Shocking, no?

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Kansas' Tax Cut Disaster


"The largest tax cuts went to those at the top, and Kansas actually raised taxes on the lowest-income families. Nothing in the Kansas economy’s subpar performance since these tax cuts were enacted suggests the benefits have “trickled down” to ordinary Kansans."

Comments

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

They're a westernized, industrialized nation. And we're talking adults.

Westernized, industrialized or not, Australia is not the United States. There are significant differences between the two we should not ignore, from our cultural differences to our relationships with the private sector and the government, to our histories.

And you can say "we're talking adults," but when half of the minimum wage earners are under 24 (meaning in school), and most of them aren't primary breadwinners, we need to start asking who we're actually serving with the minimum wage, and whether we're better off taking another route with wages entirely.

What sort of cultural differences would make it possible for Australians to pay adults a living wage?

For one, the fact that they don't pay kids that "living wage."

For another, you assume they can do it long term.

For another, you assume that the minimum wage in Australia is somehow above their costs of living, which is far from evident.

And so on and so forth. You're not even asking questions, you're simply accepting the idea that someone else is doing it, thus we can and should.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

And now you can explain how Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania should somehow be compared to the world's superpower.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

They're evidence that it can work, and that austerity is not a fast-track to economic doom. At the very least, we can compare them to state-level plans even if you don't buy that it could work federally.

[rowsdowerisms.livejournal.com]

And of course this evidence is meaningless in your eyes.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Not meaningless, just not too useful. We'd expect GDP to go down somewhat when austerity measures are implemented, as GDP includes government spending. That means that the GDP measurement is flawed in terms of showing how it's working as a simple point of data.

[rowsdowerisms.livejournal.com]

By what metric are you using to show evidence of austerity "working" in the Baltic states?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Their own words, mostly, but I think we also need to look at the GDP compared to the cuts, the overall employment and economic picture, and so forth.

[rowsdowerisms.livejournal.com]

Lolz... ok so GDP in the graph I just posted shows that cuts have a greater negative impact than 1:1.
And its not like the Baltic states are doing fantastic either.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a good thing you ignored the rest of what I said.

Again.

[rowsdowerisms.livejournal.com]

Their own words? I don't even know what that fucking means. GDP compared to cuts is exactly what the graph I posted shows. You want me to show you some correlations between government spending cuts and overall employment? You think that will help out your case?

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going down to my local print shop and having a 'Be like Albania!' bumper sticker made. Because that's what America should shoot for - being like a powerless former soviet puppet.

[rowsdowerisms.livejournal.com]

Clearly, states that have a population similar to Nebraska and haven't completely collapsed under the weight of austerity should be our go to's.

[oslo.livejournal.com]

Their own words, mostly,...

It's just cherry-picked anecdotes all the way down, with you, isn't it?

... but I think we also need to look at the GDP compared to the cuts, the overall employment and economic picture, and so forth.

Jeff, I hope you'll be able to understand how unhelpful this kind of response is. When you say that the evidence supports your preferred policies in the long-term, we have to understand what evidence you're looking at and how you're analyzing it, if we're either (i) to come to agree with your conclusion or (ii) to be able to engage with it meaningfully and productively. This kind of un-serious response makes it very difficult to believe that you've ever put any serious thought into it - or at least, that you'll ever say enough about your own reasoning to allow even your respectful interlocutors to understand where you're coming from.