By: Kirth Gerson
Is the correlation coincidental? I noticed exactly the same thing happening to me after Reagan took office, and again with both Bushes. Those people who say "If you want low unemployment, vote...
View ArticleBy: ZachsMind
"Did you actually read the link?" *double take* What? We're supposed to actually READ the links? I been here six years! Why didn't anybody tell me? All I know is, Clinton fixed the economy eight years...
View ArticleBy: illuminatus
I had the privilege of playing in National Security Decision Making Game last weekend. Players take on roles in the governments of various nations, and govern as best they can given outside influences,...
View ArticleBy: drscroogemcduck
Capitalism relies on consumption. If you shift 100% of government receipts onto a sales tax, you are banking on steady consumption over time, and that your tax will not deter people from consuming....
View ArticleBy: MattD
It will be hard to save Social Security as we presently know it, becaue it entails either (a) sharply raising the early and regular retirement ages to the point where a lot of people lose their prime...
View ArticleBy: parmanparman
One acronym: VAT. If we had a value-added tax on all items over say ~$100 we would continue to make groceries and many other items affordable, but improve our ability to tax those who use higher prices...
View ArticleBy: 517
An article on the M3 that Mutant mentioned that's an interesting read. Raise a 33% sales tax, raise an angry lynching mob, regardless of its actually effects on the economy.
View ArticleBy: five fresh fish
Maybe we can take care of seniors like we take care of highways: "Adopt a Senior." You'll be volunteering to scrub down some old granny once a week, and to stash a week's worth of instant microwave...
View ArticleBy: Kirth Gerson
Ah - Robert Reich. To think, I almost got to vote for him for governor. Instead, we wound up with a hairdo named "Mitt."
View ArticleBy: gsteff
You can't save it by sacrificing everything else. What is this easy solution that won't require any major changes? Change the retirement age to 85? Supereconomist and Clinton labor secretary Robert...
View ArticleBy: Heywood Mogroot
What is this easy solution that won't require any major changes? Raise the contribution phase-out to $150k.
View ArticleBy: Kirth Gerson
Instead, 7.6% of their pay is contributed into an IRA-like vehicle, managed by Fidelity Investments. So the smart money - California's largest employer, with all the political clout that entails - have...
View ArticleBy: Pastabagel
The fact is, we can "save" Social Security pretty easily, and it won't require a major restructuring that would effectively kill it. posted by bshort at 8:39 AM EST on July 17 [+fave] [!] You can't...
View ArticleBy: JJ86
I can't wait until the government starts their yearly fund-raisers ala public radio with the president getting out there with impassioned pleas to support our nation and give $500-$1000 for a free USA...
View ArticleBy: bshort
I agree. Anyone under 40 should just assume they will get no Social Security, but that they will have to continue to pay it. And I'm under 40. And the more that you say that, the more likely it is that...
View ArticleBy: yoga
Year that a signboard tallying the U.S. national debt was erected near Times Square: 1989[Douglas Durst (N.Y.C.)] Year in which it is expected to run out of digits: 2007Harper's Index, June.
View ArticleBy: scalefree
It's not strictly a double post but I do want to point out my previous comment on the main link.
View ArticleBy: Heywood Mogroot
Speaking of going bankrupt, who the hell gave the permission for the USG to auction off one of our tropical islands?
View ArticleBy: Heywood Mogroot
plus 7.5% for FICA ~14% for FICA/MEDICARE. The "employer contribution" is really paid by the employee, even if they don't know it. since they spend almost all of their income it's my general...
View ArticleBy: JackFlash
Kotlikoff is a long-time proponent of a national sales tax replacing the income tax. He started out in the early 90s on this theme writing for the libertarian Cato Institute. His numbers for a 33%...
View ArticleBy: ikkyu2
ROU_Xenophobe: I think you're right about that. UC seems to have a two-tier retirement system; docs like me get the full Fidelity-managed thing I described, plus a chance to max out a 403(b) and a...
View ArticleBy: Heywood Mogroot
this is the GAO. (insert dramatic music) Did you actually read the link? I skimmed it for the $26T for Part D, which I now see I read wrong (it's 1/3rd of the $26T increase in future liabilities from...
View ArticleBy: Mutant
"I don't understand why they don't just get the treasury to print 66 trillion more dollars..." Curiously, The Fed stopped publishing M3 data recently; this very broad measure of money in circulation...
View ArticleBy: ROU_Xenophobe
I was amazed to learn that UC employees don't pay into Social Security. Instead, 7.6% of their pay is contributed into an IRA-like vehicle, managed by Fidelity Investments. So the smart money -...
View ArticleBy: Mutant
Everytime I read papers like this I don't think so much about the problem (not that don't care its just I can't do anything to change it), but more so about how to profit from it. The US Dollar is in...
View ArticleBy: rough ashlar
I don't understand why they don't just get the treasury to print 66 trillion more dollars... posted by wigu at 11:19 PM PST Who says they ain't?
View ArticleBy: dobie
Unfortunately for Laurence Kotlikoff's book sales, he doesn't really get to decide now does he? All he's selling is conversation starter until we see real actual international comment on some such.
View ArticleBy: ikkyu2
I don't understand why they don't just get the treasury to print 66 trillion more dollars... The short answer: Inflation. The long answer: Inflation. Coming soon to a superpower near you!
View ArticleBy: rolypolyman
I don't understand why they don't just get the treasury to print 66 trillion more dollars... Step this way into the hyperinflation room.
View ArticleBy: Heywood Mogroot
Malor: We have actuarial assumptions to respect wrt SSI payouts, but I'll note that $26T of the GAO's fifty-trillion scare number is Medicare Part D. As for this: Net Present Value means we need fifty...
View ArticleBy: wigu
I don't understand why they don't just get the treasury to print 66 trillion more dollars...
View ArticleBy: ikkyu2
All you 'regressive! regressive!' people are encouraged, again, to read the article. (Do you guys show up at local book clubs where you haven't read the book and just start yammering, too?) The...
View ArticleBy: JackFlash
All of this doomsaying about Social Security plays right into the Bush agenda. The fact is that Social Security can be stabilized to the end of the century with some rather minor changes. Bush wants...
View ArticleBy: Nahum Tate
"The Veterans Administration (now Department of Veterans Affairs) is now a recognized model for delivering efficient, quality healthcare..." -- Mr. Six I don't know much about economics, but I've been...
View ArticleBy: aeschenkarnos
I like the idea of an automated payment transaction tax. It's an old idea but now that bank transactions are actually all automated, it would be possible to implement it.
View ArticleBy: psp200
This is fun, but no discussion on federal taxation is complete without a reference to Edward McCaffery's "Fair Not Flat" tax! You can get a more academic treatment here (or search Lexis or Westlaw)....
View ArticleBy: Balisong
Just a dumb question, but why can't we just forget about the public debt, like we did for the past two decades? It seems that either way you cut it, the end result is a recession. I'm sure the former...
View ArticleBy: Pastabagel
The idea that all of the boomers are going to get $1500/month from the govt for the rest of their lives can't happen, and therefore won't happen. posted by Crotalus at 1:14 AM EST on July 17 [+fave]...
View ArticleBy: Crotalus
We are not going to pay out these entitlements. In 2030 I envision 70- and 80- somethings living in buildings reminiscent of urban housing projects where they are provided food, shelter, and basic...
View ArticleBy: Malor
The reason we have these huge deficits is because we are unwilling to maintain spending at a level we can afford. It's really that simple. Here's a quote of an earlier comment I posted: "Heywood, [few...
View ArticleBy: Mr. Six
Perhaps the allegation of regressive taxes on the sales tax could be addressed first, with discussion of the means Kolitsky proposes to alleviate that problem. The problem with the "solution", as such,...
View ArticleBy: brain_drain
Using the budget simulator Heywood Mogroot linked, I eliminated the deficit by (i) cutting general defense spending by 10%, (ii) cutting Iraq/Afghanistan spending by 50%, and (iii) eliminating the...
View ArticleBy: UrineSoakedRube
Incidentally, does anyone else have problems with the equations in the pdf file? To me, they appear to be gray rectangles, or in some cases, the subscripts and superscripts are gray squares and...
View ArticleBy: Heywood Mogroot
Here's an online federal budget simulator. By cutting the military 30-70% (gee, how will they survive on $300B/yr), eliminating the Bush tax cuts on the upper class and halving those for the upper...
View ArticleBy: dw
Capitalism relies on consumption. If you shift 100% of government receipts onto a sales tax, you are banking on steady consumption over time, and that your tax will not deter people from consuming. The...
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