On governments, taxes, rent and debt

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Sunday March 08, 2009 · 8:55 PM PDT

2009/03/08 · 20:55

The conservatives like to repeat that "too much government destroying human freedom with excessive activity and taxes".

But what government do they mean? If it is so evil, how it came along and why it is staying?

I wish to suggest a clarification. It does not cover all complexity of human politics, but brings up some distinctions to the face of that impulsive tirade.

Basically, the human history saw two kinds of governments. By far the more historically frequent type is, let's call it, feudal government. It is a government by power elites - kings, dukes, priests, military commanders. There is basically no differentiation between political, military, economic and social powers there. This is a government by a small power circle, focused on preservation of its own power.

The other kind of government is, ideally, of the people, by the people and for the people. This is historically quite a recent phenomenon, up to a few classical antiquity or tribal examples. It assumes, in particular, separation of political and economic powers - but that is not a given. And there lies a problem.

das monde

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Tuesday March 03, 2009 · 3:04 AM PST

2009/03/03 · 03:04

The following exchange is from a Foxnews' show. It's a "fair and balanced" passion of Brit Hume (until recently, their anchor newsman). Speaking on Obama's tax increases:

Hume: Well it's just so dishonest because the top what, 2% of tax payers in this country pay something on the order of 40% of the taxes already. The top 5% pay 60% of the taxes already, income taxes. And the top 50% pay all but, you know they pay like 95% of the taxes. So most of the people in this country, most of the people pay almost, either no income taxes at all or almost none. That's like half the income brackets. So the idea that the playing field is somehow tilted in favor of the few is bosh!

[...]

The share of income taxes paid by the higher income people over the years has not gotten smaller under the Republicans. It's gotten larger. Why do you...

Williams: And why is that Brit? Because they're earning more money.

das monde

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Friday November 02, 2007 · 5:20 AM PDT

2007/11/02 · 05:20

The British Telegraph has announced top 100 lists of most influential US conservatives and "liberals".

Quite clearly, characterizations in the list clearly follow the media consensus imposed by the conservative side. Just to take a couple of examples, Rush Limbaugh is no wacko but a "national phenomenon" in the top 5 of the list, while Chris Matthews is an "epitome of a biassed liberal journalist" just for an increasingly strident critic of the Bush administration,

The point of this diary, however, is not analysis of the particular rankings or characterizations. What I found interesting is to divide the influential names into categories (politicians, strategists, activists...) in both lists, and compare the lists in each category. There are very instructive differences in list length and character in each category comparison - just follow me below the fold!

das monde

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Wednesday July 25, 2007 · 9:02 AM PDT

2007/07/25 · 09:02

Enjoying vacation I read fully "Prometheus Rising" by Robert Anton Wilson. Some observations seem to be very relevant to ongoing discussions on "tribal" nature of politics (and progressives' problems with it), and science education.

Robert Anton Wilson (RAW, for short) was a prolific writer, a popular "guru" on psychology, futurology and conspiracy theories. He passed away at the beginning of this year. The book "Prometheus Rising" popularly presents Timothy Leary's eight-circuit neurological model of human brain.

das monde

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Wednesday May 02, 2007 · 1:45 AM PDT

2007/05/02 · 01:45

For a starter, here in an anniversary excerpt from his book "Armed Madhouse":

I’m a bit nervous. It’s an "ORANGE ALERT" day. That’s a "low threat" notice. According to the press release from the Department of Homeland Security, low-threat Orange means that there will be no special inspections of passengers or cargo today. Isn’t it nice of Mr. Bush to alert Osama when half our security forces are given the day off? Hmm. I asked an Israeli security expert why his nation doesn’t use these pretty color codes.

He asked me if, when I woke up, I checked the day’s terror color.

"I can’t say I ever have. I mean, who would?" He smiled. "The terrorists." America is the only nation on the planet that kindly informs bombers, hijackers and berserkers the days on which they won’t be monitored.

das monde

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Wednesday March 21, 2007 · 5:00 AM PDT

2007/03/21 · 05:00

Recently, I wrote a diary with one of speculations that speculative markets (such as stock and real estate markets) tend to behave like pyramid schemes at certain stages (like now). The crucial feature is the point when the market valuation grows predominantly because of outsiders entering the market with expectations of profitting from the steadily growing market. When the market volume has nowhere to grow, the latest entrants (if only) suffer dearly.

I am content to find out that my suspicion is not a wack unseen to human mind. Please enter Prof. Hyman Minsky (1919-1996), and his Financial Instability Hypothesis.

Poll

52 votes Show Results

When is the Second Great Depression coming?

52 votes Vote Now!

When is the Second Great Depression coming?

This spring

0 votes

By the end of this year

12 votes

Next year

6 votes

In 2009

13 votes

In 2010

4 votes

By 2015

3 votes

By 2020

1 vote

This depression won't be great

9 votes

There won't be other great depressions

4 votes

Markets will keep going up

0 votes

Those conservative T-shirts

das monde

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Wednesday March 14, 2007 · 6:36 PM PDT

2007/03/14 · 18:36

I don't know how much often these t-shirts can be seen on American streets. But there are more than a few websites merchandising "patriotic", "military", admittedly "liberal bashing" or "evil conservative" t-shirts. If there is ever a talk about who is more hateful, "radical" liberals or "mainstream" conservatives, let them put those t-shitrs on!

das monde

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Tuesday March 06, 2007 · 3:50 AM PST

2007/03/06 · 03:50

This diary originated from a discussion of real estate markets, so we will eventually get to financial matters of today. The sweeping bottom question is: how can an apparently steady growth or progress possibly be halted, or even voided? Do civilisations collapse often, and how? Do they just meet bad luck or barbaric invaders sooner or later, or do they always collapse once they fully employ a "no-brainer" affluence strategy, like greed or self-indulgence? Can gains of globalization and free markets increase forever, or will they abruptly end just "around a corner"?

Globalization must have the limits of the globe, or not? It works all fine while new markets open and expand, while masses of new individuals enter speculative markets, either directly or via inescapably more aggressive pension funds. Will the global economy continue to prosper when the stream of eager new buyers will dry out?

Deep down, it is not exceptionally remarkable that evaluation of the markets grows while their volume rapidly expands. You can run a pyramid scheme with the same effect!

das monde

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Friday February 23, 2007 · 4:17 PM PST

2007/02/23 · 16:17

For once, the pro-war LA Times commentator Max Boot put up a reasonable article in his column:

Is Iraq turning into Yugoslavia?

[...] In the former Yugoslavia, as in Iraq, ethnic groups have clashed over the years, but they also have had long periods of peaceful coexistence — and not only under the heavy hand of a Tito or Saddam Hussein. Croats, Bosnians, Slovenians, Kosovars, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Serbs lived together for centuries under the relatively benign Ottoman and Habsburg empires and later under their own monarchy. So did Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis in Mesopotamia.

das monde

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Wednesday January 31, 2007 · 12:58 AM PST

2007/01/31 · 00:58

Here I describe a proposition to develop non-routed bus service as a kind of public (or commercial) transport. The service would be targeting specifically frequent car users, by offering them a comfortable travel alternative, so to lure them out of their cars at least once a week. Reduction of individual car use by 20% daily would immediately have big impact on traffic intensity and CO2 emissions. Once started, the service might grow with ever greater effects.

The idea itself is simple: travellers let the bus company know their intended trip route and time interval, and then they get their bus. It is a kind of mixture of taxi service and the usual bus service. Non-routed service was undoubtedly considered before in various forms. (Read, for example, around the mark "Col 1721" in this link). However, implementation may predictably look very messy at first tries.

das monde

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Friday January 19, 2007 · 3:10 AM PST

2007/01/19 · 03:10

I generally dislike early straw or cattle polls for the Presidential Election 2008. Early poll frenzy only pours water into the watermill of superficial media narratives of electability, character impressions, looks, momenta, etc. Needless to say, the modern media discourse easily turns out unfavourably to Democratic candidates. With powers of objective reasoning steadily diminished, character framing and similiar games are controlled by GOP spin-masters. Although there are signs that the media is not following GOP spins so obediently as before, or that conservative talk reached effectiveness boundaries, GOP is still determined to do what it does best: control the political perception throughout the Fox-idised media, find ways to encourage the Democratic opponents to fail.

das monde

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Tuesday October 31, 2006 · 5:03 PM PST

2006/10/31 · 17:03

Are they proud of being good in scaring the bejesus out of everyone in each election cycle?

To judge it from their latest ads and talks, the War on Terror is won by terror.

Are Republicans proud of hurting Democrat politicians more effectively than Al Qaeda terrorists?

Are Republicans proud of giving nice promises to their libertarian or Christian base, but never delivering to them?

Are Republicans proud of achieving new corruption standards? Are they proud of accusing the opponents of ethical failures, while doing things far worse?

Are Republicans proud of George W. Bush? Who is proud of George W. Bush? That guy did his worst in following security briefings prior to the 9/11. He did his absolutely worst with Katrina. He is continuing to do his worst in Iraq.

[Sorry, it's just a few scattered one-liners. I have no time or flow to connect them into a beefy diary.]

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On governments, taxes, rent and debt

Why do the rich pay "almost all" taxes?

The Influential Conservatives and Liberals

Brain Circuits For Politics And Science

Greg Palast is crazy

Hyman Minsky on financial crises

Those conservative T-shirts

Is Civilisation A Pyramid Scheme?

Iraq and Yugoslavia

A transport service to reduce CO2 emissions

The next President Bush?

What are Republicans proud of?