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Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
This is a very good piece on the puzzle of billionaire greed. Billionaires can already afford anything they want. Why are they so eager for tax cuts that let them keep even more of the money that does nothing for them? 1/ lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/01/what-i…
Much of the reward to extreme wealth is a kind of status/power competition: "seeing em jump," as Tom Wolfe brilliantly put it 2/ books.google.co.vi/books?id=fccDA…
But a tax that everyone pays won't even affect relative status! So the demand for low taxes by the super-wealthy is actually a psychological mystery, and sicker than even progressives realize 3/
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Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
I have nothing original to say about Trump/Cohen/treason. But meanwhile, have people noticed that Ivanka Trump -- Ivanka Trump! - denounced job guarantees because people should be self-reliant and achieve upward mobility on their own? 1/ washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Worth pointing out that America has the highest income inequality and among the least social mobility among advanced countries; the winners are those socialists in Scandinavia 2/ pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10…
According to some research, however, we are the most deluded: we think we have high social mobility when we don't 3/ scholar.harvard.edu/files/alesina/…
Read 3 tweets
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Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
A piece by @MattBruenig that sort of complements my analysis, and also helps explain the Calvinball. He argues that MMT is basically about using odd language to imply that spending needn't be paid for, without being explicit 1/ peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/02/24/wha…
That may be a bit too cynical; I've talked with some MMTers who seem to truly believe that they have an analytical insight; the Kelton piece I discuss here does indeed say some new things. But those things happen to be false 2/ nytimes.com/2019/02/25/opi…
What is true is that political consumers of MMT probably like it not because they really understand macroeconomic arguments, but because they think that (a) standard macro justifies the deficit scolds and (b) alternative theory removes all spending constraints 3/
Read 5 tweets
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Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
This is interesting, but I'm slightly disturbed by the logic. After all, if corporations are on net buying rather than selling stock, the rest of the market must, by definition, be net sellers – it's an accounting identity 1/ nytimes.com/2019/02/25/bus…
I mean, by definition you can't have a market in which there are only buyers, no sellers. What's presumably going on here is that buybacks are making stocks pricy enough that individual and institutional investors are divesting. 2/
But the story here is about corporate behavior, not some kind of buying strike by everyone else. And it doesn't say much in itself about whether the market is properly valued 3/
Read 3 tweets

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Martha Brockenbrough UNPRESIDENTED
@mbrockenbrough
I have a new picture book out today: Cheerful Chick.

Buckle up, friends. I'm going to tell you the story of how it came about. There will be hilarity. Persistence. And misogyny!

You'd never know it by looking at the cover, right?
I came up with the idea for this story years ago at a conference. I was with my most excellent friend, @cuppajolie, at an @scbwi conference in Los Angeles. Jolie used to be a cheerleader, and I was the opposite.
Meaning, I was someone who so hated my female-ness that I never would have CONSIDERED doing anything so freaking girly.
Read 16 tweets
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George Peretz QC🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿BL🇮🇪
@GeorgePeretzQC
Very good piece. And in the end democracy is only sustainable as a form of government if politicians - and ordinary citizens - are prepared to listen, learn from others, reflect, and improve their own thinking accordingly.
That’s a principal concern of the civic republican tradition of political thought - which is the tradition that has always spoken the most to me. Arendt - quoted in the piece - is a great modern writer in that tradition. I’d also point to Martha Nussbaum or Michael Walzer.
But the tradition seems particularly pertinent now. Our democracies need reflective participation and responsible decision-making by all citizens if they are to survive. How do we encourage that?
Read 3 tweets
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Pascal 🇪🇺🇬🇧
@PascalLTH
Very good piece from @i_montaigne - I'd advise French speakers to read it in full

One interesting point that deserves repeating here: while Trump's aggressive posturing is unique to him, there is a wider movement in US politics towards a "competing great powers" view of intl pol
This comes at the expense of Europe who risks being turned into a battleground for competing great powers, as it was during the Cold War

If this came to pass it would massively reduce our sovereignty and ability to defend our interests
Highlights the importance of strengthening European cohesion and establishing ourselves as a competent power, able to benefit from US-China competition, rather than be the victims of it
Read 5 tweets
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Asha Rangappa
@AshaRangappa_
Very good piece here refuting @AndrewCMcCarthy’s recent analysis of the Carter Page FISA. A few additional points regarding that comparison, as a supplement:
1. Direct comparisons between the probable cause standards for criminal search warrants (or Title IIIs) are not apropos because FISAs (let’s all say it together) are *not* about gathering evidence for a crime, but about obtaining foreign intelligence information.
2. FISA is predicated on the ability of the executive branch to obtain foreign intelligence as a part of its authority to protect national security. To wit: the Supreme Court left open the possibility of a “national security exception” to the 4th Amendment warrant requirement.
Read 7 tweets
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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
Republicans back dangerous legislation like this tax bill because they genuinely believe that poor people deserve their poverty and all its accompanying suffering. 1/
Trickle-Down economics, which has never worked, is based on principle that those who are wealthy obviously know best what to do with money, which is absurd. 2/
Wealthy people know best how to game the system in their favor. That's it. They've dammed up the American economy, and this bill just throws more dam at the problem. 3/
Read 13 tweets
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Ben Wikler
@benwikler
Tax fight hits code red this week. Protests start Monday. Click below & find one; put it on your calendar. If you don't want your country to be run by and for the rich, hit the streets. 1/
In the morning, call your Senators. 202-224-3121. But right now, sign up for this tool that lets you call like-minded folks in key states & urge them to call *their* Senators: trumptaxscam.org/calls-to-kill-…
This Wed-Sun, @MoveOn is organizing a week of action. Sign up now to host a protest & you'll get an invite to join me on a briefing call Monday night: moveon.org/goptaxscam
Read 6 tweets

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