The fans of Ron Paul often describe him as a principled man. Unlike other politicians who swing with the wind and pander, Paul sticks to his guns and says what he means. Or so the story goes. When stories about Ron Paul’s decade-long racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and otherwise disgusting newsletter surfaced, the Ron Paul supporters… Continue reading Ron Paul is exactly like other politicians
Author: Matt Bruenig
The complicated and confusing Buffett Rule
The New York Times ran a piece about some of the hurdles facing the adoption of President Obama’s new tax rule dubbed the Buffett Rule. The idea for the Buffett Rule comes from the fact that investors who make their money primarily through capital gains pay much lower tax rates than a great number of… Continue reading The complicated and confusing Buffett Rule
Using copyright debates to understand conservative economic philosophies
The three philosophical frameworks that conservative intellectuals tend to rely on are desert theory, utilitarianism, and procedural justice. Desert theory emphasizes the construction of an economy that awards each economic actor what they deserve, which conservatives usually define in terms of productivity. Utilitarians insist that the economy should be structured in a way that maximizes… Continue reading Using copyright debates to understand conservative economic philosophies
Charity and justice
Occupied with the new academic semester, I have not been able to post as frequently. So here is a cop-out post on a subject I think about, but rarely write about. People uniformly love charity. If you go to any public interest type of group and offer them a way to provide some direct temporary… Continue reading Charity and justice
The right-wing’s unjustified obsession with the capital gains tax
Since Romney admitted earlier this week that his tax rate is around 15% because his income is primarily from capital gains, the capital gains tax debate has fired up again. The traditional argument for a low capital gains tax is that it is necessary to encourage investment, but this argument is not well-supported. When people… Continue reading The right-wing’s unjustified obsession with the capital gains tax