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23836 [lbo-talk] CLR: an intro -- rank: 1000

Freshly posted CLR James: A Biographical Introduction, by Scott McLemee <http://www.mclemee.com/id84.html>.

Document Size:	4613
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 12:29:29 PDT 2004

23837 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

andie nachgeborenen wrote: >But you don't have to buy the apparatus of marginal utility theory >to grasp the common sense point that another dollar means less to >Bill Gates than it does to me, and less to me that it does to the >cleaning staff in the building. I recall Michael Perelman citing 19th century reactionaries, who argued that the marginal dollar was more valuable to the rich, because of their more finely developed sensibilities. Doug

Document Size:	5084
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 11:35:19 PDT 2004

23838 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

Shane Mage wrote: >But that gravely defective proposal did *not* provide for a >rebate of the sales tax on subsitence-level consumption >spending!!! It exempted lots of basic goods, however.

Document Size:	4779
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 11:29:57 PDT 2004

23839 [lbo-talk] Re: Liberal yuppies go ballistic over Nader petition -- rank: 1000

Carrol Cox wrote: >ABB is turning into The DP Now and Forever. Uh, do you have any evidence for this, pal? There's some way you *have* to believe it, because it fits in with your rigid worldview. But people who can hold two thoughts in their head at once can be more flexible. Doug

Document Size:	5069
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 10:01:28 PDT 2004

23840 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

Shane Mage wrote: >But the same applies to VAT as to "flat" income tax. The "large >exemption" would take the form of a "flat" rebate of the entire >VAT on the subsistence level of consumption expenditures. Just >as with income tax the level of progressivity varies with the size >of the exemption, so with VAT the level of progressivity varies >with the level of consumption defined as "subsistence"--with >the advantage that a large ma ...

Document Size:	8043
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 09:58:19 PDT 2004

23841 [lbo-talk] CFR losing patience with W? -- rank: 1000

These are some of the titles of articles in the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs, the house organ of the Establishment: >--Former CPA Official Blasts Bungling of Iraq Occupation >--U.S. Ignores Home-Front Security, Remains Vulnerable to Attack >--Little Progress by U.S. in Stopping Terrorists' Access to WMD >--State Dept. Must Learn to Track Terrorism Carefully >--U.S. Economy Teetering on the Brink Sounds like they're losing patience with W. Doug

Document Size:	5152
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 09:37:04 PDT 2004

23842 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

Bill Bartlett wrote: >Poor people don't pay tax. Sales taxes are, for example, paid by >those who sell things. Uh, not in the U.S., comrade. You're thinking a value-added tax, which is paid by producers and retailers. But sales tax is paid by the retail buyer. Doug

Document Size:	4871
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 09:11:00 PDT 2004

23843 [lbo-talk] cheap anti-Bush humor -- rank: 1000

[from ACT - 19 megs, so it helps to have broadband] <http://kintera.sitestream.com/ferrell_qt_hi.mov>

Document Size:	4699
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 09:07:48 PDT 2004

23844 [lbo-talk] Israel wrecks Gaza's breadbasket -- rank: 1000

Gaza's bread basket left in ruins after Israel ends five-week offensive Thu Aug 5, 6:35 AM ET BEIT HANUN, Gaza (AFP) - The Israeli army left a trail of devastatation in Beit Hanun after a five-week siege and occupation of the Gaza Strip (news - web sites)'s traditional bread basket which failed to put a halt to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Tanks and armoured vehicles began leaving the centre of town at first light and had completed their pullout four hours later, residents said. Troo ...

Document Size:	9010
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 07:39:13 PDT 2004

23845 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

B. wrote: >Doug, what is your source for the stat that 2% - 3% of >US households have incomes of $200,000 + ?? There's no simple source for high income info. Tax info excludes low-income people, and the Census "top-codes" its data, treating all income over a certain limit as the equivalent of that limit - to protect privacy, they say. Besides, very rich people don't answer questionnaires. The Fed does its Survey of Consumer Finances every three years, which does hit high-income ...

Document Size:	5480
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 07:24:19 PDT 2004

23846 [lbo-talk] personnel notes -- rank: 1000

<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html> Best bad job of vetting of the cycle: whoever hired Dr Brenda Bartella Peterson, the DNCS' first-ever director of religious outreach, and one of the co-signers of an amicus brief filed to support Michael Newdow's plea to get "under God" removed from the pledge. (Note news: She resigned yesterday.)

Document Size:	4924
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 06:59:57 PDT 2004

23847 [lbo-talk] Census: 12% of USers foreign-born -- rank: 1000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2004 Foreign-Born Population Reaches 33 Million; Most from Latin America, Census Bureau Estimates The U.S. Census Bureau today estimated that the nation's foreign-born population in 2003 numbered 33.5 million, or 12 percent of the total U.S. population. Among the foreign-born population, 53 percent were born in Latin America, 25 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania. Th ...

Document Size:	7739
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 06:56:51 PDT 2004

23848 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

R wrote: >a flat tax is the most regressive tax there is. No it's not - a flat tax is flat (and if there's a large exemption, it can be moderately progressive up to a point). A sales tax is regressive because the poorer people are, the larger the share of their income they consume. People at the bottom of the distribution could end up paying many times the percentage of their income in sales taxes as those at the top. Doug

Document Size:	5020
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 06:42:53 PDT 2004

23849 [lbo-talk] Iraq civilian toll: 37,000 -- rank: 1000

[this is about three times as big as what Iraq Body Count says] <http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/66E32EAF-0E4E-4765-9339-594C323A777F.htm> Iraqi group claims over 37,000 civilian toll by Ahmed Janabi Saturday 31 July 2004 12:31 PM GMT The human toll is all too evident in daily scenes such as this An Iraqi political group says more than 37,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003 and October 2003. The People's Kifah, or Struggle Against H ...

Document Size:	9843
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 06:48:33 PDT 2004

23850 [lbo-talk] Progressive taxation vs flat tax -- rank: 1000

B. wrote: >Does anyone know of a URL, essay on the web, or >anything like that, that sums up elegantly the >position that Americans in higher tax brackets ought >to pay proportionately more in taxes than those in >lower tax brackets? >The Father of Modern Capitalist Thought on Progressive Taxation > > >"The subjects of every state ought to contribute toward the support >of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their >respective abilities; t ...

Document Size:	5796
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 5 06:41:05 PDT 2004