I'm working on a long post on Obama, the risk of incoherent narrative, and why that incoherence matters more electorally than politically.
But it's late here in Chicago, I have an early flight, and I just read Memeorandum which sent me to Sean Tevis' cartoon explanation for why he wants $9.00 from each of us to help him run for the Kansas state legislature.
Here's what I like - the substance of his issues; the style with which he presents them; and the basic idea of someone who presents his thinking in a language different from the typical politician-speak our government is so tightly bound up by.
I donated $10.00 immediately. Why the h**l don't we have candidates like that at home in California? How do I help find one? Bueller?
He said he needed $8.34 from each. Okay, I gave him that much. Just because I was laughing so hard.
Speaking as a native Topekan, you don't find too many Intelligent Design advocates in California—quite a good thing, IMHO. But you're absolutely right, the approach is refreshing and innovative to us net-savvy folks. I'm not sure how well it'll play with the bread-'n'-butter crowd in the Midwest, however; it'll be interesting to see how he does.
As of Friday 8:18 AM Central, he'd just topped 4100 contributions. I wonder... will he eventually wind up with enough money left over to run for Congress later? Is this primary funding mechanism Guinness Book-worthy?
So you guys will shell out $9 to see a stick figure promise "an end to regressive taxes" in Kansas, by which I guess he means the sales tax.
To hell with the Kansas legislature, he needs to get out and pitch this idea to Universal Studios.
Well, Hell, if I had known you were in Chicago....
Ditto!
Glenn, Glenn...he wants to end the sales tax on groceries - something even we here in California don't pay...
...and sorry, had exactly four free hours - ate at Uno with my brother-in-law. There will be other trips there soon to be sure...
A.L.
Glenn, Glenn...he wants to end the sales tax on groceries - something even we here in California don't pay...
...and sorry, had exactly four free hours - ate at Uno with my brother-in-law. There will be other trips there soon to be sure...
A.L.
Kansas apparently already has a food sales tax refund for senior citizens, the disabled and poor people with dependents (click on my name for the link). So the regressive nature of the tax is already mitigated by a refund offered to those who would likely be the most vulnerable.
The other thing to consider about a sales tax is that if you start exempting some goods from the tax, the result is that you tax what’s left at a higher rate and what gets exempted is usually a function of who has the most lobbying clout at the legislature. We see this all the time with the income tax code and it can get almost as bad with a sales tax once the farm lobby exempts groceries (but not “hot” food), the unions push for higher tax on imports, the environmentalists push for carbon taxes, etc.
IMO if you’re going to have a sales tax, it’s better to have a broader base with the lowest possible rate than to create the sort of gamesmanship that leads to some items being taxed more than others (or not at all). You can always mitigate the effects with some sort of rebate or refund for people who pay it and you’re less likely to create distortions in the economy and incentives for political gamesmanship by keeping it simple and low.
Thorley is right. But all is not lost - Bleeding Kansas remains fertile ground for enterprising political crusaders. How about ending the Kansas Lottery and imposing a statewide ban on gambling? Gambling, and the side effects of gambling, disproportionately impact minorities, the elderly, and the children of gamblers. State Gambling is the ultimate regressive tax on the stupid and the desperate, and it tends to be a darned confiscatory one, to boot.
It'd be worth nine bucks to see the young cowboy ride that bull out of the gate.
On his webpage dealing with his signature issue of no food tax, the candidate recognizes that "Kansas does offer a tax credit to lower-income people, but few people take advantage of this. You shouldn’t have to file paperwork to eat." Link
Note that lower income people = AGI of less than $29,700.
"Better health care, improving education, open government, balanced budgets, non-regressive taxes"
Heh, the only thing in there the least bit concrete is balanced budgets. The rest is standard boilerplate political crap. For instance, how is he going to improve education? Vouchers? Better text books? Toss out the time wasted time on indoctrination? Make every kid watch An Inconvenient Truth? And what are non-regressive taxes? I doubt he is talking about a flat tax or getting rid of the sales tax. And what does he mean by open government? What should be open and how do we get there? What about better health care: what, who, and how much?
Sound bite BS might be necessary in a comic strip, or to get elected, but it doesn't move me much.
link
Obama the Fascist? Note that i dont use this qualification lightly like most. If he goes ahead with that...
[PLEASE refrain from posting bare URLs here. Formatting guidelines are displayed above the comment entry fields. Thanks. Corrected for you, this time. --NM]