecutions against them). Then, slowly-but-surely, iOS grabbed a little bit of market share, and then more. Finally, Vista flopped and people moved en masse to iOS. Sure, Microsoft still holds the majority of market share, but they’re certainly nowhere near being considered a monopoly.
In contrast, look at the government mandated cable/ISP monopolies. Excepting fios areas, there is one option in most places. Because the monopolies are not threatened by an upstart, they have a reputation as some of the worst corporations in the world.
If I may make a book recommendation: Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell addresses monopolies in detail, and I found him quite convincing.
How are there “always” substitutes? Every good or service is substitutable?
I can’t think of one that wouldn’t be. One may not prefer the substitute over the old over priced good or service, but they are there I think.
It’s rarely a perfect substitute. Like finding out beef is so expensive you switch to chicken. Chicken breast is not steak but it does convey calories to you.
If it’s new tech, you sub the old tech. Same with materials.
If we looked very, very hard we might be able to find a thing that can’t be substituted but then doing without or finding new supplies would kick in.
Regardless a cabal has a difficult time managing the behavior of end users and will never have the resources to keep all competition out of their sphere.
Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂
I paid my taxes to Aetna instead.
And they thank you. Paul Ryan seems to think that should continue.
No, they did not thank me. Instead, they told me to find another insurance company because they no longer want to do business in my state.
Now the only HealthCare.gov policy less than $20,000/year for my wife and me is offered by the outfit that also runs Medicaid. For $13,000/year, my wife and I now get the Medicaid provider network with a $14,000 deductible. But my sixty-year-old wife and I do get free birth control and pediatric dentistry.
$14,000 deductible? That is not insurance. That is a government mandated con.
Yeah, but if you ever want a sex change, now’s the time!
Every time some moron says “the rich don’t pay their fair share” I ask them – so what exactly is their fair share? How much of total tax collected should they pay? 70%? 80%? They never fail to do a very amusing dance trying to avoid answering that question.
This is very similar to when someone tells me there are too few [minority x] in [profession y].
I ask them “what is the correct ratio?” Usually they don’t answer and deflect. If they do answer, they usually give an answer like “people should be represented at the same rate that they appear in the population” to which I respond “ok, guess we’re going to fire a lot of black NBA players, huh?” and then they call me a racist.
Unfortunately, quite a few progressives have an answer for that. In my experience, it’s a rate approaching 100% of any income that is higher than that individual progressive’s expected lifetime maximum annual income. E.g., for a progressive fast food worker, the cap should be $40,000/year; for a progressive doctor, it’s $300,000/year. Entrepreneurs who never realize the capital gains on their life’s work will get taxed after they die with an estate tax. Most progressives are losers, so they have no reason to anticipate they will leave an estate. So, their idea of a far rate on estate tax also approaches 100%. Because, after all, the entrepreneur didn’t build that business — somebody else built it — and it’s unfair for his worthless kids to enjoy the fruits of other people’s labor.
They are losers. That’s why they advocate an estate tax; which points to them being parasitical weasels. They *know* some of them can’t leave behind an estate and so it’s deemed ‘not fair’ and they want it to go back into the ‘greater good pot’. As if that’ll fix anything.
I kind of dashed this off in a rush. Hope it holds up well enough.
I like it. There are some disagreements, but that only makes us stronger! (#Fightfor$500)
Another example of higher tax rates reducing revenue: Philly’s soft drink tax.
Yes, they get some revenue on soft drinks sold in Philadelphia, but it is far less than loss of the sales tax on soda purchased outside of city limits because of the soda tax.
That was never supposed to make money, it was supposed to stop people from consuming soda because DIABEETUS! And apparently it worked, if by worked you mean made people go out of town to buy their evil tooth rotting syrup drinks. So, yeah, total nanny state win right there.
Sounds like we just need a common sense tax on gas in Philly (if they don’t already have one).
From what I read, it was intended to raise revenue. Seriously.
And the bozo politicians thought that distributors and retailers would absorb a cost that almost doubled the delivered cost of a good without passing through to their customers. Progressives really are that stupid.
Seriously.
These are the same people that put high taxes on things like alcohol and tobacco, in order to discourage their use, make budgets based on people continuing to smoke and drink at continued levels. Then when people actually quit or switch to alternatives, like homebrewing, vaping or simply buying on the black market, the politicians act shocked because their budget projections fell short.
You’d think that politicians would have realised by now – after thousands of years of experience – that you can have an effective sin tax *or* you can raise revenue, but not both. And yet, here we are…
It’s almost like the real point is to increase the scope of Control.
Yes, it was deliberately posed as a money-making scheme in order to avoid the accusation of classism that is the real motivation behind this stuff.
“That was never supposed to make money, it was supposed to stop people from consuming soda because DIABEETUS!”
They realize that raising the price of something decreases demand. Yet, a lot of these same people probably think that the minimum wage increase will have no effect on how much labor is purchased.
Hello Derpy, I found an article I found confusion, since Sherlock Holmes isn’t around to unravel the mystery, maybe you could explain it to me?
Kids Hilariously Walk In On Live TV Interview; Stupid Internet Cries “Patriarchy!”
an article I found *confusing*
I’m not derpy, but I read that article and put it solidly into the ‘SJWs tilting at windmills. Again.’ Category.
They showed the vid on the local news, and the two anchors and the weather-reader were incoherent for a minute afterward laughing so hard. They aren’t woke enough I guess.
The one guy’s explanation of “prof didn’t get up to deal with kids himself because he wasn’t wearing pants” made me laugh.
Wife and I did a Saturday news segment for the dog rescue we worked with – and the anchor had the nice shirt, tie and jacket… and a pair of shorts that you didn’t see because he was only on air seated behind the newsdesk. Yes, the “not wearing pants” is entirely possible. Anyone spouting off about “the patriarchy” – SLAP!
Occam’s razor: The guy who said the reason Mr. Patriarchy didn’t get up…he’s not wearing any pants.
Gee, you think?
For people without kids, the second one in the walker is LIGHTNING FAST. It’s hard to steer those through a doorway. Kid’s got a bright future.
I’m more surprised that no one is crying racism and colonialism, seeing as how wife/nanny is Asian.
They were showing that video on the local news last night. I was more interested in how he decorates his office to convey this Korean expert persona. Tacked up world map, a couple of book piles arranged like a bookstore, etc.
There’s also the case of <a href= "http://thehistoryofrockmusic.com/1971/04/05/the-rolling-stones-become-tax-exiles/" The Rolling Stones back in the 70's. In the face of having to deal with UK tax rates that were as high as 98%, they simply moved to the south of France while restructuring their debts in the UK. So instead of being able to stay in London, they were forced to move to the land of topless beaches. Quelle Horreur! Way to punish those filthy Richers.
D’oh, sf’d the link. http://thehistoryofrockmusic.com/1971/04/05/the-rolling-stones-become-tax-exiles/
And they and we got their finest album out of it
This is what infuriates me about liberals/progressives as a whole. They advocate for taxes they WORK around themselves. Think New England millionaires like John Kerry. He wouldn’t bat an eye trying to work around taxes and regulations.
He wouldn’t even be bothered. His people would just do it as needed.
My favorite thing about this Glibertarians.com community is the variety of voices and opinions. It gladdens me that there is a “political” site that doesn’t continuously try to shut down diverging viewpoints and doesn’t descend into mindless flame wars. Thank you, Commentariat.
So far so good.
No one wants to be in an echo chamber. No one wants to have their threads shit all over by trolls either which is where a lot of those flame wars come from. It’s a much better atmosphere here. Plus when I type a comment and hit post, it fucking post!
You mean you don’t prefer to wade through the endless spam of three persistent and nothing-contributing trolls to engage with the smart people here engaged in good faith?
HOW UNLIBERTARIAN OF YOU! LIBERTARIANS ARE THE ONLY GROUP WHO ARE DEFINED BY LETTING THE GENERAL PUBLIC RUIN THEIR COMMUNAL SPACES!
I disagree with SP. Just because.
Are you trying to jinx it?
Yes
*in front of mirror* Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony. Mike Hihn, Mike Hihn, Mike Hihn, Mike Hihn, Mike Hihn.
You can try all you like, but the Cat Ass is an impenetrable magical ward.
I’m sorry, what did you say?
You called, Comrade?
Dammit, I’m too lazy to properly troll.. My global hammer and sickle avatar will have to be left to your imagination.
You’re going to give someone a heart attack pulling that, trshmnstr.
*looks for AED to use on self*
It’s also a place where, supposing that one of the community runs across an argument or assertion that seems incorrect, but cannot properly think through the reasons why it is incorrect, one can bring the matter to the attention of the commentariat, who can assist.
This is of great value to someone like me.
Indeed. That was my favorite part of TSTSNBN. The articles (pre-slump) were pretty good but the commentariat was f***ing great! Many, many times forced me to reexamine my own views and even when I disagreed, I felt that everyone (other than the trolls) was discussing in good faith. I felt, and still feel, like I’m in the company of giants.
A bit after the luxury tax went into affect, and when I was still listening to NPR, they interviewed a congressional staffer involved in drafting the luxury tax. The interviewer asked about the 15,000 lost jobs. The staffer weenie said their predictions were that only 5,000 jobs would be lost. They were suprised the number was so high – seems rich folks has other options than buying new American yachts.
The NPR droid did not, of course, ask the obvious question: “You little shit weasel! You were willing to put 5,000 Americans out of work so a few rich people might pay a few bucks more in taxes? How do you fucking live with yourself!?!??!”
Actually I never heard what the NPR guy (or the staffer ass wipe) said as I was too busy screaming this (and more at the radio).
It’s been years now, but I this sill remember this ass a distillation of the evil (the only word for it) in government. The fuckheads are willing to destroy peoples’ livelihoods just to signal their supposed virtue.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t that luxury tax also apply to private aircraft? I seem to recall some small plane manufacturers (Bellanca, for one) going out of business or reducing production severely.
Working on taxes now. Ugh. Good thing we both made more money this year so that the Feds could take a third of the increase (just in fed income taxes). Yeah, it’s the corporations and the rich who are greedy. It’s totally not the government. Fuckers.
It could be worse: you could be self-employed. Every year I run proforma cases on TurboTax to see what would happen if I made $100 more in self-employment income, dividend income, interest income, or capital gains. You might be surprised to see how phase-outs and phase-ins affect your marginal rate, and how subtle changes in the Internal Revenue Code from year to year drastically change your marginal rate.
With self-employment taxes, my marginal rate in years past has often been over 50%, which literally made the Feds the majority partner in my life. I got back this year though. With ObamaCare, I scaled back my income last year such that I now only pay taxes (broadly defined as “forced exactions” per the late USSC Justice Learned Hand) to an insurance company.
It’s almost like the state doesn’t want individuals to have economic power without joining collectives which are easier for the state to control.
Turbo Tax didn’t like what I had to offer this year and it crashed. I’m gonna have to get Pro Series.
I make well under $15/hour, and I owe money to the government. (And not because of the Health Care Forced Contribution.)
Preet refuses to hand in resignation later. The Judge Dredd comparison grows more apt by the minute here.
You know, that’s kinda pretty awesome? Someone tells me to “submit my resignation” … I’m pretty sure I tell them to fucking fire me if they want me fired.
Maybe I don’t understand something about how federal prosecutors are hired and fired?
I just want to see him fired, and US Marshal types remove him by force.
I would pay good money for tickets to that event. With a woodchipper parked outside, of course.
Not US Marshalls – they need to outsource that one to Chicago PD.
RIDE THE LIGHTNING!
*taser*
Doing it that way is usually easier for both parties. You can say you weren’t fired on your resume, and you waive claims against your employer by resigning.
Yep. I always saw it as a sort of nicer, gentler way to terminate someone’s employment.
Man what the fuck that article?
And this has … what the fuck to do with the subject matter of the story?
Oh, this will be fun.
I wonder how TSTSNBN will spin this.
I’m always torn on the issue of Preet.
On one hand he attacks free speech. On the other, He’s indicted and convicted two of the “Three Men in a room” that ran New York. I’ve been hoping he gets the third…
Yeah, i’m with you 100% on that.
I don’t hate preet; i hate all preening US attorneys. I feel like he’s done good work, but i also think people like him need to be shown the door when their egos get out of control.
He’s in the middle of bringing down the dangerous narcissist that’s busy trying to run my city into the ground.
Please let him complete his job. Then show him the door.
Man would I love to see that piece of shit DeBlasio taken down.
In Minnesoda the local rag is getting the vapors about Andrew Lugar being asked to leave as US Attorney.
I remember a bunch of people being really mad when Bush pushed a lot of US Attorneys out, but I must have missed the stories about Obama doing the same.
Or did Obama leave all of W’s attorneys in office because asking political appointees to leave when a new administration comes in is so unfair?
WaPo reporting Preet was just fired after refusing to resign.
Screaming vapors from the usual suspects in 3… 2… 1…
WaPo was surprisingly non-equivocal about this point
Everyone else in the media is acting like its the night of the long knives.
That was the detail I had missed previously. In that case, it seems pretty lacking in class for him to refuse.
You can’t lose what you never had. Prima donnas don’t like to be told when their scene is over.
Preet loved it. He reminds me of that shitty owner of the Dodgers. McCourt.
He loves canoodling with celebrities, and there’s no way he’s gonna give that up voluntarily.
My dad was a lawyer in NYC for his whole career. I asked him once what the appeal of being a US attorney or a judge was, from the pov of a “good lawyer” who could otherwise be making top$ working for wall st. He was like, “Power”; self-importance, basically. Some people get a kick out of being feared.
The request for resignation, sure. What are they saying about the firing?
Just checked Google News and it’s my top story. Guess Deblasio will be sleeping well tonight.
Probably not wise. Somehow I don’t think the next USAttn will not review the case files.
I went to the old site and the article on it only has 7 comments. Low traffic site now. Sad.
Sorry, Preet, Sally Yates did the #resist first.
But if we don’t tax the rich, how will we do crony market forces Eskimo edition?
Good luck with that. Reindeer is eaten out of necessity.
We have beef in the lower 48.
of our intestines.
If that old wives tale is to be believed, I have like 45 lbs of undigested beef in my colon.
Lucky you, my intestines are filled with bubble gum. Confuses the hell out of the TSA.
I left the feet out of the intestines.
Not everyone eats animal feet.
I’d eat it once at least just for the novelty of it. Authentic eskimo (my spell checker is telling me this should be capitalized, but I refuse) Reindeer meat.
I had reindeer sausage from a cart in downtown Anchorage. It was pretty good but then again, any sausage or hotdog you can get get freshly grilled while out walking around is almost guaranteed to be tasty.
And a lot of it is grass-fed, thankfully.
Snow fed.
*narrows gaze*
That’s cold, man.
He was just joking – chill out.
I certainly didn’t expect such an icy reception from him though.
C’mon. The 1.8 mil free fed money will create 20 seasonal jobs. A good investment of capital in my opinion.
Seriously though, I think there is a market for overpriced meat products if marketed right. Upscale snobbery has no bounds with the right sales pitch.
*puts Kobe steak on the grill*
Boils up pot of water and some butter for a $15/lb mudbug.
Not that big of fan of caribou. I think moose is far superior. It is a dense tender meat while caribou often has a more stringy mouth feel.
I have a fresh ahi steak in the fridge to grill this evening. Get the grill very hot to sear in the juices, a bit of homemade pesto after flipping it and remove while still medium rare.
Grilled?
Eat it raw, with this:
https://www.amazon.com/Mae-Ploy-Sweet-25-Ounce-Bottle/dp/B00016UX0K/
I’ve had ahi 3 times this week. We’ll see about my cholesterol…
You people flaunting your fresh ahi privilege. Damn you both.
Playa, I love me some poke and have it several times a week. Tonight I want the smoke essence and the tang of real pesto to compliment a decent NZ white. I like the site you suggested, mahalo.
“I’m John Kerry Ketchup, and I approve this message.”
They can also park their yacht in the state next door.
I lived in Mass at the time and that was fun too watch. Massholes were, of course, incensed that anyone would dare to do such a thing. But then, it was John Kerry, so mebbe he has has good reasons. As I recall he parked the boat in Mass for a bit to calm things down and then moved it back to RI.
OT: To the mods – I believe I posted a link yesterday to a picture of this woman which got deleted. If this is true (e.g., I didn’t refresh before posting) was it deleted for being NSFW?
was it deleted for being NSFW?
A sure way to get me to click it.
No, that would have been fine, even as a pic rather than a link. What thread was this?
No, that link would not have caused issues. Indeed, we only object to NSFW images being actually posted. We don’t care about links to them. Clearly, or HM would no longer be allowed to post links. 😉
For the record, I don’t know of anyone deleting any links in the comments.
I checked- nothing in the trash from BP. I suspect user error.
I always assume user error. Even if it’s not, if I can spin it that way….
PEBKAC
Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair
Shouldn’t it be MinnePop?
I’m offended by your stereotyping!
Not all of us have lived here in Sunny Minnesoda our entire lives. Some of us have ventured out and learned the (incorrect) patois of outsiders.
SP – Okay, I must have messed it up.
OMWC – I forget
westernsloper – unfortunately, it’s not as NSFW as I’d like, considering the subject.
I’m Irish, mom born and raised in Ireland in the 30’s and 40’s, so my opinions of England are generally not good. When I went to grammar school, my mom would pin “I support the IRA – England Out” buttons on St Patrick’s Day. I laugh when I think if it now.
My point: I will make an exception for the scantily clad English lady in BP’s link. I am NOTHING if not magnanimous.
Clarification: She would pin the buttons on her kids…all 12 of them.
Yes. Guys who say the UK has no pretty women have never seen Page 3. Here is a pic that is appropriately NSFW.
1) I work at home, so EVERYTHING is SFW (for those suckers who have to drive somewhere, the link from BP is NSFW)
2) My eyes are now Hazell squared
Ha! I didn’t even see your warning, I clicked it so fast!
Oh my. I suddenly crave fish and chips with some mushy peas.
My mother was of Irish descent, and the propaganda and whining I read from Americans of Southern Irish descent was so obnoxious that it made me want to create a bumper sticker reading “26 [in green] + 6 [in orange] = 1 [in the Union Jack color scheme]”
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES.
THE ONLY TAX THAT MATTERS IS DELIVERING SUFFICIENT GRAIN TO ZARDOZ.
The first thing I ever read, that popped me out of the progressive groupthink bubble, as an impressionable Midwest youth, was a brilliant column on this very tax in 1991, by one Mike Royko.
I even managed to find it. Here it is if anyone is interested:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-06-10/features/1991161103_1_soak-the-rich-boat-pay-more-tax
But at least he didn’t earn that luxury through his own efforts, that would be très gauche.
I remember reading a lot of Royko growing up, because my dad was a fan, so there a lot of his books around. He was always an interesting read because he was an old school working class Democrat, who was also perfectly willing to criticize dems by name. While he wasn’t particularly Libertarian, he went after a lot of public corruption in Chicago.
While wasn’t a fan of Republicans, he hated guys like Daley and Rostenkowski, because they were the guys running Chicago into the ground.
The local college paper carried Royko’s column and I usually like it too. I still remember his water safety column where blasted the need for a H2O MSDS.
Effects of overexposure: none known.
I remember that column, too. And the one he did on the “prix fixe” menu.
Glibertarians Are More Dangerous Than Libertarians
http://franklycurious.com/wp/2017/03/10/glibertarians-dangerous-libertarians/
lol
I don’t recognize the site.
I found that site when I was searching to see if I could discover why TPTB here had chosen that name. I got as far as the following sentence in the first para before closing the window: “With very few exceptions, libertarian thinking is simplistic.”
That’s true though. It is simplistic. That’s why it’s so beautiful a philosophy.
But I don’t think that’s how he meant it.
True enough. And based on that post, I think he is an ex-libertarian. And converts often tend to be very zealous.
Yeah, he’s a fan of government solutions and government involvement in things better handled by the private sector.
Usually that means people that aren’t that good at what they do and think too men are better at solving everything. It also usually means people that think it’s bad when others seek profit for their sole gain.
Franks is so cute. /tickles his tummy.
“Sloopyinca
11 Mar 2017 at 11:58 am (UTC -8)
Reply
You know nothing of glibertarians.
Visit our site to find out more. (You should be able to click through my name and get there. Otherwise it’s glibertarians. Com (remove the space)
There are corporate professionals there, day laborers there, business owners, stay-at-home parents and retirees. We’re a lot broader cross section than you think.”
AND CANADIANS!!!
Shhhh!
I didn’t mention you flappy-heads because I still want to be taken seriously by people.
?
TPTB?
Totes Preet, Totes Bharara.
*Golf clap*
“The Powers That Be”.
And I can’t tell you why we picked that name. Its triple-top secret stuff!
Every once in a while the name catches my eye a little weird and I think it says “Gilbertarians.” I keep wondering who Gilbert is.
Gilbert Arians is the semi-retarded brother of the Arizona Cardinals head coach. He is known for his ability to devour tacos and enjoys Coors Light.
Stupid Nazi libertrumpkins don’t know how to spell “Ayrans”!
I swear I didn’t typo that on purpose.
I replied. Invited them here to engage us. Let’s see if the comment makes it through moderation.
Looks like he didn’t approve the comment because it’s disappeared and doesn’t show “under moderation” anymore.
Looks like he doesn’t want to engage with people here. I guess it might cause some discomfort being faced with the people you are labeling actually having a platform to defend themselves.
It might not be them. There are some sites that only show “under moderation” for a little while. Then the comment disappears even for the person who submitted it. You might want to check back later to see if the comment has been posted. One time this happened to me and I thought the mods were being a-holes, but the comment showed up like 2 hours later, which is I guess when a mod actually saw it.
2 hours? But I want validation or rejection NOW!
You’re great, now get lost.
See? This is the kind of reaction I’d expect from a blogger. Warren, you’re a really swell guy.
OK, they posted it. As well as the comment from somebody else obviously from here since they brought up the yacht tax and linked back to here.
(Whoever that was, thank you!)
Nicely put
I had not seen Glibertarian defined before. I thought it meant smart ass libertarian.
::fixer faerie flutters by::
or glibertarian. I might be a glibertatian though.
::fixer faerie flutters by:
Thank you very much. Do you do taxes?
Only my own. And my rate of getting audited is high. So you’re better off with me fixing typos than doing taxes.
It’s your own fault for trying to write off mass foreign adoptions as business expenses. I know you need labor for the monocle factories but that’s an easy red flag for the IRS.
I know, right? If they’d just let me buy the little bastards instead of paying for adoptions at one of their “approved” agencies, I’d only be able to write off the purchase price as depreciation over 18 years instead of claim them as a dependent for 26. Stupid Feds don’t even know they’re fucking themselves over.
Blithely endorsing anything that claims to reduce the size of government. I know zero people who have that view. The teeny number I know who question progressive orthodoxy learn to defend their stances early and often and get used to getting smeared.
Yeah, man. I know what you mean. The government does all sorts of things from me.
I think that believing politicians and bureaucrats can run your life in whole or in part better than you can is a simplistic and unconsidered political philosophy.
I guess most folk think that they can wisely determine the proper limits of government power, similar to someone claiming he knows just how far to poke his head into an alligator’s mouth.
18.23 inches.
That dude answered. And he sounds like a smarmy little fuck that’s not really worth my time. I’ll let him bask in his half dozen comments per story (if he’s lucky) and let him keep his assumptions about our group.
We’re all better off.
You know what they say about “assumptions?” If you assumption, you make an Ass out of U and M…I did something wrong.
U of M doesn’t need help making asses of themselves. They’ve been doing it nearly every last Saturday in November for the last two decades.
I’m wearing that fucker out. And he’s about to ban me because I challenged his fragile sensibilities.
What a chump.
My favorite character was the tough girl, Elizabeth. She’s not as nice as Frank, apparently. I wouldn’t be surprised if the three were all Frank posting under different names.
Preet update: sacked.
Dammit! who’s going to indict Cuomo!
Hitler?
I hope he leaves his notes for the next guy.
I don’t think this is going to be the thing’s final form but it’s a good first step.
3 problems.
1, RFID tags + no people watching = infinite chances to game the system. Bring your own tags, pay nothing, or simply pull tags off of clearance items for a custom 90% sale of your choice.
2, Tiny handbaskets only. We’re Americans, god dammit. We want to pile 700 pounds of food into a shopping cart, and then unload that same amount into an equally large and inefficient SUV in the parking lot. WTF are we gonna do with that paltry handful of crap you get out of one of those little baskets? Is this a grocery store for ANTS?!
3. Bagging. Somewhat related to point 2, you can’t just dump everything into a bag in the same order it’s handed to you or you’ll get crushed eggs and flattened loaves of bread. This will either require a drastic revision of commercial food packaging, a massive consumer re education program on how we load our shopping carts, or some sort of fragile checksum built into the rfid and a means to separate those items. Probably a bit of all three.
RFID tags are quickly becoming the modern day equivalent of asbestos. It claims to solve all problems but actually just creates a ton more.
Addressing your concerns:
1. The weight of the two items would need to be the same. Just one change would fuck it all up and call over a human to verify each item.
2. Shopping carts with modular baskets you could fill and then put onto the conveyer at checkout.
3. Have consumers keep the plastic baskets and bring them back for reuse. Or have a one cart in-one out policy at the checkouts “managed” by the front end manager that’s going to be checking IDs for alcohol and tobacco purchases anyway.
That was off the top of my head. I’m sure someone could expand on them or offer better solutions without too much effort.
1) First, the RFID tags would be built into the packaging before a system like this came online on a mass scale. Second, I bet they’ll have two factor authentication on anything expensive enough to swap tags.
2) The final (American) version of this tech will involve packing reusable bags in a full size shopping cart. The basket seems (to me) to be a “stays in Japan” sort of thing.
3) See 2.
4 – Bonus) We’re getting near the point where grocery shopping is going to have a massive shift away from the marketplace vibe and toward the Amazon warehouse model. Stores are already experimenting with curbside service, and I think that will become the main model within a couple years. Grocery Stores will evolve into small markets for produce and meats with attached warehouses.
Remember Patrick Feaster? He’s out already.
Glibertarians Are More Dangerous Than Libertarians
I have no clue who that guy is, but now I want to beat him senseless with a sock filled with nickels.
It’s never ok to punch a Nazi, Brooksie.
HM now cooler than Warren Ellis, confirmed.
I would have managed to publish more than 13 issues of Doktor Sleepless during the span of an entire decade as well.
See, and this is why I’m glad I had a ‘Warren Ellis phase’ in high school, forgot about him, rediscovered him five years ago and read his newer material, and then forgot about him again. Really the best way to do it.
Ugh, thanks for that. I knew I disagreed with him on a lot of things, now I find him contemptible. Hooray.
Pretty sure it’s okay to punch one while they’re filling the boxcars. Maybe even before that point.
The Nazi-Punch flowchart is pretty simple:
Have they invaded the Sudetenland yet?
If YES – Punch a Nazi
If NO – Wait
Hey, wait a minute!
-Saarlander
-Austrian
Well, they have to have some Lebensraum, no?
Fair enough.
We’ll give you the sock, but you’ve got to supply your own nickels.
HIGHER TAX RATES NEVER LEAD TO HIGHER REVENUES!
Um. Well.
If you start with a tax rate of 0% and increase it to 1% you’re going to get some revenue where before you had none.
Q: What was the last thing Nicole Simpson said to Ron Goldman?
A: You can go down on me if you want, but the juice might kill you.
At least he didn’t kill the Queen when he tried to.
Products repackaged for hipsters.
I have to admit that Cap’n Crunch box is awesome.
Where are the organic labels?
Wait, now the labels have to be organic?
So, paper isn’t organic? Now I’M confused. Thanks, asshole.
The Cap’n Crunch box looks like it’s being sold by Trader Joe’s.
Only feed your kid Cap’n Crunch in the morning, if you are a teacher-hating sadist.
Yeah, I could go for Twinkies in a cigar box and Slim James too.
Oh god am I becoming one of them?
Well, you ARE Canadian.
That is without a doubt…BRILLIANT.
When American Jones builds eight mobile homes at his Pennsylvania factory, ships these homes to Canada, and sells them, for cash, for a total of $750,000, that transaction is recorded on the U.S. current account as $750,000 of U.S. exports (and on Canada’s current account as $750,000 of Canadian imports). (“Yippee!” shout the Trumpians! “Exports are good! Take that, Canada!”) But when American Smith builds a house on a parcel of land that he owns in Pennsylvania and then sells the house and land, for cash, to a Canadian buyer for $750,000, this transaction is recorded, not on the U.S. or Canadian current accounts, but instead on the U.S. and Canadian capital accounts. This $750,000 shows up in the U.S. trade statistics, not as $750,000 of U.S. exports, but as $750,000 of foreign investment in America. And so it swells the U.S. capital-account surplus by $750,000 – which means that it also (as a matter of accounting) necessarily swells the U.S. current-account (“trade”) deficit by $750,000. (“Omigosh!” scream the Trumpians! “The trade deficit is bad! Do something! Canada is killing us!”)
From the above blog post:
“Yet even even quick reflection on these two different examples reveals that (1) they are economically identical in all essential respects, and (2) in the example in which the U.S. trade deficit rises, Americans’ indebtedness is no more increased than it is in the example in which the U.S. trade deficit did not rise. American indebtedness rises in neither example.”
Well, yeah, but, but, if the Canadians own American land, then they can do stuff there, like keep real Americans from going onto the land they bought.
And that’s bad.
Simple fix – we Annex Canadia.
“You know what’s a good idea, adding several million B.C. leftists and Quebec nationalists to my country.”
-Said no one ever.
Speaking of something probably you, and certainly not his leftist groupies, ever expected to hear…
Nope. I expected it. Trudeau might be extremely stupid, but the Old Guard Liberals are still around to push his buttons. Being the more pragmatic elitists they are they’ve probably covered the “don’t say anything dumb to Trump, we’d like to keep NAFTA” and “we’ll back the carbon tax if you don’t do anything stupid about the actual resource keeping half the country afloat” speeches already.
Only if we consider them 3/5 of an American for determining representation and prevent them from voting for at least three generations.
Well I know who’s house I’m bombing first.
Here is the South Bronx’s 1300 Unit Gentrification Death Star
I don’t know what a Gentrification Death Star is, but I like it already.
“The Long Island City-style development at 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue, first revealed by New York Yimby, will feature gyms, doggie day-care, a pool, a cafe, and something referred to as a ‘library/wine room.’”
I hate having to use the Dewey Decimal System to figure out what to drink.
So a fine if you fail to return the bottle after a couple of days in the same condition?
Library of Congress or GTFO!
I remember what ” Long Island City-style development ” meant in the 90s. I don’t think it means the same thing now.
Any sommeliers out there that can tell me what pairs well with a Tom Clancy tome?
Mad Dog 20/20
Particularly a mix of Banana Red, Coco Loco, and Blue Raspberry.
Something sold by the vat.
I wonder how they let those scare-quotes slip through. Don’t tell me the Voice knows it’s a fucking scam?
RIch white people moving in = gentrification = BAD
Rich white people leaving = white flight = BAD
Will they just make up their minds?
They did. It’s quite simple really. Does it involve whites? Are they not in significant pain and/or hardship? If the answer to both is yes, then BAD.
OT: Fuck Comcast
Me: I need to reschedule my technical support appointment from tomorrow to next Friday. Any time next Friday is fine.
Chimp at a Keyboard: Is this an appointment for new service?
Me: No, it’s a technical support appointment
Chimp: The next available time is tomorrow at 8am
Me: That’s when the appointment currently is. I want to reschedule to next Friday.
Chimp: When do you want the appointment next Friday? We have availability from 8am to 9pm.
Me: *sigh* 10am.
Chimp: 12-10 or 10-12pm?
Me (wondering what the fuck that means): 10-12pm, I guess?
Hey trash, while you’re here… maybe… Can you do something about the website buttons growing when you hover over them? It makes the content on the page move around disconcertingly. I don’t remember that happening until a recent update. Thanx
It’s their natural response when you touch them and they think you’re cute.
It is worth mentioning that the people legislating taxes are often the ostensible targets of those taxes. They know damned well what they are doing. They simply write loopholes in or exploit already existing means of avoiding paying. They send the right signals, often pay less in taxes, and then get re-elected. There is no downside for them.
I don’t have a Youtube link handy, but I remember watching Chris Matthews while at a bar a few years ago and hearing him say that if you raise taxes, people will just work harder to make up the difference. I then ordered another drink.
My father believes this.
Tell your dad to ask his Dentist what they do when they’re about to hit a higher tax bracket. (Hint: It rhymes with shmacation.)
This doesn’t seem to make sense, as tax brackets only apply to income within that bracket?
There are also a lot of tax deductions and subsidies that stop applying at higher incomes levels, so making a little bit over those breakpoints can be a net income loss. (Obamacare being the most well known.)
Not always. The tax on the 2 millionth barrel of beer is over $500000 specifically because the beer brackets arent purely marginal.
Noth Yeungling and Boston had a noticable pause in growth rates last decade before leaping past that mark.
Is everyone on their siesta?