Tax ‘Loopholes.’ The idea that Delaware holding companies offer a “tax loophole” depriving states of tax revenues is premised on the dubious notion that a government has some “rightful” claim to part of a private firm’s earnings.
David Brooks on the New Public-Private Partnerships. “These events have heralded a new era of partnership between the White House and private companies, one that calls to mind the wonderful partnership Germany formed with France and the Low Countries at the start of World War II.”
Chuck DeVore’s Quixotic Attempt to Twitter and Parody-Video His Way Into the U.S. Senate “‘They say the Internet is forever and things I write could be used against me in the future. If Alexander Hamilton and Lincoln lived today, would they be using their technology to get their message across? Yes,’ DeVore declares. ‘What are the Federalist Papers but the technological equivalent in the 1700s of the blogs?’”
In Defense of Distraction. Sam Anderson asks if it’s possible to retain our focus in a distraction-filled modern world–and does it matter? For what it’s worth, this took three sittings to get through.
Not Helping. This Facebook group makes out Republicans or conservatives as sore losers.
Spending Restraint? Never! “The New York Times says tax increases, not fiscal restraint, are the route out of recession. Their reasoning? Government will spend your money better than you will.”
Words of Warning from 1940. Herbert Hoover: “Directly or indirectly they politically controlled credit, prices, production or industry, farmer and laborer. They devalued, pump-primed and deflated. They controlled private business by government competition, by regulation and by taxes. They met every failure with demands for more and more power and control.”
E.J. Dionne on Obama’s Goals. Can President Obama create a new “centrist” alliance? And can a program really be called centrist if its principal aims are to make everyone more dependent on government?