Excellent tips for progressives, conservatives, and libertarians concerning how to conduct political conversations with one’s fellow man (or woman) in a charitable fashion which encourages learning as opposed to strife and discord…
Category Archives: Politics
Understanding the President’s fiscal cliff offer
Understanding the President’s fiscal cliff offer | Keith Hennessey.
According to Stanford University’s Keith Hennessey, here are the parts of the Obama administration’s offer which are supposedly “non-negotiable”:
Taxes
- Raise top two income tax rates permanently (for single taxpayers earning $200,000+ and for married filing jointly households earning $250,000+);
- Extend all other tax rates, credits, and related income tax provisions permanently;
- Tax dividend income as ordinary income (nearly tripling the current 15% rate);
- Estate tax: first $3.6M is exempted, everything above $3.6M is taxed at a 45% rate.
Debt limit
- Increase the debt limit “permanently,” meaning further action by Congress to raise it in the future would not be needed ever again.
We Already Went Over the Fiscal Cliff
We Already Went Over the Fiscal Cliff | The American Conservative.
It’s Paul Krugman vs. Paul Krugman. Paul Krugman v.2 says there’s nothing to worry about, whereas a previous incarnation of Paul Krugman (from a decade ago – let’s call him Paul Krugman v.1) says that there is plenty to worry about… Hat tip to my Baylor colleague economist Dave VanHoose for pointing this article out to me…
Time to Call the President's Budget Bluff
Time to Call the President’s Budget Bluff
Keith Hennessey: Time to Call the President’s Budget Bluff – WSJ.com.
Republicans have more leverage than they imagine, if they play their cards carefully.
Stanford’s Keith Hennessey on the politics of the fiscal cliff
Stanford’s Keith Hennessey does a great job of handicapping the politics of the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations; see
- The President is bluffing, and
- More on the President’s veto bluff.
Stanford's Keith Hennessey on the politics of the fiscal cliff
The Weekend Interview with Harvey Mansfield: The Crisis of American Self-Government
The Weekend Interview with Harvey Mansfield: The Crisis of American Self-Government – WSJ.com.
Harvard political scientist Harvey Mansfield is a hero of mine. For more information about Professor Mansfield, go to http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~hmansf/.
Rubio and the Age-of-Earth Question
Rubio and the Age-of-Earth Question – WSJ.com.
“In The Wall Street Journal, Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass writes that the rejection of evolution is not a core Christian belief—better to focus on salvation, not creation.”
Another Crisis: It’s the Obama Way
Another Crisis: It’s the Obama Way – WSJ.com.
Peggy Noonan writes, “The president seems to prefer frustration to good-faith negotiation.”