Is Krugman Actually Being Civil?, and Other News
New era of civility: Krugman describes libertarians without using the word “Scrooge.”
Whoops. I wrote the above before I read Monday’s column on Republicans. “They’re against reform because it would cover the uninsured — and that’s something they just don’t want to do.”
Summary of tax hikes under ObamaCare from the Americans for Tax Reform.
Good news from the Economic Freedom Index: the world is slightly freer. Bad news: U.S. slips to number 9.
Freedom House contrary finding: global freedom declined for a fifth straight year.
Just like health care rationing: Magazine editor’s child got in class ahead of at-risk kids it’s meant for.
Very unusual to get diametrically opposite reports on what is happening to freedom around the world.
Krugman manages to be civil for all of two days. And you are surprised at that?
The “economic substance doctrine” is a rather scary concept, where the IRS has the power to disqualify a deduction or tax reduction scheme by merely determining it was designed specifically to reduce taxes. All legal methods to reduce taxes are honorable. In economics, revenue-generating schemes should be pursued until marginal revenue = marginal cost. In this regard, tax minimization schemes should be pursued until the cost of doing so about equals the tax savings from the scheme.
I like your comment on education rationing. Of course that’s how it works.
Krugman being civil? he must have had a bad day.
I didn’t realize how many taxes there are in this legislation.
Paul Krugman believes that conservatives and liberals disagree about fundamental moral aims: liberals want to help the poor, conservatives want to protect the right of people to be selfish. Other liberals, such as Sen. Charles Schumer, have expressed similar sentiments. They believe this because how else can they explain conservative opposition to their progressive policies? It has never occurred to them that their policies — like so many other good intentions leading to hell on earth — are wrong, make the poor worse off, ensure the perpetuation of poverty, impoverish others who aren’t poor, and privilege the wealthy at the expense of the would-be wealthy. (Conservatives who think Krugman et al. really want to impoverish and enslave us all are also mistaken: they are wrong, not evil. But being wrong is all it takes to immiserate all of us.
It’s amazing how many people don’t understand what it really means to be a libertarian.