n2doc
n2doc's JournalLies, Incoherence and Rage on Tax Cuts
by
Paul Krugman
One thing you can count on in 21st-century U.S. politics is that Republicans will lie about taxes. They did it under George W. Bush, they did it under Barack Obama and theyre still doing it under Donald Trump.
Yet this time is different. Its not just that the lies have gotten even more brazen. Theres now a combination of incoherence and rage that we, or at least I, havent seen before. These days, they cant even seem to get their fake story straight and they literally start yelling obscenities when someone tries to point out the facts.
G.O.P. lies about taxes generally involve two issues: who is hurt or helped by tax changes, and what these changes will do to the budget.
Thus, when George W. Bush cut taxes in 2001 and 2003, he and his party repeatedly insisted that the tax cuts were primarily for the middle class. In fact, while there were some middle-class tax breaks in the package, such as an increase in the child tax credit, these were dwarfed by cuts in tax rates on high incomes, reduced taxes on dividends and repeal of the estate tax. Over all, the richest 1 percent saw a much larger increase in after-tax income than middle-class families did.
more
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/opinion/lies-incoherence-and-rage-on-tax-cuts.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion
Tuesday Toon Roundup 3: The Rest
MuellerGOP
Moore
Abuse
Yemen
Texas
Wisconsin
facts
Police
Farming
597 days. And still waiting.
Story by Terrence McCoy
Webster County, Miss. On the 597th day, the day he hoped everything would change, Joe Stewart woke early. He took 15 pills in a single swallow. He shaved his head. And then he got down to the business of the day, which was the business of every day, and that was waiting. He looked outside, and saw his mother there in a green sedan, engine running. So many months he had waited for this moment, and now it was here. Time for his Social Security disability hearing. Time to go.
Stewart, 55, set out on crutches, tottering out of his mobile home and down a metal ramp hed laid when stairs became too much. Im sweating my ass off, he said, getting into his mothers car, his long-sleeved dress shirt hanging open. He tilted the passenger seat all the way down, placed a pillow at the small of his back and, groaning and wincing, settled in as best he could.
Did they say long-sleeved? asked his mother, Jean Bingham, 73.
It was the only decent shirt I had! he said.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2017/11/20/10000-people-died-waiting-for-a-disability-decision-in-the-past-year-will-he-be-next/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.dd279811a0e4
Monday Toon Roundup 4- The Rest
T-dayJudges
The Issue
Texas
Mueller
Evasion
Harassment
RIP
Dream
Jeebus
Scientists are about to test a devastating hypothesis: 2018 will suffer a lot of big earthquakes
Every so often, the Earths rotation slows by a few milliseconds per day. This is inconsequential to the average human, and causes only mild annoyance to the people whose job it is to measure Earths rotation with great precision.
That may be about to change, if the hypothesis set out by two geologists proves true. In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters earlier this year, Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana predict that, because of Earths slowing rotation, the world will see a significant spike in large earthquakes in 2018.
To make this prediction, Bilham and Bendick studied every earthquake since 1900 that recorded more than 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale. They found that approximately every 32 years, there is an uptick in these large quakes. The only factor that strongly correlates is a slight slowing of the Earths rotation in a five-year period before the uptick.
Of course that seems sort of crazy, Bendick told Science. But think through it a little and it might not seem so outlandish. The Earths rotation is known to go through regular decades-long periods in which it slows down and speeds up. Even seasonal changes, like a strong El Niño, can affect the planets rotation.
more
https://qz.com/1133304/as-earths-rotation-slows-2018-could-see-a-spike-in-large-earthquakes/
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