Who benefits from Republican candidates’ tax plans?

It is no secret that it is an article of faith in the Republican party that tax cuts are always good and almost all their candidates had tax proposals to do so. Via Kevin Drum, I came across a handy chart created by the Tax Policy Center that showed the effect of these cuts and what is clear is that most of the benefits go to the very wealthy. Herman Cain’s plan even raised taxes on lower incomes while cutting those of the wealthy.

These people could not be more transparent about their devotion to serving the interests of the rich.

Talking with Obama supporters

They say that at social gatherings one should avoid politics and religion to avoid disharmony. But this rule is frequently broken when people feel that they are with like-minded people where they can say things without fear of being contradicted. My social circle consists of self-described liberals who are all Obama and Democratic party supporters. They are people who view themselves as politically conscious and they raise issues of politics all the time and, at least in the US, politics is closely intertwined with religion, so that supposedly taboo topic comes up too.

During the period leading up to the elections of 2008, these social gatherings were pretty much a love fest, with all of us hoping that Obama would win and [Read more…]

The haves and have-soons

John Hodgman of The Daily Show tells the 99% to be patient, that soon they too will be in the 1%.

To get suggestions on how to view clips on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. This clip appeared on February 2, 2012.

Using drug tests to humiliate people

Aasif Mandvi from The Daily Show goes to Florida to investigate their policy of forcing people to take drug tests in order to get welfare benefits. It is quite extraordinary the lengths these people will go to make people who are down on their luck feel like scum.

To get suggestions on how to view clips on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. This clip appeared on February 2, 2012.

How rich people can pay little or no taxes

Most of us think that people who have made a ton of money by various means then simply invest it and live off the resulting income. But what form does this investment income take? If you are an average person, you tend to think of investment income as the interest on certificates of deposit or savings and money market accounts, which are taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. More sophisticated investors get their investment income in the form of [Read more…]

Atheists seek recognition in the US military

Sgt. Justin Griffith is trying to get the US Army to provide to atheists the same kinds of support and services that they provide to religious groups. He is organizing on March 31, 2012 Rock Beyond Belief, that is advertised as “a day-long event on the military base Fort Bragg, North Carolina, complete with children’s activities, rock concerts and [Read more…]

“The War on Terrorism, Civil Liberties, and the Constitution”

The organization Young Americans for Liberty, in association with The Future of Freedom Foundation is organizing an interesting ‘college tour’ on the above topic covering “habeas corpus, the PATRIOT Act, extraordinary rendition, torture, regime change, and a general discussion about how the war on terrorism has infringed upon the rights of U.S. citizens in the name of making us safe.”

The four events are free and will be streamed live on [Read more…]

Gore Vidal on Ayn Rand

I made the mistake of reading Ayn Rand’s book The Fountainhead before her more celebrated work Atlas Shrugged that supposedly provides the clearest articulation of her philosophy of objectivism. After a promising start, The Fountainhead degenerated into a dreary polemic, with two-dimensional stereotypical characters behaving in utterly predictable ways, the whole thing written in melodramatic style. Although I completed it, it was such a bad novel that I simply could not bear the thought of reading another 1000 pages by the same writer and so never read Atlas Shrugged.

It is not that I am averse [Read more…]