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Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’

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AOC and the Moron Mob – by Robert Ringer

Posted by M. C. on February 4, 2019

http://robertringer.com/aoc-and-the-moron-mob/

by Robert Ringer

An acquaintance of mine recently asked me if I took media darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seriously?  Without hesitation, I answered in the affirmative.  Let me explain why.

In full disclosure, I admit I have a soft spot for AOC.  She’s an adorable little girl with sparkling eyes and boundless energy.  Sure, she’s undeniably a moron, but a pleasant moron.  I can’t help it, I just like pleasant people, even if they’re a little short on intellect.

What’s most remarkable about AOC is that she does something Radical Leftists almost never do:  smile!  And not just any old smile.  Hers is the kind of smile that lights up a room and makes everyone around her feel good.

More full disclosure:  AOC reminds me of a Puerto Rican girl in New York City who I dated in my mid-twenties.  She, too, sported an infectious smile, and her enthusiasm was always in high gear.

What made her different from AOC, however, was that not only was she intelligent, she also possessed an understanding of how the real world works that belied her age.  Of course, she had the advantage of not having her thought processes stunted by a four-year misinformation campaign at a prestigious eastern university.

Not so, however, with AOC.  Sadly, she got lobotomized by Boston University’s finest anti-American, socialist professors.  By the time she graduated, she was fully prepared to take on the evils of Western civilization and play a key role in the fundamental transformation of the United States of America.

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Rip-Off the Rich? – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on January 30, 2019

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/01/laurence-m-vance/tax-the-rich/

By 

According to the latest figures released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS):

  • In 2016, the top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of all individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 3 percent.
  • The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (37.3 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (30.5 percent).
  • The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 26.9 percent individual income tax rate, which is more than seven times higher than taxpayers in the bottom 50 percent (3.7 percent).

“The rich” are also punished through the phase-out of tax exemptions, deductions, and credits as their income rises.Yet, according to Democratic politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Bernie Sanders, and former Senator Hillary Clinton, “the rich” are still not paying enough in taxes.

Senator Warren has proposed a “wealth tax” on the richest Americans: Read the rest of this entry »

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EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Not Exactly A Tax Expert

Posted by M. C. on January 30, 2019

Occasional-Cortex: Unemployment is low because people have jobs!

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2019/01/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tax-expert.html

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Not Exactly A Tax Expert

This is excellent.

–RW

Be seeing you
vene social

Is that Sean Penn?

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The “Green New Deal” Debunked (Part 2 of 2) | Mises Wire

Posted by M. C. on January 27, 2019

https://mises.org/wire/green-new-deal-debunked-part-2-2

One of the hottest topics in policy wonk circles is the “Green New Deal,” spearheaded by the rising star of the progressive Left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In my previous post, I explained that the entire premise of a current New Deal—whether green, red, or blue—was flawed. Even on standard Keynesian terms, it makes no sense to embark on a $1 trillion government spending program with official unemployment below 4 percent and the Fed raising rates to rein in price inflation. Worse, historically the actual New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt prolonged the nation’s suffering, making the Great Depression linger for a decade. Finally, I pointed out that the supporters of a Green New Deal weren’t merely interested in mitigating climate change: they quite openly announce that they will use the plan as a vehicle for transforming society according to the standard progressive wish list.

In the present post, I’ll critically analyze some of the specific policy goals listed in the draft text calling for a creation of a select committee to craft a Green New Deal. The various proposals would waste enormous sums of money in pursuit of impossible goals that would raise energy prices and hurt consumers. Even if one believes that carbon dioxide emissions constitute a “negative externality,” the measures in the proposed Green New Deal would achieve emission reductions at a much higher cost than necessary. And we see once again that the progressive Left does not think a simple “price on carbon” is enough to achieve their agenda. Conservatives and libertarians should therefore be under no illusions when the idea of a “carbon tax deal” is floated.

A Carbon Tax Won’t Satisfy the Green New Dealers

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The “Green New Deal” Debunked (Part 1 of 2) | Mises Wire

Posted by M. C. on January 27, 2019

https://mises.org/wire/green-new-deal-debunked-part-1-2

There’s a growing buzz around a “Green New Deal,” spearheaded by newly-elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Although the details are in flux, currently the draft text calls for the creation of a 15-member “Select Committee for a Green New Deal” that would “have authority to develop a detailed national, industrial, economic mobilization plan” to make the U.S. economy “greenhouse gas emissions neutral.” As if that weren’t ambitious enough, the Select Committee’s detailed national plan would also have the goal “to promote economic and environmental justice and equality.” The draft specifically mentions spending $1 trillion over ten years, in addition to extensive taxes and regulations to steer the economy and society as the 15 committee members see fit. (To be clear, the draft text currently calls for the creation of the select committee, which in turn is then tasked with drafting legislation forming the “Green New Deal” itself.)

In this two-part series I will strongly critique both the spirit and substance of a proposed “Green New Deal.” In the second article, I will focus on the specific proposals in the draft legislation. But in this first piece I will give the historical context and explain why the very notion of a Green New Deal is misguided, because it relies on faulty history and bad economics.

The Original New Deal Was Implemented During the Great Depression

Perhaps the most obvious flaw with anyone proposing a modern-day New Deal—whether green or any other hue—is that we are not currently in the midst of an economic depression. Even textbook Keynesians, who think that (say) the incoming Obama Administration was justified in administering a large “stimulus package” because we were stuck in a so-called liquidity trap, now admit that there is no economic rationale for continuing to run large budget deficits. (As Paul Krugman notoriously and conveniently wrote soon after the election of Trump, “Deficits Matter Again.”)

The very term “New Deal” was chosen to appeal to the 20%+ of the unemployed in the workforce, who had ostensibly been left behind by the traditional U.S. economic system. Yes, Ocasio-Cortez and her supporters are touting the Green New Deal as (among other things) the solution to lingering economic inequities in the current system. But to call concern over a wage gap a “New Deal” is as inapt as christening a bullet train program a “Green Moon Shot.”

The New Deal Actually Hurt the U.S. Economy and Prolonged the Great Depression

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EconomicPolicyJournal.com: WARNING: The ‘Green New Plan’ Has All the Elements of an Old Soviet Union GOSPLAN

Posted by M. C. on January 23, 2019

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2019/01/warning-green-new-plan-has-all-elements.html#more

WARNING: The ‘Green New Plan’ Has All the Elements of an Old Soviet Union GOSPLAN

Richard Ebeling emails:

Dear Bob,

I have a new article on the website of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) on, “The Green New Dealers and the New Socialism.”

How quickly it seems to be forgotten what “socialism-in-practice” was really like in many places around the world in the 20th century, considering the rebirth of advocacy of a new “democratic socialism” by many in contemporary America. This is reflected in the proposal for a “”Green New Deal.”

Have no doubt, if implemented, this Green New Deal will result in a comprehensive system of government central planning by those determined to “save the planet” from “climate change” and wanting to remake society according to a collectivist agenda of social justice based on the new tribalism of “identity politics.”

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Doug Casey on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – Casey Research

Posted by M. C. on January 19, 2019

https://www.caseyresearch.com/casey-daily-dispatch/doug-casey-on-alexandria-ocasio-cortez

By Doug Casey

Justin’s note: America can’t stop talking about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).

AOC, if you haven’t heard, is a 29-year-old democratic socialist. Earlier this month, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

And that concerns me. I say this because her platform is every socialist’s dream. She wants Medicare to be free. She wants college education to be free. She wants to cancel student debt. She wants to hike the minimum wage to $15. And she wants to replace oil and gas with green energy by 2030.

Now, I realize these ideas might sound good to some people. But none of this would come free. It would require massive tax hikes and a lot more national debt. In short, she’s advocating for policies that often destroy entire economies.

Yet, she’s one of today’s most popular political figures…

Doug: Most likely she’s the future of the Democratic Party – and of the U.S. Why? She’s cute, vivacious, charming, different, outspoken, and has a plan to Make America Great Again. And she’s shrewd. She realized she could win by ringing doorbells in her district, where voter turnout was very low, and about 70% are non-white. There was zero motivation for residents to turn out for the tired, corrupt, old hack of a white man she ran against.

She’s certainly politically astute – but doesn’t seem very intelligent. In fact, she’s probably quite stupid. But let’s define the word stupid, otherwise, it’s just a meaningless pejorative – name-calling.

But in fact it doesn’t seem like she has a very high IQ. I suspect that if she took a standardized IQ test, she’d be someplace in the low end of the normal range. But that’s just conjecture on my part, entirely apart from the fact a high IQ doesn’t necessarily correlate with success. Besides, there are many kinds of intelligence – athletic, aesthetic, emotional, situational…

A high IQ can actually be a disadvantage in getting elected. Remember it’s a bell-shaped curve; the “average” person isn’t terribly smart, compounded by the fact half the population has an IQ of less than 100. And they’re suspicious of anyone who’s more than, say, 15 points smarter than they are.

However, there are better ways to define stupid than “a low score on an IQ test,” that apply to Alexandria. Stupid is the inability to not just predict the immediate and direct consequences of actions, but especially the indirect and delayed consequences of your actions.

She’s clearly unable to do that… Read the rest of this entry »

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Yellow Vests Becoming World Wide Movement | Armstrong Economics

Posted by M. C. on January 6, 2019

Hard believe the Yellow Vest platform originated in France.

It is not hard to believe arrests were made on the basis of being anti government. The US origin was based on being anti government. How long before the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s permanently fix that?

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/civil-unrest/yellow-vests-becoming-world-wide-movement/

by Martin Armstrong

The Yellow Vest Movement that began in France, is spreading. It appeared also in Belgium and it spread to Canada as well. The French arrested the leaders of the Yellow Vest Movement calling them an anti-government charging them for organizing an unauthorized protest, as authorities adopt a tougher approach to try to curb the demonstrations. During the weekend of December 15th, mimicking the Yellow Vest movement in France, protests have formed all over Canada. These are peaceful protests, unlike in France, but they have continued every weekend in various cities such as Toronto, Halifax, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Calgary etc, especially in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Proposes Massive Tax Hike on the Wealthy

Posted by M. C. on January 6, 2019

Someone should tell her the upper 20% of taxpayers pay 80% of the taxes. The lower 50% of the citizenry pay nothing or get “free government money” back.  Pareto’s law.

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2019/01/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-proposes.html#more

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Proposes Massive Tax Hike on the Wealthy

The 29-year old congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who just took office, says tax rates for the nation’s wealthiest should increase to as much 70 percent to fund a new initiative to combat climate change — even if that means she’s labeled a “radical.”

“If that’s what radical means, call me a radical,” she said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that will air in full on Sunday.

“That is the goal. It’s ambitious,” she said. “It’s going to require a lot of rapid change that we don’t even conceive as possible right now. What is the problem with trying to push our technological capacities to the furthest extent possible?”

The plan could include “an element where people are going to have to start paying their fair share in taxes.”

“You know, you look at our tax rates back in the ’60s, and when you have a progressive tax rate system, your tax rate let’s say from zero to $75,000 may be 10 percent or 15 percent, etc.,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“But once you get to the tippy-tops

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THE ‘GREEN NEW DEAL’: A RADICAL MANDATE FOR GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

Posted by M. C. on January 3, 2019

More, Ocasio-Cortez sees this plan is being a vehicle through which social equality might finally realized through the use of reparations to right historical injustices.

Going back how many thousand years?

Ocasio-Cortez may not be in Congress yet, but she already has a plan to remake the way Americans drive, commute, live, work, and even use the financial system. Let there be little doubt how she aspires to wield power in Washington.

https://news.grabien.com/story-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal-radical-mandate-government-con

By Tom Elliott

…

More specifically, Ocasio-Cortez’s plan calls for, within 10 years, a series of lofty overhauls of American life [emphasis added]:

  • The installation of a “national, energy-efficient, “smart grid.”
  • “Upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety”
  • “Eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries” as well as from America’s transportation and infrastructure network
  • Funding “massive investment” in reducing existing greenhouse gasses

Between its calls for “upgrading” homes and overhauling travel, public infrastructure, and even the way Americans consume electricity, the plan leaves virtually no facet of everyday life untouched. Think of how often you don’t use electricity to imagine how much of your average day the plan wouldn’t impact.

The proposed committee would also have seemingly total oversight of American industry, with a mandate for pushing union membership. Read the rest of this entry »

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