Aug 13

Poll: Americans are largely ignorant of the country’s tax structure

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For years, politicians have won elections by claiming a desire to tax “the rich” at higher rates. This incessant messaging has even percolated into the debate over campaign finance, where activists routinely claim that “the rich” are controlling American politics by their political spending.

But the actual tax distribution of the United States shows that those nasty “rich” are big losers in the game of wealth redistribution. The top 5 percent of earners are already paying 60 percent of all taxes. The top 20 percent of earners pay fully 80 percent of all tax receipts.

A recent Reason-Rupe poll found that only about 20 percent of Americans knew the actual share of federal income tax dollars paid by the top 5 percent of households, which is roughly 60 percent of all tax receipts.

See here.

Aug 13

Upcoming Courses for August 2015

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Lysander Spooner University will be offering a one-day course on “How Government Harms the Poor” at the Manhattan, Montana Potato Festival on Saturday, August 15. Tuition is free; the exam is $5. Find us at the Libertarian Party table at the Festival.

Every government measure aimed at helping the poor actually harms the poor. Consider the government’s support for higher education. Government-subsidized universities, combined with the federal Student Loan Program (which greatly increases demand without increasing supply, causing prices to rise), have caused tuition prices to skyrocket over the past 30 years.

As Professor Paul F. Campos writes, “If over the past three decades car prices had gone up as fast as tuition, the average new car would cost more than $80,000.”

See here.

Aug 10

New U.S. Army Manuel Says Journalists may be Treated as “Unprivileged Belligerents”

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For centuries, governments have sought to suppress open debate about their wars and violent aggression. Now the new U.S. Law of War Manual contains passages indicating that the Pentagon considers some journalists to be “belligerents.” A belligerent is the same broad category that includes guerrillas or members of al-Qaeda.

The U.S. government (like all governments) has been waging war against press freedom for decades.

The organization “Reporters Without Borders” puts out an annual ranking of worldwide press freedom. And the U.S. has been slipping steadily downward for years.

This year the U.S. was placed 49th on the list – behind El Salvador, Tonga and Chile. Reporters Without Borders cited the US campaign against Wikileaks and the persecution of Jim Risen, a New York Times reporter who was asked to reveal his sources in a high-profile leak case.

Read about it here.

Aug 09

Venezuelans resort to pet medications to survive

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Socialism is a curse that one should wish only on a hated enemy. To adopt it is to set a course toward gradual poverty, sickness, weakness, pollution and disease. The only question is when.

Venezuelans have voted for hard-line socialist politicians (such as the enigmatic Hugo Chavez) for decades. Venezuela has adopted “single-payer” (slave plantation) health care, government nationalization of energy, and other typical socialist measures.

Here is a news report that Venezuelans–with their “utopian” single-payer government medical system–are resorting to black market purchases of pet medications to survive in some instances.

Aug 05

It begins: Thousands of Americans have been secretly arrested, tortured and/or interrogated without lawyers in a Chicago facility

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Every government that ever existed ultimately came for all property, all freedom, all money, and to kill all who resist. The average person in the world is several times more likely to be killed by his own government than by any other source.

This is why governments are always the greatest source of danger for most of the world’s peoples.

Now there are details regarding the Chicago Police Department’s secret torture facility.

At least 3,500 Americans have been detained inside the Chicago police warehouse known as Homan Square over a decade.

82% were black.

Only three received documented visits from an attorney.

The purpose of the facility is apparently to force suspects to incriminate themselves before their arrests appeared in a booking system by which their families and attorneys might find them.

The Guardian reported stories of people being shackled and held for hours or even days, all without legal access.

A 42-year-old civil rights activist says he was abducted by masked officers, shackled, held on false charges and “with no food, no water, no access to the outside world” at the behest of “covert operations.” One young man was held at the warehouse for 14 hours without any public listing of his whereabouts.

See here.

Aug 04

Democrats push for higher taxes while Republicans do not appear to be pushing for lower taxes

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The two major American “political parties” are largely two sides of the same coin: they both trust and support expansive and intrusive government.

Polling has consistently shown that American voters–often by supermajorities–view their own taxes as too high. See here. The average American, when asked, states that the U.S. government wastes 51 cents of every dollar it receives. (One-fifth–fully 20 percent–say the government wastes 76 cents or more.) See here. The people want more freedom, but aren’t getting it.

Traditionally, the fake “two-party” system has provided something of a bellwether indicator of future trends. Republicans claimed to advocate lower taxes while Democrats (knowing how the public disfavors tax increases) generally strayed from explicitly advocating higher taxes, or claimed they sought to raise taxes only on “the rich.”

Now Hillary Clinton is vying against socialist Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders advocates far higher taxes, and Hillary is promoting higher “capital gains” taxes–which supposedly would fall mostly on “the rich.”

Meanwhile the Republican frontrunners do not appear to be emphasizing any intentions to cut taxes anywhere.

Economist Stephen Moore points out that raising “capital gains” taxes would further stifle investment and drive the American economy even further away from its former traditions of entrepreneurialism and innovation. See here.

According to Moore, Hillary’s plan would cement the United States as one of the highest taxing countries on earth:

The American Council for Capital Formation finds that the Hillary Clinton plan would raise the capital gains tax to nearly the highest in the industrial world. The U.S. already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, so this would be a double whammy. The Tax Foundation finds that, bang for the buck, lowering the capital gains tax rate is one of the most pro-growth measures Congress could adopt. The optimal capital gains tax is zero.

Aug 04

Obamacare Penalty for “Cadillac” Insurance Policies will Kick in by 2018; Taxes will Increase Substantially while Benefits will Decline

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Socialism is a curse that should be wished only on a hated enemy. Any society that embraces it will inevitably become sick and weak.

The “Affordable Care Act” a.k.a. “Obamacare,” was some 2,000 pages in length when passed. Additional tens of thousands of pages of regs will ultimately accompany it.

Among the Act’s vast provisions is a section designed to equalize everybody’s health insurance by harshly taxing “Cadillac” (or luxury) health plans. Previously, some employers got a tax break by paying employees with fancy, all-inclusive, or “Cadillac” plans. Such plans provided all–or nearly all–health care for employees (who generally did not need even to pay a deductible when obtaining health care).

But Obamacare was drafted by minds that are fundamentally socialist; they resent the perks of the “affluent” and seek to equalize society. In the eyes of a socialist, everyone should get the same result no matter how hard they work or how much they provide.

Last week, the IRS issued a notice regarding “the excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage under Code Sec. 4980I,” which will kick in beginning 2018. “Under Code Sec. 4980I [of Obamacare], if the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored coverage provided to an employee exceeds a statutory dollar limit, which is adjusted annually, the excess benefit is subject to a 40 percent excise tax.” See here.

Stay tuned!

Aug 03

Today’s college students pay more than 1,000 percent more for textbooks than their predecessors, almost entirely due to the Government’s student loan program

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Today’s incoming college freshmen will be paying 1,041 percent more for their textbooks than their peers did in 1977. This is while the actual value and costs of books have been declining for years. The free market has been making books cheaper; yet college students are forced to pay ever-more.

Why?

Because of the Federal Student Loan Program, which subsidizes demand, causing prices to rise. Amazingly, the Student Loan Program was enacted with claims that it would increase “access” and allow poor students to afford college.

The Student Loan Program, like every other “anti-poverty” government program, achieves THE VERY OPPOSITE of its stated objectives.

Of all places, these statistics were aired in a piece on Salon.com, a government-worshipping website that pushes a steady stream of elitist, redistributionist and government-trusting policies. See here.

Aug 03

Puerto Rico outvoted government-cutting governor and enthroned an advocate of expansive government; Now Puerto Rico is Defaulting.

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Today, August 3, 2015, Puerto Rico failed to make a $58 million dollar payment on its debt. See here. The defaulting commonwealth is some $70 BILLION in debt.

But just a few years ago, Puerto Rico was on a path to economic growth and dynamism. Puerto Rican voters elected Luiz Fortuno as their governor in 2008. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fortuno “slashed 38,000 government jobs, helping shrink the government by 20%. Then he cut income-tax rates by half and corporate-tax rates by nearly a third.”

The economy improved rapidly, and Puerto Rico came close to retiring its debt. According to the WSJ in 2012:

In many respects, the governor’s plan appears to be working in Puerto Rico. He lowered the deficit to $660 million from $3.3 billion, avoiding a fiscal meltdown. He reduced government employment on the island where one in three people worked in the public sector. New corporate-tax rates are leading to a minor boom for investment in some sectors like pharmaceutical manufacturing and export services. All told, three decades of economic stagnation on the island could be ending, with Puerto Rico’s economy set to grow 2% this year—its first gain in years.

But the forces of government power rebelled against Fortuno. There were demonstrations outside his office. Fortuno lost the next election in 2012.

Fortuno’s successor, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, increased spending and raised taxes. Entrepreneurs and hard workers stopped working so many hours, or fled. Now Puerto Rico can’t pay its $70 billion debt.

Aug 02

Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates at Near Zero for 2,417 Consecutive Days

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If you save anything in modern America, you are an utter fool. The Federal Reserve has kept its key interest rate at near zero (0) for 2,417 consecutive days in an attempt to keep the U.S. economy appearing to be afloat. See here.

Savers are being punished severely. If you keep any money in a bank (or elsewhere), it is steadily losing value.

Central banking allows governments worldwide to give the appearance that they are providing benefits and services above the burden of taxation. Just as a poor person can temporarily appear to be wealthy by going into debt and driving a new sports car, a government can go deeply into debt and print mountains of currency to prop up appearances of financial solvency or stability. Stupid welfare or entitlement programs can appear to be “a deal”–at least for a while.