We should totally start a national death pact

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 6 Comments

The Richmond Bridge in London: funded with a tontine and has not fallen down. Coincidence?

Yesterday I got to reading Bruce Bartlett’s editorial in the Times, wherein he laments House Republicans’ passage of a bill advocating voluntary taxation. It’s not going to turn into anything; we’re talking about Congress, here. If it were a real law, though, HR 6410 would allow taxpayers to designate a contribution in addition to the liability on their returns for the purposes of deficit reduction. The IRS already has a fund for accepting gifts, so practically this bill that won’t become a law will not have changed anything if it does. It is called The Buffett Rule Act of 2012.

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Study says voter ID laws could disenfranchise 10 million Latinos

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 1 Comment

A fake voter

Good news for anti-fraud crusaders and racists, both of whom happen to be Republicans: a study by the Advancement Project estimates that new voter ID laws could prevent as many as 10 million legitimate Latino voters from casting ballots in the November election. If you hate primary sources and, paradoxically, second sources, Fox Latino has you covered. Meanwhile, judges heard closing arguments yesterday regarding a South Carolina law that would require voters to show one of five forms of voter ID at the polls.

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Terrify yourself with charts and graphs!

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 4 Comments

 

United States GDP minus public and privately-held debt for the past 70 years

The graph above comes from Henry Blodget’s convincing if occasionally facile argument about just what is wrong with the United States economy. Notice that the line starts at zero, then start stocking up on canned food. In the years of our so-called decline, gross domestic product has steadily increased. What has increased much more quickly, however—what’s really seen an unprecedented boom since the Carter administration—is debt. We borrow money way better than we make it. We loan money way better than we produce goods and services. By several conventional metrics, the American economy is growing nicely. It’s just not growing as fast as our appetite for free stuff from the future. See what the 70-year growth of GDP and debt look like as separate lines after the jump.

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Super 2012 GOP platform rumor roundup!

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 0 Comment

Tampa 2012: rectangles

The 2012 Republican National Convention begins Monday in Tampa, and the internet is all a-twitter with leaked planks from the draft version of the party platform. Whatever you do, don’t listen. Party platforms are not legislation; they are by definition grandstand-y and ideological, and they are composed by people who can politely be called true believers. You have to be a special kind of Republican to go to Tampa in August. Party platforms composed at national conventions are like the specific words a crazy man keeps shouting at you on the subway: not a prediction of what’s going to happen, really, but an indication of how somebody thinks.

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A birthday wish

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 4 Comments

The original filename for this image was “smug dog,” which is now the brand name of my line of yoga accessories.

Today is my thirty-fifth birthday. Now that I have ascended to the top of my demographic, I have only one more year of enjoying the exact same things as an 18 year-old. After that I like Family Circus, Harley-Davidsons and voting Republican. These sorts of changes don’t happen very often, as this poll analysis from the Times indicates. It starts out with some boring stuff about Paul Ryan and the base and a car salesman in Des Moines who is not related to me, but then you hit this:

A series of recent polls in six swing states showed that only 5 percent of voters were undecided and only about 1 in 10 likely voters who had chosen a candidate said they were open to switching. At this point four years ago, more than 1 in 4 voters nationwide said they might change their minds.

Anticipated total spending this election cycle: one billion dollars. Find out who’s going to win after the jump.

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