21. Social Work Student. Feminist. I care about things.
#livinthedream
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Hush little baby don’t say a word, Daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don’t sing, Daddy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring don’t shine, Daddy’s gonna buy you a case of wine.
And if because you’re an infant and not allowed to drink that wine should go sour, Daddy’s gonna buy you a superpower.
And if that superpower proves corruptin’, Daddy’s gonna buy you a volcano eruptin’.
And if that volcano produces too much ash, Daddy’s gonna buy you a diaper rash.
And if that diaper rash actually isn’t desirable and besides that, can’t be bought, Daddy’s gonna buy you some polka dots.
And if those polka dots aren’t your style, Daddy’s gonna buy you a pacific isle.
And if that pacific isle is in fact WAY too expensive for Daddy to purchase and he defaults on his loan and gets foreclosed upon, Daddy’s gonna buy you the Sultanate of Oman.
And if, given that Daddy could not afford to buy a tiny island, his promise to buy you a sovereign nation is plainly SILLY, Daddy’s gonna buy you some water lilies.
And if those water lilies ever should wilt, Daddy’s gonna buy you a hand knit quilt.
And if after all that you still weep, Daddy’s gonna have to grapple with the fact that while buying goods and services may benefit the economy, it’s not necessarily the best way to get babies to SLEEP.
John Green <3 (via lost-inthelabyrinth)
(Source: iamalmostalice)
As Americans, we tend to shy away from government intervention in the economy but it is that same philosophy which is allowing emerging economies a leg up on our companies. China, once on a path to liberalization, is reconsidering its economic future. “With the West in a funk and emerging markets flourishing, the Chinese no longer see state-directed firms as a way-station on the road to liberal capitalism; rather, they see it as a sustainable model,” states the Economist.
We know that the system of China and Brazil is growing at an incredible pace, however the question remains. Do we as Americans need to be worried? The greatest problem posed by this new system is the advantage the backing of the government gives companies.
Remember that time Bill Clinton raised taxes on the rich and it destroyed lots of jobs? Yeah, we don’t either.
Mother Jones: 6 Dumb Arguments Against Taxing the Rich, Explained
It’s class warfare!
Yeah right. Three decades of laissez-faire economic polices have allowed the rich to double their share of the national income while paying tax rates a fifth lower than before. The result,notes Kevin Drum, was “wage stagnation for everyone else, a massive financial collapse that ravaged the middle class, an enormous deficits that they’ll be asked to pay off eventually.” If the millionaires tax is the only blowback, the wealthy should count their blessings.It’s a tax on small business
“Don’t forget that most small businesses file taxes as individuals,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Fox News Sunday. “So when you are raising top tax rates, you are raising taxes on these job creators.” Except when you aren’t. ThinkProgress’s Pat Garofalo points out that fewer than 2 percent of the nation’s small businesses fall into either of the top two tax brackets. Plus, many of the small business filers in the upper brackets are merely investors who have nothing to do with running the business. And if small businesses don’t want to pay taxes as individuals, they can file always as corporations.It reduces incentives to work and invest
Experience shows otherwise. As Nancy Folbre points out over at Economix, “average annual rates of growth in gross domestic product in the high tax era between 1950 and 1980 exceeded those of the last 30 years. Increases in the top tax rate under President Bill Clinton were followed by robust economic expansion.”It’s an unstable source of revenue
A recent essay in the Wall Street Journal argued that the high volatility of upper-level income makes it impractical to rely on taxing it. But this concern is vastly overblown and can be easily dealt with by establishing rainy day funds.It’s unfair
In the libertarian view, the rich are entitled to their gains because they worked for them. But this ignores how structural changes in the economy such as globalization, financial deregulation, and the rise of the knowledge-based economy has disproportionately rewarded the wealthy. At the same time, we’ve failed to reinvest in government programs that once leveled the playing field, such as financing for community colleges and public universities.The rich will leave the country
Good riddance, writes Don Peck in a recent Atlantic essay on how to save the middle class: “America remains a magnet for talent, for reasons that go beyond the tax code; and by international standards, none of the tax changes recommended here would create an excessive tax burden on high earners. If a few financiers choose to decamp for some small island-state in search of the smallest possible tax bill, we should wish them good luck.”
