Tag Archives: NPR

Now That Would Have Been Some Useful Nuance Two Months Ago

A significant aspect to the Presidential campaign was how each candidate planned on reducing the deficit and addressing the fiscals woes of the nation.

Romney rolled out a plan based on rate reductions and deduction eliminations.  Romney was short of specifics; when working with a divided senate and house, the bill delivered may not contain the exact details promised on the trail.

He was ridiculed as being vague and without a clue.

Now NPR is reporting on a method to raise revenues in order to meet the President’s goal.  A method suggested by none other than one Mitt Romney:

That’s a tall order. One approach that was suggested by Mitt Romney during the campaign, and endorsed by the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page last week, is to cap tax deductions at a specific dollar level. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has analyzed the idea. Its co-director, Donald Marron, says capping deductions for all taxpayers at $17,000 could produce $1.7 trillion in revenue over 10 years. That would meet the president’s dollar goal.

To be fair, there is a problem with that approach:

“That would get to the president’s revenue target, but obviously it would violate his desire not to raise taxes on people below the top 2 percent,” he says.

Even raising the limit would still put Obama at odds with his promise:

If you push that cap on deductions higher, let’s say, up to $25,000, you could meet that $1 trillion revenue target. But you still don’t eliminate the political problem, because around a quarter of the added tax burden would still fall on the middle-class taxpayers the president has pledged to protect.

In the continuation of fairness, Romney’s plan would have lost revenue on that rate reduction; a loss that he claims would have been made up by an expansion of the economy.

Whatever, it would have been refreshing to have had this open and honest discussion regarding Romney’s plan back when Romney was viable.  The man knows finance; he knows what businessmen like and what they don’t.  He knows why they invest and when.

I guess if America can benefit by his wisdom, even with the Statist in Chief in office, we;re better off for it.

Plankton and Obama

Take a look at the picture above.  It’s from a long time ago.  A very long time ago.  A time nearly 100 million years ago when the oceans covered portions of North America.  Pay extra attention to the coast line that runs through modern day Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Now consider this:

The Deep South had a shoreline that curled through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, and there, in the shallow waters just offshore, were immense populations of floating, single-celled creatures who drifted about, trapped sunshine, captured carbon, then died and sank to the sea bottom. Those creatures became long stretches of nutritious chalk. (I love chalk.) When sea levels dropped and North America took on its modern shape, those ancient beaches — so alkaline, porous and rich with organic material — became a “black belt” of rich soil, running right through the South.

And because this stretch was so rich and fertile, when cotton farmers moved here in the 19th century, this stretch produced the most cotton per acre. Harvests of 4,000-plus bales were common here. Notice that the most productive plantations mirror the ancient coastline.

Then came slavery.

McClain, quoting from Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up From Slavery, points out: “The part of the country possessing this thick, dark and naturally rich soil was, of course, the part of the South where the slaves were most profitable, and consequently they were taken there in the largest numbers.” After the Civil War, a lot of former slaves stayed on this land, and while many migrated North, their families are still there.

Take a look at voting by county in 2008:

Absolutely fascinating.

Go read the whole thing.

 

A Voice of Reason Comes From the Left

The money isn’t big; on either side.  The amount of money the Federal Government gives to NPR isn’t a significant portion of what the Federal Government spends.

AND, the amount of money that the Federal Government gives to NPR isn’t a significant portion of the money that NPR spends.

But it matters.  It matters because the act of giving that money is an act of explicit approval.  Approval for the way that NPR runs it’s business.

And many don’t agree.

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Didja’ Know

In a world where the Tea Party is considered racist, Juan Williams in the ONLY black male reporter at NPR?

And they fire HIM!

Are you bullshitting me?

The Leftist’s in this country are clearly, CLEARLY, out of touch.