Resistance Is Futile
Posted on May 18th, 2009
The Republican Party (especially in Arkansas) is currently facing an identity crisis, but not in the manner you may expect. While there is a definite battle going on between the moderate and conservative wings, the one I want to discuss here is even more basic. There is an ensconced leadership structure made up of both wings of the party who seem to be more dedicated to holding their particular power status quo than they are growing the party and actually implementing the party platform.
One thing I always do is try to recruit my campaign volunteers to become active in the party. Countless times I have heard them say something like this, “No, I can’t deal with the ‘us four and no more’ attitude.” My personal experience is that most of those who say that are simply giving up before making the proper investment in the organization, but there is more truth in the statement than there should be.
The latest manifestation of this is the apparent desire of some within the party to prohibit the use of technology in Republican meetings according to a recent tweet by @jasontcpa AKA Jason Tolbert. I don’t know any further details. Are these bans for strategic or executive meetings, or for meetings that are open to the public? I can understand that a certain measure of privacy is needed in those situations, but then how wise is it to have someone in a meeting that could just as easy tell the party secrets AFTER the meeting as DURING the meeting. The same “security” would have been breached anyway.
It is more likely that the intended target of this ban is the public meetings where activists show up and voice their opinion and question the speaker. See, that is the real problem, the real crisis, for the Republican Party right now. We want to hold neat nice little well controlled “listening tours” so we can learn the right “words” to say in a campaign… but we don’t want to really LISTEN and work to implement the ideology we are hearing. If we did, we would not have to go on a tour… we could simply go to a county committee meeting, a TEA Party, or God forbid, read the party platform.
Technology is playing a wonderful role in disestablishing the entrenched and abusive power structure in the mainstream media that has had full control over the news and information we receive, filtering it to suit not political motives necessarily, but to maintain their POWER and INFLUENCE. The same is now happening in the Republican Party. Although the “deciders” think they know better than the “people”, and think they know better how to grow the party… history has shown they don’t. It is time to step back and let a new generation of young Republicans to start taking the helm. They need your support and your advice, but like it or not, they won’t accept your Luddite terms. Resistance is futile.
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Tax Creep, Liberal Creeps, and the Arkansas Middle Class
Posted on May 7th, 2009
Since 1971 inflation has been pushing poorer and poorer Arkansans into higher and higher tax brackets. The gradual process that pushes people into higher and higher tax brackets is called “bracket creep.” The legislature raised the income tax rate in 1971 but failed to index the tax rate to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – a nearly universally accepted measure of inflation. This means that every year, the state government gets a bigger and bigger share of your income even if the legislature does not pass a tax increase.
Furthermore, for all you liberals out there who claim to care about the “poor”, it also means that each and every year since 1971, the Arkansas Income Tax becomes more and more regressive. Personally, I am all well and good with a “flat tax” for everyone… but the system right now severely punishes the hard-working middle class in Arkansas. I am referring to those who make more than $28,500 but less than $133,279. Can you believe that $28,500 puts you in the RICH tax bracket? That is beyond wrong, it borders on evil.
When the current tax brackets went into effect the CPI was 39.900 (using 1971-01-01 numbers), now it is at 212.714 (using 2009-03-01 numbers, the latest I can find). This results in effectively a 533% tax increase since 1971 for some income tax filers. In my opinion that is unacceptably obscene, but it gets worse as I will explain later. If tax rates had been kept fair and indexed to inflation, here is what the tax brackets should look like today:
| Marginal Rate | Income Level | Level Adjusted for Inflation |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0% | $0-$2,999 | $0-$15,988 |
| 2.5% | $3,000-$5,999 | $15,994-$31,982 |
| 3.5% | $6,000-$8,999 | $31,987-$47,975 |
| 4.5% | $9,000-$14,999 | $47,980-$79,962 |
| 6.0% | $15,000-$24,999 | $79,968-$133,274 |
| 7.0% | Over $25,000 | Over $133,279 |
As I was saying, it gets worse. The Arkansas legislature passed a law in the late 1990s that allows the Arkansas Department of Finance & Adminstration (DFA) to make adjustments in response to CPI. Have they done it? Hell no!. This is a perfect example of putting unelected officials in charge of doing the right thing by the people of Arkansas.
The Arkansas legislature should retroactively index the 1971 income tax table to the CPI and limit state government spending to the Arkansas per capita income growth. When the governor or Arkansas legislature asks for more money for this program or that program or roads and highways, ask them what they did with the 533% automatic tax increase that has been leveled since 1971.
The Arkansas taxpayers have been chumps for 38 years, suffering from a secret tax increase that occured without a vote. Don’t you think that is enough?
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15 Economists Who Will Change Your Thinking Forever
Posted on May 6th, 2009
While I am primarily a fan of the Austrian School, I also like Milton Friedman of the Chicago School, who often supports public policies consistent with Austrian economics. Therefore, I would at least add him to the list and make it 16.
There are others in the Classical School, like Adam Smith, that I could recommend reading, but that is such a mixed bag that I would rather tip-toe through a mine field.
A great resource for accessing and reading books by these authors and others can be found at Library of Economics and Liberty and my favorite places for “light” reading… the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s Literature Page and their Scribd Page.
- Juan de Mariana: The Influence of the Spanish Scholastics
- Richard Cantillon: The Origin of Economic Theory
- A.R.J. Turgot: Brief, Lucid, and Brilliant
- Jean-Baptiste Say: Neglected Champion of Laissez-Faire
- Frederic Bastiat: Between the French and Marginalist Revolutions
- Carl Menger: The Founding of the Austrian School
- Philip Wicksteed: The British Austrian
- Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk: Capital, Interest, and Time
- Frank A. Fetter: A Forgotten Giant
- Ludwig von Mises: The Dean of the Austrian School
- Henry Hazlitt: The People’s Austrian
- F.A. Hayek: Austrian Economist and Social Theorist
- William H. Hutt: The “Classical” Austrian
- Wilhelm Ropke: A Humane Economist
- Murray N. Rothbard: Economics, Science, and Liberty
Bonus question: Does anyone know what the logo above is and what it means?
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