John Bolton, writing in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, observes how cravenly the Bush administration has been kowtowing to North Korea in what are supposed to be six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear program but have turned into one-party concessions by the United States—even in the face of evidence that North Korea was helping Syria construct a nuclear facility. This follows astounding posturing by Karen … Continue reading State Department Blues
An interesting example from Jon Elster and John Roemer: Suppose that A is doing much better than B, in economic terms, and that B doesn’t even know of A‘s existence, much less A‘s level of welfare. Then, B learns about A, and learns that A is much better off. In one sense, B is no worse off than before; the knowledge costs B nothing. But … Continue reading The Politics of Envy
Speaking of incongruous, imagine a seventeen-year-old Mazda 626 with 150,000 miles on it. Now imagine it newly painted Green Go, one of the fabled 1970 Dodge/Plymouth “High Impact” colors. It turns heads. Continue reading My Daughter’s Car
“Class, who can tell me what ‘incongruous’ means?” A student quickly raises his hand. “Johnny?” “That’s where our laws are made!” Matt, in a comment to a recent post, points out that the point of Rep. Rangel’s tax reform proposal is probably not economic growth and may not even be greater equality. It may simply be political grandstanding to appeal to a part of the … Continue reading Incongruous
Greg Mankiw points out that, according to the Tax Policy Foundation, the net effect of the Rangel tax reform would be to transfer cash from the top 1% of earners to the next 3%. (Hat tip: Instapundit.) Those earning over $500,000 would pay more; those making $75,000-500,000 would benefit, and especially those making between $200,000 and $500,000. Those earning less than $75,000 would be little … Continue reading Rangel’s Redistribution
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel has revealed the details of his plan for sweeping tax reform. As the Wall Street Journal observes, the plan has the virtue of making it clear what we might expect from a Democratic victory in the next election. It’s essentially a return to the tax policies and resulting stagflation of the 1970s. The package is complex, and the … Continue reading Back to the 70s
On Fridays, I plan to publish a picture of one of my “animal companions,” to use the absurd politically correct phrase. (“Absurd,” because the relationship isn’t very reciprocal—they don’t feed me or clean my toilet!) This is Zadok, so named because one of my students found her a few years ago around the time of the annual Baroque Festival, in which we were singing Handel’s … Continue reading Feline Friday
It’s October, so it must be stewardship season at your local church. Every sermon is centered on the theme of giving. The choir or band rolls out its most impressive pieces. Musicians playing brass instruments appear to sway the emotions of the crowd. Pledge cards are collected. And the same few Bible verses pop up to stress the need to give. I’ve sat through more … Continue reading Stewardship Season
Over the past few weeks the Democrats have been pushing hard for an expansion of the S-CHIP medical insurance program to cover “children” up to age 25 and families making as much as four times the poverty level. Amazingly, however, the best they can do to argue for the expansion is to produce a child such as Graeme Frost, whose parents live in a 3,000 … Continue reading S-CHIP Legislation and Murray’s Laws
The View from Alexandria 