Daily Archives: July 4, 2017

I really want to beat the Earthquakes, I really do. Firing one of the most regressive coaches in MLS has tempered some of that but not by much. Anyway, lets get to know San Jose, or as the city is known, Americas AV Club.

The Earthquakes of San Jose have come to our barbecue for the Fourth of July. As a franchise the Quakes have the distinction of having their franchise move to a different city, win several championships, and then be re-started as a hapless shell of its former self searching in vain for the formula to find the success that it had before moving away. Essentially, they are the Cleveland Browns of MLS.

Aside from that the biggest highlight in the existence of the team in MLS is that they had Landon Donovan long enough for him to win them two championships and realize that getting wicked homesick and washing out in Germany was better than living in suburban San Francisco. Donovan went on to become the best American in MLS history and won four MLS Championships with the LA Galaxy.

As for this year, somehow the Quakes have managed to win 7 games by scoring just 20 goals through 18 matches. In attack they value fortunate bounces, defensive lapses, the ineptitude of Clement Diop, and playing against RSL to get results. This highlight exemplifies the San Jose plan in possession:

First, they line up behind the fullback and have their striker run the length of the field wearing sandals. When they get close enough to the goal, they execute a handoff, the halfback cuts past the keeper, and leaps into the goal. The key is the red card celebration which needs to be more emphatic than celebrating the goal itself. Side note* if Wondo had used his hands against Belgium he still would have found a way to miss that goal.

San Jose itself is an interesting place. It is home to eBay, PayPal, and Samsung and is the wealthiest city in the country. The city also has the largest wealth gap in the United States. It is a place filled with young men who have ideas they gleaned from Ayn Rand books which somehow inspired them to invent the Juicero, hold the #FyreFestival, and sue Gwaker.

In response to much of societys ills, these fellas are all eager to explain how an app theyve developed will address an issue like hunger or poverty somehow without actually facing the underlying social, political, and economic exploitation that perpetuate these issues - no, all you need is a smart phone with an app on it and have the ability to conflate economic freedom and civil liberties - poof, solved.

Anyway, - stick to sports - back to the soccer. The Earthquakes are so bad at scoring goals that Joey Chestnut will eat more hot dogs in 10 minutes this afternoon than the team will score goals in two MLS seasons. Whats more, its not that many hot dogs, it is only like 70 red hots. Chestnut has real skill and talent at what he does, plus that if I were from San Jose Id give eating myself to death a shot as a career as well.

All that aside, Chestnut is a real life American hero. If Chris Wondolowski entered the Nathans Hot Dog eating contest, he would get the last hot dog - dunk it in water to soften the bun - and then when he went to take a bite, he would inexplicably miss his mouth with it. He is no Joey Chestnut.

What Im trying to say is I hope Joey Chestnut is the only winner from San Jose today and Atlanta United hangs a whole bunch of goals on the Earthquakes.

Link:

The Morning Rekrap: July 4, 2017 - Dirty South Soccer (registration) (blog)

I can think of few entities that Trump has not offended. His targets have been women, veterans (and true war heroes), the press (which is what makes us a free and open country), his own judges and lawmakers, many religions and cultures, world leaders, and by his actions, the poor. He signs executive orders like he is a dictator. He consults few and listens to none. Trump is not well-spoken, he is crass, and either unbalanced or not very intelligent. What has happened to my country?

We the people have elected our President, instead of picking between two selected by our ruling elite in D.C. This has been a start to reestablish our Republic. Term limits are necessary, because if politicians stay long in the swamp they love the rich life and never want to leave, they forget we the people.

All our distress over health care reform and Trumps tweets are simply distractions preventing us from recognizing Trumps actual agenda of enriching himself at our expense.

The First Amendment Establishment Clause was intended by our forefathers to prevent religious persecution from a tyrannical government, not to remove all references of God and Christianity from our schools and other public places.

Make America Great Again was nothing more than a fake promise. It was only to get people pepped up and to get votes, not help people keep their insurance or Medicaid.

Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, submitted a bill that would improve the Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare. However, because Republicans control the Senate, it is unlikely that Joes bill will ever be allowed to come up for a vote. The GOP is all about cutting taxes for the rich. They dont care about people like you and me.

Yes millions suddenly received health care with Obamacare. Nothing is free. Somebody is paying for it one way or another.

Speaks volumes. Prius with Hillary/COEXIST stickers on bumper. Loaded down with few hundred pounds of mulch bags. Broke down along the road.

Yes the budget cuts are going to hurt across the board. Everybody has a favorite program or department that it will be the end of the world. Heres a suggestion. Run for office. Get elected. Then use your genius IQ to pass a better plan.

There was a story in todays Gazette-Mail about a wrestler with the name Progressive Liberal. If Trump wanted a match he should challenge the guy. Then when the President loses he could wear the crybaby diaper. Appropriate.

We saw today that President Trump is re-working an old wrestling video to get his point across about the press. I cant wait to see how he re-works the Access Hollywood video with Billy Bush...I wonder what point he will be trying to make with it? Its hard to grab things with such small hands.

I like Ric Cavenders (Director of Charleston Main Streets) article espousing all of the efforts to improve Charleston with an eye on making it the NEXT Charleston. There are indeed good things happening and good plans for future improvements. What no one talks about, and what bothers me working in Charleston, is poor air quality. Much better than 30-40 years ago, but still very bad.

Great story about housing for the homeless in Sundays paper. Rep. Mooney didnt do his homework before signing a letter that would hurt homeless veterans and others.

Enough with the sky is falling comments from the unhinged left. If millions are going to die because of GOP repeal of Obamacare. Were they dying before Obamacare? Millions of deaths. Thats an epidemic. Genocide. Where were the news reports and warnings then?

George Will said before expensive modern medicine when someone got run over by a wagon they went home to be cared for by their family, and died quietly. Is he saying if you get run over by a bus and cant afford the bill its family time? Paul Ryan (via Ayn Rand) says it is more important to give big tax breaks to small business owners who live like millionaires and complain about paying minimum wage than to provide minimum wage earners with necessary medical care. That is the job of families.

The fascists in the White House need to understand this is a democracy (actually a federal republic), we dont want a dictator.

Readers Vent: July 3, 2017

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Readers' Vent: July 4, 2017 - Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)

By JEREMY W. PETERS

WASHINGTON --Something strange has been happening to taxes in Republican-dominated states: They are going up.

Conservative lawmakers in Kansas, South Carolina and Tennessee have agreed to significant tax increases in recent weeks to meet demands for more revenue. They are challenging what has become an almost dogmatic belief for their party, and sharply diverging from President Donald Trump as he pushes for what his administration has billed as the largest tax cut in at least a generation.

And now some Republicans say that what has played out in these states should serve as a cautionary tale in Washington, where their partys leaders are confronting a set of circumstances that looks strikingly similar.

Republicans, with control of Congress and the White House and a base that is growing impatient for tax reform, are trying to solve a difficult math problem: paying for critical programs like infrastructure, health care and education while honoring their promise to deliver lower taxes without exploding the deficit.

The debate promises to test the enduring relevance of one of the most fundamental principles of modern conservatism supply side economics, the idea that if you cut taxes far enough, the economy will expand to the point that it generates new tax revenue.

With the federal deficit growing and economic growth sputtering along in the low single digits, the Republican Party is facing questions from within over what many see as a blind faith in the theory that deep tax cuts are the shot of economic adrenaline a languid economy needs.

Tax cuts good. And thats about as much thinking that goes into it, said Chris Buskirk, a radio host and publisher of American Greatness, a conservative online journal. Now, he said, Republicans in Washington seem to be in an arms race to the lowest rates possible.

Everybody is trying to overbid each other, Buskirk said. How much more can we cut?

Outside Washington, Republicans are discovering there are limits.

In South Carolina, Republicans overrode their governors veto and blocked a filibuster to increase the gas tax. They also rejected a series of broader tax cuts on the grounds that they were too expensive and voted instead to create a smaller tax incentive for low-income families.

The Republican governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam, signed into law the first increase in the states gas tax in almost three decades. He defied conservative groups that said a state with a $1.1 billion budget surplus had no business asking people to hand over more of their money.

And in the most striking rebuke of conservative tax policy in recent memory, Republicans in Kansas have undone much of the tax overhaul that Gov. Sam Brownback held up as a model for other states and the federal government to emulate.

A fantastic way to go, he said this year, urging Trump and Congress to follow suit with deep reductions to corporate and individual rates. But Republican lawmakers in Kansas decided that they could cut only so much without doing irreparable harm to vital services and voted to increase taxes by $1.2 billion last month. Brownback vetoed the plan, but Republicans overrode him.

Much of the devotion to tax cuts as an inviolable Republican principle stems from the success President Ronald Reagan and Congress had in 1981 when they agreed to an economic recovery package that included a rate cut of about 25 percent for individuals.

But at that time, the highest marginal tax rates approached 70 percent, leaving much more to cut and a much larger chunk of money to be injected back into the economy. At some point, economists said, tax policy that is too aggressive leaves too little money to inject to make a difference.

Bruce Bartlett, who advised Reagan on the 1981 tax cuts, chastised Republicans for what he described as their reflexive desire to drive rates lower.

The essence of what the supply-siders were trying to accomplish was accomplished by the end of the Reagan administration, Bartlett said.

Yet, he added, Republican policy still mimics what was done under Reagan. Theyve got to keep pressing ahead no matter what, he said.

The situation in Kansas was, for at least some conservatives, a jolting realization that tax cuts can be too blunt an economic instrument.

After Brownback took office in 2011, he pursued a plan that included cuts and, in some cases, an outright elimination of taxes for businesses and individuals to help invigorate the states underperforming economy. He described it as an experiment in conservative governance that could demonstrate what Republicans were capable of if they controlled legislative and executive branches across the country. (He is Kansas first Republican governor since 2003.)

The conservative movement got behind him. The plan was approved with the lobbying muscle of billionaire Koch brothers political network, which is overseen from Wichita, where one of the brothers, Charles G. Koch lives. It had the blessing of prominent conservative economists like Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer, the Republican Partys foremost supply-side evangelist.

In urging the Kansas Legislature to act, Laffer and Moore said the cuts would have a near immediate positive impact on the economy. Brownback said the plan would pay for itself.

That is where the parallels with Washington start to trouble those who are critical of the plan the Trump administration has laid out. The plan would slash the rate paid by businesses to 15 percent and shrink the number of individual income tax brackets from seven to three 10, 25 and 35 percent.

Laffer and Moore, a Heritage Foundation economist, have both helped shape the presidents tax policy.

Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said the Trump tax cuts would pay for themselves with the economic growth they would inevitably create.

In Kansas, the predicted economic bloom did not materialize. Employment and economic growth have lagged far behind the rest of the nation. The state Treasury had so little money to spread around that the Kansas Supreme Court found that the states spending on public education was unconstitutionally low.

If there were three words I could say to Congress right now, said Stephanie Clayton, a Republican state representative from a district in the Kansas City area, they would be, Dont do it.

She criticized what she said was a desire by her party to be more faithful to the principle than to the people Republicans were elected to help. Brownback and many conservatives, she said, overpromised on the tax cuts as a sort-of Ayn Rand utopia, a red-state model, citing the author whose works have influenced the American libertarian movement.

And I loved Ayn Rand when I was 18 before I had children and figured out how the world really works, Clayton added. Thats not how it works, as it turns out.

Trump and Republicans in Washington are undeterred. Kansas, they argue, is not an economic microcosm for the country, with its unique dependence on energy, agriculture and aircraft manufacturing. And lawmakers there never could reduce spending enough to correspond to the much lower level of tax revenue coming into the state treasury.

Many conservatives who support a tax overhaul said they anticipated considerable growth with a reduction in corporate rates, which are among the highest in the world. If those are lowered to 15 percent, down from the current 35 percent, businesses will not only reinvest in the United States but relocate here, they said.

At 15 percent, Swiss bankers will move here, said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

But restraining federal spending is still going to be a key part of the equation. What you need is not an explosion of spending, Norquist added. And you need the economy to grow faster than the size of the government.

In a world in which Trumps deconstruction of the administrative state reduces the size and cost of the government, the tax cuts make sense. But if lawmakers do not have the nerve to find savings somewhere, like in the social safety net for retirees, the outcome could end up resembling something close to Kansas failed experiment.

The question is whether you can put together some kind of revenue-neutral tax reform, said N. Gregory Mankiw, a professor of economics at Harvard and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. I dont see the political will to do that right now. Certainly not in this environment.

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How low can taxes go? Outside Washington, Republicans find limits ... - Buffalo News