Debt and taxes

As much as I cherish my ignorance, I’ve been reading up on some of this debt ceiling stuff. Here are a few links that you don’t need an economics degree to read. I’ll try to add more as I find some good ones.

How we got into this fine mess
Pointing the finger at…well…everyone really.

Who Rules America?
This article is a little more involved, but it’s important. In 2007, the top 20% of the U.S. controlled 93% of the wealth, and the economic downturn of 2008 is estimated to have widened that gap.

The Laffer Curve debunked; Part One
Nice look at the Laffer Curve—the theory we’d all love to believe in—in which the government takes in more revenue as taxes get cut.

Debunking One of the Worst Ideas in Economics
More on the Laffer Curve, in case the previous article didn’t take.

Dating the crazy chick is fun…for a while

A guy I used to know ended up dating the crazy girl. You know the type: outgoing, artsy, off-beat, plenty of piercings and tattoos. She seemed pretty cool at first. Loads of fun at parties, and from what I was led to believe, the sex was great. But over time, she became more demanding, more jealous. She had a very dark side that came out more often as time when on. The two of them almost got married and if that had happened, I wouldn’t have been surprised if one of them had ended up killing the other. For a long time after they split up, he was an emotional wreck.

I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve watched the Tea Party gang yank the old-school Republicans around on this debt ceiling issue. There are plenty of reasons why the debt limit needs to be raised, but they’re boring and I don’t want to get into them here. Suffice to say that the U.S. defaulting on its obligations would be unprecedented and very, very bad. So the limit needs to be raised. This isn’t a particularly partisan issue. It might be distasteful, but it has to be done. Read More