The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Jeff Bezos Is John Galt

Following up on California’s blunderheaded Internet sales tax — motivated by “typically short-sighted, money-grubbing desperation,” says the Orange County Register — I found this video in which Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos explained why this tax is not merely idiotic, but unconstitutional: What it is, really, is an attempt by state governments to impose a tariff […]

Amazon Goes Galt, Cuts Off California to Avoid Internet Tax in Zimbabwe, U.S.A.

It was in February 2009 that I first compared the situation in California to Mugabe’s bankrupt kleptocracy. And the situation is only getting worse: Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law California’s tax on Internet sales through affiliate advertising which will immediately cut small-business website revenue 20% to 30%, experts say. The bill, AB 28X, […]

‘Revenue Raises’? ‘Closing Loopholes’? Democrat Want to RAISE TAXES!

“The fact of the matter is, we have on the table all kinds of revenue raises that they keep calling tax increases. How do you call closing loopholes to oil companies that are making billions of dollars in profits, closing up these loopholes that would generate $40 to $50 billion in revenue, how do you […]

Renee Ellmers vs. Tim Geithner

Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina was one of the Tea Party’s favorite candidates from last year’s mid-term campaign: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has his own issues with paying taxes, explained to Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) why taxes must be raised on small businesses to keep the federal government from shrinking. So what if spending […]

Biden Debt-Ceiling Talks Collapse as Republicans Cantor, Kyl Walk Out

Several weeks of Potemkin “bipartisanship” go down the drain as Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats refused to agree to any debt-ceiling deal that didn’t include tax increases. Jon Kyl has not yet issued a statement, but Eric Cantor explains his exit: [A]s it stands the Democrats continue to insist that any deal must […]

Excuse Me, Veronique, You’re Stepping On My Narrative

by Smitty No bandwidth for the video, but Veronique de Rugy threatens a few cherished notions over on Reason.TV: Myth 1: Wealthy people pack up and move when their taxes increase. . . .taxes have little impact on cross-state migration. Instead, the migration impacts of unemployment are much greater. Overall, the results suggest that taxes […]

Obligatory Video: Donald F–ing Trump

Honestly, I ought to ignore this, but it’s already everywhere else so I might as well do it: “Listen you mother f***ers we’re going to tax you 25 percent“ Y’know, there’s good populism — defending the honest interests of ordinary people against corrupt machinations of the elite — and then there’s bad populism: Bully-boy nonsense […]

Rhetorical Question Day at The Corner

by Smitty Steven Hayward and Jonah Golberg have questions, and I have answers. Hayward quotes Kinsley, emphasis mine: If the deficit doesn’t matter, why have any taxes at all? And if there is some point at which the deficit does start to matter, and become dangerous, when is that point if $1.6 trillion isn’t it? […]

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