Author: TSO

I have a friend who I regularly disagree with on most economic issues.  He’s to the left of me on fiscal issues, as is most of the human race.  Although people say I am conservative (myself included at times) I’m more of a libertarian, except on foreign issues.  Which makes me a man without a kingdom, since I think the GOP is a bunch of flakes on the economy and social issues, think the libertarians are wrong on foreign issues, and like the Dems even less on the economy.  Nonetheless, the only magazine I ever read (excepting the one I write for) is the Economist, which I generally read on flights. 

And so when my friend linked to this article yesterday, I pulled my last three hairs out.

As a side note, though, one point Mr Sullivan makes isn’t really correct. Mr Sullivan writes that if Barack Obama “pretends that we can resolve this by revenues alone, he is part of the problem, not the solution.” David Brooks echoes that point in an op-ed today, saying “there are no conceivable tax increases that can keep up” with rising Medicare spending. This sounds very hard-headed, but it’s not really correct. America has one of the lowest tax burdens of any advanced country. We may not want to fix our debt problem solely by increasing revenues, but if we wanted to, we could….

In other words, by gradually increasing our total tax burden by 7% of GDP through 2023, we could balance the budget; we might eventually have to raise it by perhaps 10% of GDP. That would leave us with a much higher tax burden than we have now, but it would still be only 34% of GDP, as high as Britain’s is today. And that’s assuming we don’t change a penny of our wasteful spending habits on Medicare and defence.

Look, I’m no economist, but I can look at it from the micro point of view that I see in my house.  My wife has her own photography business.  She just started it, and last year it ran a meager loss, which is to be expected when one first starts out.  Also, we purchased a home.  I should note here that we bought one below what the mortgage people told us we should, because I don’t want to live on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (wonderful product, but not for every meal) forever, I did that all through the 2000’s.  So let’s start there.

Despite a 2 percent COLA this year, my take home pay will be going down, thanks to the Social Security going back up to 6.2 (or whatever it is) and a higher cost for my health insurance.  So, my net pay goes down, but my mortgage won’t.  So, let’s assume that this happens for everyone.  I will have less money, which means I will have to curtail some of my expenses that are “frivolous.”  For me, that means Amazon.com.  (I buy 3 books a week, plus various videos, like “Arrow” that I am now hooked on.)  So, less Amazon purchases means that Amazon needs 1 less person to box and ship my stuff.  Amazon is here in Indiana.  So now the rolls of unemployed go up by 1, and I am spending less money, which means the tax revenue from me goes down.

Meanwhile, pictures of families is not exactly a mandatory staple of a financial diet.  So, less people will be spending money on their family pictures, and so my wife gets less business.  Which in turn lowers her revenues, and profits etc.  Which means the tax revenue for her business goes down.  So, I will be paying a higher percent of my income to the Gov’t, but will it be enough to offset not only my diminished sales taxes (less books purchased) but also cover the poor Amazon guy who is now unemployed?

Every time I see one of these static tax rate/revenues things it makes my cringe.  It’s just like the taxes on Cigarettes that would be the panacea for rising health care costs.  What happened?  People started quitting, which means that you have less revenue.  Or they buy their stuff illegally.

Sooner or later they’ll hit a point of taxation where I can’t keep my house.  I’d say right now it is about 5% more than what they are taking now.  And then I lose my house.  Which means less taxes for Marion County.

(For an interesting discussion of Reagenesque v. JFK tax cuts, Slate does a pretty good job.)

I guess in short my point is that I am uncertain that increased tax rates would lead to higher revenue.  For me at least it is entirely possible that higher rates would lead to diminished revenue, because despite the fact I bought a house well within my budget, to do as the Economist suggests would seem to price me right out of my home.

Your thoughts?

Cross posted.

 

Last week my Kindle went to the great Kindle Outlet Store in the sky. Apparently it fell out of my pocket and I ran over it with the car. In Kindle heaven it will no doubt meet its two predecessors; the one I rolled over on top of on a camping trip and the one I left on an airplane. This caused much consternation in my house, because I read about 3 books a week and is my chief means of coping with stress.

As I sat at my desk lamenting my loss, my friend Emory sent me a link to a remarkable story about a US Air Force bomber pilot during WWII that got shot up REALLY bad, but then a german fighter pilot escorted him through the anti aircraft areas and out over the North Sea on his return to England. It was a remarkable story, and I enjoyed it very much.

A few hours later I got an email from a administrative assistant to my Editor who had just fielded a call from a guy who had given her the brief outline of the same story and asked if I knew anything about it. I said that remarkably I did, and sent her the same link that Emory had sent me. Twenty minutes later she walked into my office smiling and handed me a copy of Adam Makos’ book “A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story Of Combat And Chivalry In The War-Torn Skies Of World War II.”

Had my kindle not have been broken, I very likely wouldn’t have read the book. We get hundreds of books sent here every month, and with a few exceptions, I don’t read much in the way of war stories anymore. But, it was quite fortuitous on the timing, so on Friday night I started reading it.

Mr. Makos had me pretty well hooked right in his opening paragraph in the introduction:

On December 20, 1943, in the midst of World War II, an era of pain, death, and sadness, an act of peace and nobility unfolded in the skies over Northern Germany. An American bomber crew was limping home in their badly damaged B-17 after bombing Germany. A German fighter pilot in his Bf-109 fighter encountered them. They were enemies, sworn to shoot one another from the sky. Yet what transpired between the fighter pilot and the bomber crewmen that day, and how the story played out decades later, defies imagination. It had never happened before and it has not happened since. What occurred, in most general terms, may well be one of the most remarkable stories in the history of warfare.

As remarkable as it is, it’s a story I never wanted to tell.

 Mr Makos went on to talk about how as a young WWII history enthusiast he had grown up believing that WWII was nothing less than the good guys (us) against the bad guys (the Germans or “Nazis”.) But as he researched this book and spoke with Charlie Brown, the pilot of the B-17, Charlie said something that would change the story: “In this story,” Charlie said, “I’m just a character – Franz Stigler is the real hero.”

(more…)

Man I have missed this dude.

NSFW language warning.
Go Colts (that hurts me), fighting RGIII’s of DC, Minn and Cincy!

Saw this over at Twicthy earlier, and started looking around, not because I am knowledgeable about Canadian Politics (I’m not) but because it seemed a fairly interesting story.

Let’s start here with what I know about Canada:
* Robin Scherbotski was a child star there singing “Two Beavers are Better than One” and “Let’s go to the Mall (TODAY!)”.
* Two of my favorite Infantrymen are Canadian by birth (Toby Nunn and MOH Recipient Peter Lemon.)
* It’s cold there.
* The TV Show Psych (best show on TV) is filmed there, not in Santa Barbra.
* You are NOT supposed to refer to it as our hat.

That said, if you have some time today, watch this video.

I also know that occasionally we have a reader at TAH that shows up from Nunuvet, and if you read this, I want to come visit.

Anyway, I became a fan of watching Ezra Levant from watching this, and although I had heard his name before, he won me over here.

Is apparently to continue being a total douche.

Stop saying “I support the troops.” I don’t. I used to. I understand why so many enlisted after 9/11. Sadly, many of them were then trapped and sent off to invade Iraq. I felt for all of them. I understood those who joined because of a lousy economy. But at some point all individuals must answer for their actions, and now that we know our military leaders do things that have nothing to do with defending our lives, why would anyone sign up for this rogue organization?

Yes, I shit you not that was his actual New Years Resolution just emailed to me.

When last we saw Ryan Brashears, he was stealing from folks while claiming to be a WWP solicitor.

Officers contacted the solicitor, identified as Ryan L. Brashears, 18, in the area after the caller to police provided a description.

Police determined Brashears was not affiliated with the Wounded Warriors Project and had been claiming to be a wounded U.S. Marine and combat veteran, Chambers said.

Now, that was back in June. Since then, he had another arrest

Offender Name: RYAN LEIGH BRASHEARS
Arrested On: 09/04/2012
Alias1: RYAN BRASHEARS
Alias2: RYAN L BRASHEARS
Booking ID: 1256420
Charge:
•0163.275 COERCION / COERCION
•0163.160 ASSAULT 4 / ASSAULT 4TH DEG – 1
•0163.187 STRANGULATION M / STRANGULATION – 1
•0166.065 HARASSMENT BM / HARASSMENT – 1

So, what to do after you’ve been arrested?* I know, fake an enlistment! Notice the date of the arrest, and this facebook update from his page:

*Check that, looks like he faked his enlistment BEFORE his arrest.

But, keeping track of all this stuff is tough, and, we all know that the Marines and Army Airborne are the same thing, so his job posting on his facebook page makes total sense.

So, here’s his Facebook page if you want to have fun.

[Deleted one portion that appears not to be germane.] I wonder where Ryan is now? No posting since he enlisted in the US Army Rangers Marine Corps. I guess that Ft Paris Benning Island is some tough shit.

Rick was definitely the nicest of the guys. I spoke with him very briefly, but he told me how it was still incredibly weird for him to be asked to sign T-Shirts (which he and the rest of them did for us) when just a few years ago no one knew who he was.

Everyone is having a great time, the Armed Forces Foundation and the Sands totally rock.