The red states
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That’s what readers will feel, but not what they will see. What they will see is detailed stories of political shenanigans, immorality, corruption, half-truths, lies and deceptions of all flavors in these red states. Extremely low quality, amoral leadership, surrounded by incompetents. It can be gripping to read these real crime stories, and the criminals get rich. But it is also endless. It gets predictable and even tiresome. It’s the same in every red state, in every domain of government. Red states are for pillaging. Red bad.
Some red states have managed to go without personal income tax altogether (though they typically make it up in real estate taxes and/or sales taxes). Does this make them the darlings of business as predicted? Kleinknecht cites the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, saying: “States with the highest personal income tax rates have greater economic growth, higher wages and better employment opportunities than the states with no personal income tax.” Other studies, he says “show the red states have lower per capita growth, higher poverty, inferior school performance, higher rates of suicide, greater prevalence of diabetes, higher rates of infant mortality and teen pregnancy, less effective health care systems, and lower health care spending.” Business makes its choice clear. Red states are mostly unattractive to them unless the incentives overcome their principles.
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heroes of our time
A short talk by Timothy Snyder .. excellent.
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Timothy Snyder is a historian at Yale University, specializing in eastern Europe, totalitarianism, and the Holocaust. His books have received widespread acclaim. His most recent book, "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century," explores the everyday ways a citizen can resist the authoritarianism of today. He is also the author of "Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning" and, forthcoming in April 2018, "The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America."
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a tip of the hat to David
18:20 in Current Affairs, General Commentary, history | Permalink | Comments (0)