Will You Go To Jail If You Don’t Buy Health Insurance? No. Section 501 of the House bill imposes a tax of 2.5 percent of adjusted gross income. You are exempted from the tax if you already have qualifying health insurance from your employer, if you receive benefits from Medicare or Medicaid, if you are… Continue reading Will You Go To Jail If You Don’t Buy Health Insurance?
Category: politics
How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon
In her 70s Rand found herself dying of lung cancer, after insisting that her followers smoke because it symbolized “man’s victory over fire” and the studies showing it caused lung cancer were Communist propaganda. … Rand was broken by the Bolsheviks as a girl, and she never left their bootprint behind. She believed her philosophy… Continue reading How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon
If a deficit falls in the forest
The truth is that the truth about budgets plays almost no role in real politics. Right now, Meg Whitman is campaigning for Governor of California on the claim that state spending has exploded over the last decade — when the fact is that it has fallen drastically in real per capita terms. Will she pay… Continue reading If a deficit falls in the forest
favorability-unfavorability red-state-blue-state
Obama’s favorability-unfavorability rating in the South is 28-67, while it is 68-23 in the rest of the country. By way of The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Just in time for Halloween
Just in time for Halloween, South Carolina Republican Caught With 18 Yr. Old Stripper, Sex Toys and Viagra In Cemetery
Healthcare Reform
There’s nothing “sure or quick” about changing medical liability laws that will improve healthcare or its costs. Defensive medicine adds very little to healthcare’s price tag, and rising malpractice premiums have had very little impact on access to care. From Healthcare Reform – Salon.com Of course it won’t. And it hasn’t. So far, there have… Continue reading Healthcare Reform
Taxes vs Voucher Socialism
Instead of being paid to deliver planes, missiles and tanks, defense contractors would receive “weapon supply tax credits” (WSTC). The defense contractors would be able to reduce the taxes they owed the federal government by the prices of the weapons they delivered. Because the tax credit would be refundable, if the prices exceeded a firm’s… Continue reading Taxes vs Voucher Socialism
France’s Integrating Muslims
The birthrate of Muslims in France is also converging on the mean. It’s been falling since the early-1980s and now stands at 2.5 versus 2.0 (interestingly the birthrate in the Maghreb is 1.8). In the next few decades France’s Muslim population will grow to be a larger minority, but nevertheless still a small one. Increasingly… Continue reading France’s Integrating Muslims
Krugman on Bush Derangement Syndrome
The symptoms of Bush Derangement Syndrome, in its fullest version, are that you believed 1. That the Bush tax cuts were sold on false pretenses, and were fiscally irresponsible 2. That the Iraq war was sold on false pretenses, and that invading Iraq was a mistake 3. That for all his posturing, Bush was actually… Continue reading Krugman on Bush Derangement Syndrome
TARP could have cost taxpayers $700 billion. Now it looks like it might break even
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Panic of 2008, it’s clear that the actual cost of the TARP will be a fraction of the original $700 billion estimate and that taxpayers are even turning a profit from the central component of the package. From Slate: TARP could have cost taxpayers $700 billion I… Continue reading TARP could have cost taxpayers $700 billion. Now it looks like it might break even