tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61516082009-02-20T19:31:02.177-05:00<b>Technology:</b> the accelerating rate of salient events, changing how things change. <br> <b>Policy:</b> what we should be doing <br> <b>Society:</b> meta commentaryIvannoreply@blogger.comBlogger183125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1100801202692915822004-11-18T13:06:00.000-05:002004-11-18T13:15:03.593-05:00

The solution, as proposed by a member of the Clinton administration's Social Security Advisory Council: 1) Raise the cap on income, effectively raising taxes on those earning over $87K. 2) Cancel a rollback on the estate tax, taxing homes upon death. This usually means taxing the homes so much they must be sold to pay for the additional taxes. 3) Mandate that state and local workers join Social

Ivannoreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1100722803193216492004-11-17T15:20:00.000-05:002004-11-17T15:20:03.193-05:00

Andrew Sullivan descibes why a flat tax works, both from a fiscal policy and political point of view. This is related to what Arnold Kling wrote recently about taking into account both economic and political incentives into drafts of fiscal policy. From a political perspective, however, having four broad-based taxes with low rates would help to discourage lobbying. The incentive to lobby for an

Ivannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1099592952609515112004-11-04T13:29:00.000-05:002004-11-04T13:29:12.610-05:00

I haven't made any comments here on Bush's victory. I am happy about it. First because people like this are happy, for a good reason. Second because of this plan to immediately start work on personal retirement accounts replacing Social Security. [more on Social Security privatization]. There are other reasons, but I'd rather you follow those links than stay here.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1099077222736363092004-10-29T15:13:00.000-04:002004-10-29T15:13:42.736-04:00

Should We Fear 'Cosmetic Neurology'? No. Unfair competition in sports hurts the meaning of the game. Given a distributed system of competitive advantage, mental steroids would increase overall productivity, and standard of living, significantly. If there were a pill with few side effects (unlike anything today) which could raise my IQ by 20 points, I would immediately get it. This should be

Ivannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1098921873485939202004-10-27T20:04:00.000-04:002004-10-28T02:23:01.646-04:00

Punishing the wealthy. If earning $200K gets you a 30% tax rate, and earning $250K gets you a 35% tax rate, what does that mean for your incentives to work harder? You pay $60K & $87.5K in taxes respectively. This means that the last $50K was taxed $27.5K, or 55%*. This is called a "marginal tax rate". Studies show that increasing the marginal tax rate has very negative effects on an economy.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1098853407351554062004-10-27T01:03:00.000-04:002004-10-27T01:09:04.900-04:00

"What's that?", you ask, "Good news?" Yes: peaceful, fair Afghan elections, as William Safire points out. I've thought for some time that it is difficult to defend our system of government and tolerate interactions with corrupt regimes such as China & most countries in the Middle East. Little is done when we need to maintain a stable status quo. We supported reform in the former Soviet block

Ivannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1098810530567304612004-10-26T13:08:00.000-04:002004-10-26T13:08:50.566-04:00

Interesting. More people should read this.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1098298240272759502004-10-20T14:46:00.000-04:002004-10-20T15:08:08.806-04:00

WHY I AM VOTING FOR BUSH -- War on Terror -- Bush understands the stakes, Kerry doesn't. Vision: Bush sees a future where the War on Terror is over because the governments that spawn Islamic Fascists are reformed or smashed. This is the only way to bring an end to the threat. To achieve this goal, Bush is consistent in his efforts to keep on the offensive, work with foreign governments for

Ivannoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1098286450091229102004-10-20T11:34:00.000-04:002004-10-20T11:34:10.090-04:00

Discussion on Kerry-Bush space policies. It has already been said that a Bush re-election would be very, very good for space robotics.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1098143350700413652004-10-18T19:49:00.000-04:002004-10-18T19:49:10.700-04:00

BUT, you reap the rewards in America. Read why Americans work more than Europeans. Hint: it isn't some vague excuse about "quality of life". I never trusted that assertion, if only because immigration to America is always strong, even from European nations. Why else would they come, if not for the quality of life?

Ivannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1097643721222887922004-10-13T01:02:00.000-04:002004-10-13T09:44:23.766-04:00

A 'giveaway', according to the New York Times, is when a company is allowed to not give the government more money. The recently passed bill will "shower $137 billion in tax breaks" on numerous corporations. It was their money to begin with and now will continue to be, and they will choose to allocate it in a far more efficient manner than the government. It most certainly isn't 'given' by the

Ivannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1097425316022119222004-10-10T13:21:00.000-04:002004-10-10T12:22:55.843-04:00

Victor Davis Hanson writes for the Nation Review Online in an honest and prudent assessment of the situation in Iraq. An interesting comment on the worst-case scenario of a government hostile to the US being elected in January:If an aggregate $50 billion in aid to Egypt; billions more to the Palestinians and Jordanians; the removal of the bloodthirsty Saddam Hussein and the Taliban; $87 billion

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1097366049115860982004-10-09T19:54:00.000-04:002004-10-09T19:54:09.116-04:00

Fees to manage personal social security accounts are grossly overestimated by the Kerry campaign.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1097347539389039342004-10-09T14:45:00.000-04:002004-10-09T14:45:39.390-04:00

The New York Times: "In Canada, an Exile Pleads a Tangled Case for Refuge". A desserter during a time of war can be put to death. He says:"I just didn't want to shoot anybody." Maybe he should have read the bloody job description. The profile is ficticiously balanced, with a clear message that people like this should get more than one iota of respect which they deserve, as he has "become

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1097334678889025572004-10-08T11:11:00.000-04:002004-10-09T11:17:53.140-04:00

My dad emails a reminder of Croatia's Independence Day, Oct. 8th. Fighting for autonomy and democracy is a great thing. I only really remember the power outages and shortages on my summer trips to Croatia during the war. That, and the fact that I had relatives fighting, wasn't very comforting. With tourism increasing at a rapid pace, an economy still struggling to transfer to more market based

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1096905696220750562004-10-04T12:01:00.000-04:002004-10-04T12:01:36.220-04:00

SpaceShipOne soars into history":: MSNBC has a good video of the event. This officially marks the point where private space flight begins to accomplish more than NASA, with 4 orders of magnitude less funding. As space tourism leads to space mining leads to colonization, and the private investment in space grows, you can expect the output to increase accordingly.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1096489630257570392004-09-29T16:27:00.000-04:002004-09-29T16:30:29.956-04:00

FOXNews.com - SpaceShipOne Reaches Space Again, Lands:: This is a great story. Private enterprise racing past beached whales at NASA, new markets & frontiers, and so much good technology democratized for the general, paying public. Look for Virgin space tourism, but also for Virgin satellite launch services I guess I should plan now if I want to buy a house or go to space for 5 minutes in 2007.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1096305146295952342004-09-27T13:12:00.000-04:002004-09-27T13:12:26.296-04:00

100M investment. Crazy? Or just so sane that it blows your mind. I can't wait. Anything below $200K would be a great deal.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1096042209367051432004-09-24T12:10:00.000-04:002004-09-24T12:10:09.366-04:00

TCS: Tech Central Station - Arnold Kling describes how things are getting better, faster all the time. Anytime you hear about the "middle class squeeze", you should remember that statistics show that, if anything, the middle class is being squeezed upward into the upper class. He responds to a story about the disappearing middle class:The proportion of families earning $35,000 to $50,000 has

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1096035449655825342004-09-24T10:17:00.000-04:002004-09-24T10:17:29.656-04:00

"Allawi Effectiveness Hinges on Credibility":: Kerry's staff has made completely inappropriate comments about Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Terrorists are inspired by talk of oppressive occupation and emboldened when a Democratic candidate co-opts their position that being allied with America costs foreign nations’ civilian lives. This is ridiculous."While Kerry was relatively

Ivannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1095871170053938192004-09-22T12:39:00.000-04:002004-09-22T12:39:30.053-04:00

IEM 2004 US Presidential Election Winner Takes All Market Price Graph:: quite a bump for Bush. 68-32. Remarkable.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1095871049348953872004-09-22T12:37:00.000-04:002004-09-22T12:37:29.346-04:00

Cato's Alan Reynolds, a senior fellow, surprisingly argues that budget deficits do not cause interest rate increases. Either way, the most powerful attack on Bush is his lack of fiscal restraint. it will be trumped by terrorism as a voting issue, but I would like to see something done about it.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1095866611372009612004-09-22T11:23:00.000-04:002004-09-22T11:23:31.373-04:00

I,K-bot Check out my new blog. I focused so much on politics here, that I think a dedicated blog on robotics is in order. For those here for the first time, and easily offended or wrongly opinionated, I would check out the non-partisan I,K-bot.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1095865358364173082004-09-22T11:02:00.000-04:002004-09-22T11:02:38.363-04:00

American RealPolitik: Report From Iraq:: Read it all.

Ivannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6151608.post-1095394993529792902004-09-17T00:23:00.000-04:002004-09-17T00:23:13.530-04:00

The New York Times > Washington > Weapons Inspectors: Iraq Study Finds Desire for Arms, but Not Capacity A new report on Iraq's illicit weapons program is expected to conclude that Saddam Hussein's government had a clear intent to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons if United Nations sanctions were lifted, government officials said Thursday. But, like earlier reports, it finds no

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