Megan McArdle points out that the income share of the top 1% has declined sharply in the past couple of years: This isn’t surprising. Income inequality increases whenever the economy improves; it decreases during recessions. There is only one known way to decrease inequality—and it’s plainly undesirable. What about the 1940s and 1950s? Liberals are looking back at those decades fondly. They seem to have … Continue reading The Income of the Top 1%
That’s New York magazine’s title. They asked 50 people in Zuccotti Park some questions. Here are some of the results. Maybe the most interesting question concerned the capital gains tax rate. What should it be? The occupiers were all over the map. 14% said zero. 10% said between 10% and 25% where it is now. 30% thought it should be between 25% and 50%; 28% … Continue reading Are You Smarter Than a Wall Street Occupier?
Per Dennis Miller this morning, and I am paraphrasing, an APB needs to go out for suspects who are: pompous, self-aggrandizing, messianic, blameless, golf playing, incompetents likely occupying a major city park near you, and probably haven’t bathed in weeks. The president was asked for comment – ” uh, er, uh , let me be clear … privilege communications, um I mean its Bush’s fault” Continue reading Presidential Teleprompter Stolen
That’s George Will’s magnificent summary of the Occupy movement’s incoherent complaint: the government is “grotesquely corrupt and insufficiently powerful.” In scale, OWS’ demonstrations-cum-encampments are to Tea Party events as Pittsburg, Kan., is to Pittsburgh, Pa. So far, probably fewer people have participated in all of them combined than attended just one Tea Party rally, that of Sept. 12, 2009, on the Washington Mall. In comportment, … Continue reading “Grotesquely Corrupt and Insufficiently Powerful”
The current Drudge headline—Obama in Pittsburgh, October 2008: And now, October 2011: Meanwhile, after threatening guards at the National Air and Space Museum, the Occupy DC crowd has dwindled to 53 people. (No wonder; they already occupy the White House and the Senate!) Occupy Atlanta, in a creepy display reminiscent of the Red Guards, invited John Lewis but then refused to let him speak. In … Continue reading Obama in Pittsburgh
President Obama, in his weekly radio address today, again called for millionaires and billionaires to pay the same tax rate as plumbers and cab drivers. Since the former currently pay federal income taxes at a nominal marginal rate of 35%—I say ‘nominal’ because the phasing out of deductions makes the marginal rate considerably higher at certain income levels—and average earners pay a nominal marginal rate … Continue reading Fairness and The Capital Gains Tax
So, the public sector unions are joining the Occupy protests; Obama and Pelosi speak out in support of the protestors; people (especially Hispanics, perhaps to make the protests look less white?) are being bussed in and paid to protest; the protestors seem unable to explain why they’re protesting; rhetoric is becoming violent; and, in what The Hill refers to as a “shocking development,” Reid uses the … Continue reading Occupy—Why?
As seen on twitter posted by professional golfer Jason Gore (@jasongore59) 3 Apples that changed the world: the one that Eve ate, the one that fell on Newton’s head & the one that Steve built. Godspeed Steve Jobs. 3 Apples that changed the world: the one that Eve ate, the one that fell on Newton's head & the one that Steve built. Godspeed Steve … Continue reading Three Great Apples
I’ve been to several tea parties, and I can assure you that there’s a lot more diversity at them than at the Occupy Wall Street protest. Tea parties have some blacks, lots of Hispanics, lots of young people, lots of old people, lots of families, and lots of women. In contrast, look at this CBS photo (HT: Glenn Reynolds): And this is in New York City, … Continue reading Things White People Do—Occupy!
The View from Alexandria 