On Reading Classical Economists
“Classical’ econoimists refer to those thinkers who laid the foundation for modern economic thought. Since the U of Chicago school is full of neo-classical thinkers, I thought it would be good to go back to basics. And because I like to share, here’s a test for you.
All of the quotes below come from either:
A) John Stuart Mill
B) Adam Smith
C) David Ricardo
D) Karl Marx
Answers will follow shortly. See how well you do! Good luck!
1) The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities [ O Krell: IOW, progressive taxation ]
2) Avoidance of taxes is not always the most rational course of action
3) Payment of a tax is not a badge of slavery; rather, it is a badge of liberty
4) The expense of maintaining good roads is, no doubt, beneficial to the whole society, and may, therefore, without any injustice, be defrayed by the general contributions of the whole society. This expense, however, is most immediately and directly beneficial to those who travel or carry goods from one place to another, and to those who consume such goods
5) It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of labor, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people.
6) But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages, rise with the prosperity and fall with the declension of the society. On the contrary, it is naturally low in rich, and high in poor countries, and it is always highest in the countries that are going fastest to ruin. [ O Krell: seemed particularly apt in view of the level of corporate profits we’re seeing today….]
7) In the face of rising costs, it is advantageous to raise the level of pecuniary recompense to the lowest-paid workers [ O Krell: sounds like an argument for a minimum wage law ]
8) When masters conspire to put a cap on labor’s wages, this is legal. However, should workers combine to put a floor on wages, this would be severely punished under the law.
9) People are generally incapable of rational assessment of both their talent & their chances of success. They overestimate both–as proven by popularity of lotteries
10) People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for purposes of merriment, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
At the “Civil Rights Under Attack” Forum
The RI Mobilization Committee sponsored an interesting array of speakers Wednesday night at the Beneficent Church in downtown Providence centered around the theme of Civil Rights. First up was Iman Ikram Ul-Haq, from Masjid Al-islam mosque, North Smithfield, who talked about Islamophobia. The Iman made some interesting observations about the recent attacks in Norway and the rush to judgement by the media in identifying the attacker as a Muslim terrorist when in fact the man was a white Christian militant. The audience in attendance split during the question and answer session over the idea of free speech. Some felt that free speech includes the right not to be offended, but others maintained that offensive speech needs to be protected. The Iman was very courteous but personally I feel that he should have given more thought as to how to confront Islamophobia in a constructive way.
Next up was Onna Moniz-John, of the NAACP and the Urban League, a tireless advocate for the elimination of racial profiling. She related her ongoing struggle to deal with this issue legislatively, and her disappointment that a bill in the recent legislative session was scuttled at the behest of the police chiefs from the various RI communities. (One of many disappointing outcomes in the latest session.) Racial profiling exists, and needs to be dealt with, and Ms. Moniz-John offered us a real route towards dealing with this problem. She is a very affecting speaker.
Next up was Will Lambek of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association and Marlon Cifuentes, talking about Secure Communities, an Orwellian-named government program that puts people from south of the border on the fast track to deportation without any hint of due process. This program had been ostensibly instituted to deal with the very worst violent offenders, but in practice has been used as a means by which to deport anyone for any reason. Efforts to dissociate states from this program have been successful in some states, including New York, but Attorney General Peter Kilmartin and Governor Lincoln Chafee have both ignored requests to meet on this issue.
Last to speak was John Prince of DARE, who spoke about the Prison Industrial Complex, and his own dealings with it. After serving more than his fair share of time for his youthful indiscretions, Prince has become a tireless fighter for prison reform. I feel that the way a society treats its prisoners is the metric by which the society should be judged. On this count, the United States is not doing so well.
One of the eeriest things revealed this night is how all these various problems are related in such a way as to lead a person of color directly from his malfunctioning school directly into the Prison Industrial Complex. A person may be racially profiled, pulled over, arrested on some pretense, run through the court system, and wind up in jail, beginning a life cycle that may result in years of incarceration. It was pointed out by an audience member that the privatization of prisons and the continuance of the failed war on drugs has created a real profit motive to continue the failing schools and the building of more prisons.
Over all it was a very informative evening of refreshing and positive activism within our community. There is much to be done, and I came away feeling that though the situation is dire, it is far from hopeless if we continue to work on these issues.
State Senator Nicholas Kettle has Learned What, Exactly?
Yesterdays’s Projo ran a piece on freshman Senator Nicholas Kettle. Kettle also happens to be the youngest Senator at age 20. You might remember Kettle, who rode into office as a Republican Tea Party candidate with no experience whatsoever. He very soon established his Tea Party bona fides by insulting the homeless community in RI with disdainful and uncaring comments via email.
Here’s the relevant bit from an earlier Projo article:
In an e-mail before the hearing, freshman Sen. Nicholas D. Kettle urged Tea Party supporters to question homeless advocates and “fill up the room before the homeless folks! Help me ask why this homeless person has better clothes than I,” he said.
Kettle promised to ask tough questions and called Tassoni’s hearings a “dog-and-pony show.”
But during the hearing, Kettle apologized for the message, after homeless advocate John Joyce read it aloud and asked why Kettle hated the homeless and the poor.
Kettle said he didn’t hate the homeless, but that he sent the e-mail “out of frustration” and because he thought the hearing was one-sided.
“Don’t apologize to me,” said Joyce, who was once homeless. “Apologize to the homeless people of the state.”
So we have a young Senator making a freshman mistake right out of the box, but the forgiving among us will chalk it all up to a lack of worldly experience. Kettle did apologize after all. He said he does not hate the homeless, but was frustrated by the politics he was encountering.
But that apology rings hollow in light of more recent comments Kettle made. He now claims that one of the main lessons he learned had nothing to do with tolerance or compassion. Instead Kettle has learned the true art of politics. He has learned not to express his true views out loud, but to keep them to himself. He has decided that honestly expressing himself is dangerous.
“Watch what you put in writing,” he says now.
Going from “idealistic” Tea Party darling to disengenuous political hack in just one session has got to be some sort of record.
Redistricting: The Most Fun You’ll Have All Decade
Draw your own House, Senate and Congressional districts today!
Thanks to the New Organizing Institute newsletter for sending this one out.
During the College Democrats of RI convention in early May, I spoke to how this redistricting season is going to be really exciting. For the first time ever, anyone with an internet connection will be able to compete with the State House consultants to draw the new district maps.
A couple of months passed, and I still hadn’t gotten my hands on a clean dataset and a free and accessible tool to play around with it. As I understand it, Rhode Island was one of the few states to a) ask for the Census data from the Feds without precinct level data, and b) decide to pay our consultants to draw new precinct lines, in addition to ward, municipal, legislative and congressional districts. That gives us a more opaque, and more expensive process.
The tool here, Dave’s Redistricting application, has several things going for it, but also a few shortcomings. It’s free, it’s intuitive, it processes data quickly and smoothly on the laptop I’m sitting at. You set the number of districts, whether congressional, or legislative, and color in the Census block groups you’re allocating, and it keeps a running total by population.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enhanced with the voter file, so you can’t compare it against party affiliation, primary voters, or even general registration numbers. The other downside is that the finest grain available is Census block group, where I believe that Election Data Services may have access to block level data.
Expect several meetings over the fall for public input as we draw us some new maps, though no set number or other criteria are mentioned in H6096. The ProJo says:
If all goes as planned, the commission would start meeting this summer, holding public hearings across the state as it reviews the options for new district lines, which would be submitted to the General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2012. The Assembly would then vote on the new boundaries, which would be in place for the November 2012 election.
States are required to redistrict every 10 years, using the latest U.S. Census data to uphold the principle of one-person, one-vote, by making sure congressional and legislative districts are equal in population.
The Assembly has budgeted $1.5 million for Rhode Island’s latest redistricting. Of that amount, $692,240 will go to Election Data Services, with the rest being set aside for potential lawsuits, according to House spokesman Larry Berman.
Ideally, of course, the new boundaries would be in place not just for the November 2012 general election, but also the September primary, and the June filing deadline for candidates.
Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except…
Its been about two months since Governor Chafee signed the bill that posthumously pardoned John Gordon, the last man executed by the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. During the hearing a great many people spoke eloquently about the terrible injustice of a man who (in hindsight) was so clearly innocent that he propelled the discontinuation of the Death Penalty in Rhode Island. Some spoke of racism, of frenzied crowds, or proper legal procedure. Others reiterated the spiritual and moral bankruptcy of putting people to death, made only more horrid when someone is likely innocent.
I wasn’t so eloquent. I was blunt, and spoke about innocent people locked away right now, and how legal technicalities can bury evidence that would exonerate someone and I even named names. But that was about “actual innocence.” What about the Death Penalty in general?
Governor Chafee is currently battling the federal government, who want the option of killing a Rhode Island resident upon conviction and sentencing by a jury. Chafee clearly is saying it doesn’t matter what the charge, there should be no death penalty. What do others think? Its long been said we live in the most Catholic state in the union, and the Church has long been one of the staunchest international opponents of the death penalty. But I’m not convinced that tenets of a church doctrine too often filter down to the card carriers. And it seems that one is more likely to get a “kill em” response from an average citizen in any situation where there is a public case on TV.
Is it time for a legislator to introduce a bill and have this public debate? Would the Attorney General support the death penalty? It seems he would. Jason Pleau, according to his lawyers, was prepared to plead guilty in exchange for Life Without Parole. Rather than accept that offer, A.G. Kilmartin dismissed the charges against him, leaving Pleau only open to federal prosecution and the possible death penalty. Kilmartin clearly knows it is illegal for the state to kill someone as punishment for a crime, and his job is to uphold the laws of Rhode Island.
Personally, I say bring on the death penalty. Under federal habeas corpus law section 2255, death penalty states receive more scrutiny of the case. It makes it vastly more expensive (California is spending tens of millions just to maintain their death penalty cases), and innocent people will die from time to time (Texas seems to have clearly killed two in recent years), but more people will be exonerated (Louisiana and Illinois have each cleared dozens over the past decade). Federal habeas section 2254, where there is no death penalty, allows for far more innocent people to rot away in prison. They are accused of terrible crimes, will likely never be paroled, and generate far less public oversight because it takes “natural causes” to kill them rather than a needle.
With conflict within the government itself, this discussion needs to be more fleshed out. Across the nation people hold this debate. Some tend to simplify it as those who support killing are “tough,” and those who oppose it are “soft.” Some believe the court system is infallible, and innocent people never get put to death. Some are strong enough to hold to their beliefs even when placed in a challenging situation. Does Chaffee support what Pleau did? Of course not. Does he think the man should be let go tomorrow? Of course not. But props to him for standing up for his beliefs; its pretty rare to see these days.
New Mattress Policy Coming to Prov.
Beginning August 1, Providence residents and property owners can dispose of their old mattresses and box springs directly at the Department of Public Works’ Convenience Center at 700 Allens Avenue on Thursdays from 3-7PM and Saturdays from 7AM – 1PM.
Residents dropping off mattresses/box springs will be asked to provide proof of Providence residency, and drop-offs are limited to two mattresses/box springs per resident.
Those who choose not to drop off their mattresses and box springs directly at DPW will be required to pay a $20 disposal fee for each mattress or box spring they throw away. Property owners will be fined $50 to $500 for mattresses and box springs that are placed on the curb in front of their property without a scheduled pick-up.
Throwing away old mattresses and box springs is easy: Just call Waste Management at 1-800-972-4545 before 3PM, at least 24 hours prior to your regular trash collection day, from Monday to Friday, 8AM – 5PM to schedule curbside pickup. English and Spanish-speaking customer service representatives are available from to process mattress/box spring disposal requests. Payments can be made by either check or credit/debit card.
Each year thousands of people dump mattresses and box springs on the sidewalk in Providence when they move or buy new ones, and their disposal comes with a surprisingly high price tag that the city simply can no longer afford. Last year alone, 19,000 mattresses were collected throughout the city, costing Providence’s taxpayers $513,000.
Bulky trash items and white goods will still be picked-up free of charge by calling 1-800-972-4545.
Uh Oh, President Obama to Address Nation Tonight at 9pm
This could potentially be very, very bad…
Tonight at 9 p.m. EDT President Obama will address the nation on the stalemate in Washington over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits.
You can watch the speech live at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live starting at 9pm tonight. The expectation among progressives is that President Obama will reiterate his frustration at Republican intransigence for his desire to dismantle the social safety net that millioins of Americans rely on. To summarize:
Democrats asked Republicans to pass a clean bill, just as GOP leaders had supported many times in the past. Republicans said, “No.”Democrats invited Republicans to Biden-led bipartisan talks. Republicans quit. Democrats offered a $2.4 trillion debt-reduction package, 83% of which would come from spending cuts. Republicans said, “No.”Democrats sought a Grand Bargain, with more than $4 trillion in savings. Republicans said, “No.”Several Democrats offered some preliminary support for the “Gang of Six” blueprint. Republicans said, “No.”Many more Democrats signaled support for the McConnell/Reid “Plan B.” Republicans said, “No.”
Unfortunately, we can only rely on Republican intransigence to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for so long. As I said before, it took a Democrat to “end welfare as we know it.” And it’ll take this Democrat to gut the social safety net. Will Obama offer yet another path that fully capitulates to Republican demands? Will he abandon any and all revenue enhancements in the battle over the debt ceiling? It has been a slow progression away from what would be desireable, what would be reasonable, to what is ridiculous.
From the Center for American Progress:
The infographic above shows that the president’s latest offer to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is heavily titled toward spending cuts. In fact, the president’s offer contained about $1 trillion less revenue than the recent proposal from the so-called Gang of Six, a group that includes three Republican senators and three Democratic senators. It also represents significant movement from the president’s original debt reduction framework, which itself was already more conservative than the recommendations from the chairs of the debt commission (Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson) last December.
I suppose we’ll see what happens at 9pm. In the meantime, sign this petition asking our Congressional Delegation to stand strong against cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Here’s what voter suppression looks like
Caught on Tape: South Kingstown School Committee Shows What Happens when you follow the East Providence Model
The Dan Kinder Circus comes to another community, this time it is South Kingstown. Kinder is the attorney who represented the East Providence School Committee during their strife in 2009, earning over a million dollars in payments for himself while throwing the school department into turmoil. The above video captured the voices of school committee members, Scott Mueller, Rick Angelli, and Liz Morris discussing the fallout of a contentious school committee meeting. Mind you, South Kingstown has some of the state’s best performing schools…..but the school committee has decided to go on the attack.
And to think….some people think there should be more “managment rights” giving people like this more power.
“Bomb Now, Pay Later”
Paul Craig Roberts lays bare what’s wrong with the deficit hype being used to foist the dismantling of the social safety net on the American people: Recently, the bond rating agencies that gave junk derivatives triple-A ratings threatened to downgrade US Treasury bonds if the White House and Congress did not reach a deficit reduction deal and debt ceiling increase. The downgrade threat is not credible, and neither is the default threat. Both are make-believe crises that are being hyped in order to force cutbacks in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security…
There is no budget focus on the illegal wars and military occupations that the US government has underway in at least six countries or the 66-year old US occupations of Japan and Germany and the ring of military bases being constructed around Russia.
The total military/security budget is in the vicinity of $1.1-$1.2 trillion, or 70 per cent -75 per cent of the federal budget deficit.
In contrast, Social Security is solvent. Medicare expenditures are coming close to exceeding the 2.3 per cent payroll tax that funds Medicare, but it is dishonest for politicians and pundits to blame the US budget deficit on “entitlement programs.”
Entitlements are funded with a payroll tax. Wars are not funded. The criminal Bush regime lied to Americans and claimed that the Iraq war would only cost $70 billion at the most and would be paid for with Iraq oil revenues. When Bush’s chief economic advisor, Larry Lindsay, said the Iraq invasion would cost $200 billion, Bush fired him. In fact, Lindsay was off by a factor of 20. Economic and budget experts have calculated that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have consumed $4,000 billion in out-of-pocket and already incurred future costs. In other words, the ongoing wars and occupations have already eaten up the $4 trillion by which Obama hopes to cut federal spending over the next ten years. Bomb now, pay later.
imho, the so-called “compromise” can be viewed as nothing short of a stunning betrayal of the Democratic base. Is it to soon to say “Nader 2012?”
Stand Strong for Rhode Islanders in the Debt Ceiling Fight!
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The debt ceiling negotiations have heated up to match the mercury outside and Republicans and Democrats are proposing dranconian cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare while preserving tax breaks for the super wealthy and corporate tax subsidies.
Join us to ask the RI delegation to stand their ground for Rhode Islanders by defending these principles:
- Defending the Well Being of Our Communities – Program cuts that eliminate benefits, reduce eligibility, demand participants pay more or force state governments to make cuts are not acceptable.
- Responsible Reductions in Defense Spending – National security is essential, but our defense spending wastes billions. We can responsibly reduce outlays for defense while maintaining a strong, secure nation.
- Fixing the Corporate Tax System is Imperative – We cannot afford a tax code that rewards corporations for hiding money offshore and permits them to benefit from accounting gimmicks and loopholes. As good paying jobs become harder to find and corporate profits continue to skyrocket, we need to strike the right balance of corporate citizenship and economic growth.
- Restoring Fairness to the Income Tax – While the income tax structure is progressive, it does not make up for the regressive nature of the many other forms of taxation in our nation – property taxes, the sales tax and so on. We allow far too many people to hide wealth, or claim income as something else that is taxed differently – or not at all. We must ask the wealthiest – from hedge fund managers to the inheritors of fortunes – to be good patriots and contribute more to the commonweal.
- Responsible Social Spending Reform – The only acceptable changes to programs like Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are those that make the programs more efficient and successful. Any changes that result in the loss of income security or access to health care are unacceptable.
Add your name to the petition today and ask our Congressional delegation to HOLD THEIR GROUND!
It is with the utmost concern that we are following the negotiations between Congress and the President over the national debt ceiling. Many of the proposals, including those from Democrats as well as from Republicans, offer devastating reductions to programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are necessary to keep scores of millions of Americans healthy, educated, financially secure and free from desperate need.
During this difficult time, many of your constituents in Rhode Island have watched, with great pride, as you have been a voice of reason, calling on Congress to approach the issue of our nation’s long-term debt with compassion, fairness and moral principle.
We write to say thank you. On behalf of the people of Rhode Island, our working families and struggling unemployed, our cities and small towns, our schools, our health centers and our senior centers, we say “Thank you.” Thank you for understanding that harming the well-being of children, seniors, the poor and the disabled is not a solution of any kind. Thank you for taking action – through letters to the President, votes on the floor, interviews in the media, and messages to your constituents – on behalf of those for whom government programs provide support and hope during these hard times. Thank you for being the truly progressive leader that Rhode Island and America need today.
Thank you for recognizing that fundamental economic principles demonstrate that cuts during periods of high unemployment are counter-productive. Thank you for demanding that the long-term deficit be addressed not only by cuts, but also through fair, common sense revenue measures. You have articulated, cogently and forcefully, for the inclusion of these measures – including ideas like closing corporate tax loopholes, eliminating tax breaks for the wealthy, repealing the Bush-era tax cuts and asking the top brackets to chip-in as good patriots should. Thank you for being a voice that demands we ask as much of the fortunate few as we do of everyone else.
We also write to ask you to stay strong. As the negotiations continue, there will be pressure from within your party, from the press, and from powerful interests in our society to do the wrong thing. Those privileged few will call on Congress to cut programs instead of cutting corporate welfare. They will ask that you vote to devastate working families instead of asking the wealthiest to contribute a little more to the common good in return for the opportunities our nation has given them. They will ask that we base decisions on a faulty concept – that government is not an answer to our society’s ills, but rather the cause.
As representatives of communities and organizations that see, every day, how programs like Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid change people’s lives for the better, we know this view is wrong. We believe you share our belief that as a society, we have a moral duty to ensure that everyone has a chance to live a full, productive and economically secure life. That is the American Dream.
We ask that you support a resolution to this crisis based on the following principles:
- Defending the Well Being of Our Communities. Program cuts that eliminate benefits, reduce eligibility, demand participants pay more or force state governments to make cuts are not acceptable.
- Responsible Reductions in Defense Spending. National security is essential, but our defense spending wastes billions. We can responsibly reduce outlays for defense while maintaining a strong, secure nation.
- Fixing the Corporate Tax System is Imperative. We cannot afford a tax code that rewards corporations for hiding money offshore and permits them to benefit from accounting gimmicks and loopholes. As good paying jobs become harder to find and corporate profits continue to skyrocket, we need to strike the right balance of corporate citizenship and economic growth.
- Restoring Fairness to the Income Tax. While the income tax structure is progressive, it does not make up for the regressive nature of the many other forms of taxation in our nation – property taxes, the sales tax and so on. We allow far too many people to hide wealth, or claim income as something else that is taxed differently – or not at all. We must ask the wealthiest – from hedge fund managers to the inheritors of fortunes – to be good patriots and contribute more to the commonweal.
- Responsible Social Spending Reform. The only acceptable changes to programs like Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are those that make the programs more efficient and successful. Any changes that result in the loss of income security or access to health care are unacceptable.
These are principles reflected in the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ Peoples Budget (introduced as an amendment to Rep. Ryan’s budget proposal and voted on in the House on April 14). That document can and should serve as a guide towards a responsible resolution of our national budget challenges.We respectfully request that you join the other members of the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation in transmitting to the President the sense of the people of Rhode Island as embodied in the principles above. As August 2nd approaches and America faces the real possibility of not being able to meet its debt and other payments, the people of Rhode Island need to know that any resolution will not occur at the expense of the common good.
Thank you for being the champion we need in these trying times. We support your good work and stand ready to help in any way we can.
SIGN THE PETITION HERE!