Interesting. I wasn't criticizing Laffer so much as the brainless crowd who is reducing all tax debate to the Laffer curve. Sure, revenue depends on tax rate. In reality, however, and that makes predictions unfeasible, as you say, revenue depends on thousands of other parameters too.
Here is an example of real world data. I know such things can be very disturbing if you bought into the economic woo spread lately, but hey, believe what you want. Reality, however, is independent of your personal religion.
Oh well, if you do not understand exponential maths, you can become an economist preaching that the status quo is sustainable. Good money to be made there.
Innumeracy is what keeps the mythology of supply-side economics and the Laffer Curve alive.
The usual Laffer curve argument doesn't even rely on innumeracy, it relies on the inability of those to be indoctrinated to do basic logic. Has anyone actually *seen* this fabled curve? All you get is the trivial cases of no revenue at 0 and 100% tax rate, and, ergo *jedi hand wave*, we must lower taxes. If you do actually plot revenue against rate for different countries, you get a complete mess which you cannot fit against any meaningful function. That is not the purpose anyway, the whole Laffer curve argument relies on that Jedi hand wave.
Newsflash - Idiocracy is not a documentary, but rather a poorly made satire which apparently appears most to those suffering hardest from the Dunning-Kruger effect.
If you refrain from rebuilding a window that is already broken from wear and tear because that would be "the broken window fallacy", you should reconsider your "knowledge" of economics. No one suggests to break the electrical grid in order to create make-work. It is already broken in a significant way - and not only with regard to solar storms. The OP, as I understand it, is advocating grid rebuilds now, not after they have been fried by a Carrington event.
Well, it is dubious at best to put a number on it like the guy did, but we know for certain that a) Carrington events happen and b) our infrastructure is not set up to handle it. Given the possible catastrophic consequences, it is at least prudent to consider how to handle such an event.
Do you know how much space a single hour of hires porn takes when converted into a flip-book? And how am I supposed to flip said book while perusing it in the intended manner? True preppers stash at least one concubine together with the dried food and the ammo.
I don't go to the grocery store every other day, perhaps twice per week - and for that, I step off the streetcar on station earlier than usual, pick up my stuff, and continue the journey. This is a "metropolitan" area, though - for German standards. But yes, I generally agree, being lean does not directly influence quality of life, at least not negatively.
Oil probably has peaked in 2008, but I haven't seen a credible analysis showing peak gas. Not that I am advocating for burning more shit, but we gotta keep our facts straight. Feel free to correct me, though - I haven't paid that much attention to the natgas scene lately.
"I stated US is number 1, well, I was wrong, but I didn't lie, because only 2 european socialist hellholes are above the US". I hereby nominate ArcherB for the next Nobel Prize in competitive goalpost moving. Not that I am surprised.
I know a couple of engineers involved with DESERTEC - these days, the project is pretty much on hold due to the political instability. Humanity. It sucks:S
Word, man, word. I used to work in San Diego for a while. Coming from Germany, the hardest culture shock was mass transit. I wasn't even out in the boondocks - living in La Jolla close to UTC isn't exactly the worst access to mass transit you can have around there, but compared to what I was used to...
In what way is our lifestyle "leaner", except for not needlessly wasting? I am a German who used to live and work in California, and I do not see how our lifestyle here is more lean. If you ask me, quality of life is better here - buildings and appliances appear to be more solidly built, public transport is better, access to fresh produce appears better - how is that more lean? Not that I didn't like it in the US, it was a great time spent with great people, but in general, I see more efficiency here without loss of quality of life. As for the switch to alternate fuels - do you have natgas and biodiesel available at a gas station in convenient range wherever you are? I do.
You can, however, be in favour of strengthening vocational training without foaming at the mouth about liberal colleges destroying America(TM), as he did last week.
Let us assume that someone in Santorum's campaign has a braincell to spare. Now, the first and foremost goal has to be to get Romney out of the picture - winning the actual elections comes later and can maybe be fixed by a call to Diebold, let's see. Since any sane person would assume that Santorum is unelectable by large, Democrat leaning voters might actually endorse Santorum for the Republican race, since it diminishes the chance of a Republican victory in the presidential election.
Just a thought, of course, made under the spurious assumption that anyone with a spare braincell would associate himself with Santorum. And if this strategy backfires for the democrat-leaning independents and you guys actually end up with a Frothy President, then Cthulhu help us all...
If you are rabidly pro-christian in Santorum's fundamentalist manner and share his anti-intellectualism, you are probably not a registered Democrat.... But what do I know, I am not from the US, I just watch and shake my head.
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting. I wasn't criticizing Laffer so much as the brainless crowd who is reducing all tax debate to the Laffer curve. Sure, revenue depends on tax rate. In reality, however, and that makes predictions unfeasible, as you say, revenue depends on thousands of other parameters too.
Here is an example of real world data. I know such things can be very disturbing if you bought into the economic woo spread lately, but hey, believe what you want. Reality, however, is independent of your personal religion.
Oh well, if you do not understand exponential maths, you can become an economist preaching that the status quo is sustainable. Good money to be made there.
Or indeducable == ideologically entrenched. A portion of the populace which is not to be neglected.
Innumeracy is what keeps the mythology of supply-side economics and the Laffer Curve alive.
The usual Laffer curve argument doesn't even rely on innumeracy, it relies on the inability of those to be indoctrinated to do basic logic. Has anyone actually *seen* this fabled curve? All you get is the trivial cases of no revenue at 0 and 100% tax rate, and, ergo *jedi hand wave*, we must lower taxes. If you do actually plot revenue against rate for different countries, you get a complete mess which you cannot fit against any meaningful function. That is not the purpose anyway, the whole Laffer curve argument relies on that Jedi hand wave.
Newsflash - Idiocracy is not a documentary, but rather a poorly made satire which apparently appears most to those suffering hardest from the Dunning-Kruger effect.
If you refrain from rebuilding a window that is already broken from wear and tear because that would be "the broken window fallacy", you should reconsider your "knowledge" of economics. No one suggests to break the electrical grid in order to create make-work. It is already broken in a significant way - and not only with regard to solar storms. The OP, as I understand it, is advocating grid rebuilds now, not after they have been fried by a Carrington event.
Clay tablets. True preppers learn cuneiform. Are you prepared, brother?
Well, it is dubious at best to put a number on it like the guy did, but we know for certain that a) Carrington events happen and b) our infrastructure is not set up to handle it. Given the possible catastrophic consequences, it is at least prudent to consider how to handle such an event.
Do you know how much space a single hour of hires porn takes when converted into a flip-book? And how am I supposed to flip said book while perusing it in the intended manner? True preppers stash at least one concubine together with the dried food and the ammo.
I don't go to the grocery store every other day, perhaps twice per week - and for that, I step off the streetcar on station earlier than usual, pick up my stuff, and continue the journey. This is a "metropolitan" area, though - for German standards. But yes, I generally agree, being lean does not directly influence quality of life, at least not negatively.
Oil probably has peaked in 2008, but I haven't seen a credible analysis showing peak gas. Not that I am advocating for burning more shit, but we gotta keep our facts straight. Feel free to correct me, though - I haven't paid that much attention to the natgas scene lately.
"I stated US is number 1, well, I was wrong, but I didn't lie, because only 2 european socialist hellholes are above the US". I hereby nominate ArcherB for the next Nobel Prize in competitive goalpost moving. Not that I am surprised.
Because we know how to build efficient engines, I guess...
And for riding 1 km to the next baker's, I obviously need to "squeeze into lycra bondage gear". Sure. Gonna do it like it's the Tour de France there.
I know a couple of engineers involved with DESERTEC - these days, the project is pretty much on hold due to the political instability. Humanity. It sucks :S
Word, man, word. I used to work in San Diego for a while. Coming from Germany, the hardest culture shock was mass transit. I wasn't even out in the boondocks - living in La Jolla close to UTC isn't exactly the worst access to mass transit you can have around there, but compared to what I was used to...
In what way is our lifestyle "leaner", except for not needlessly wasting? I am a German who used to live and work in California, and I do not see how our lifestyle here is more lean. If you ask me, quality of life is better here - buildings and appliances appear to be more solidly built, public transport is better, access to fresh produce appears better - how is that more lean? Not that I didn't like it in the US, it was a great time spent with great people, but in general, I see more efficiency here without loss of quality of life. As for the switch to alternate fuels - do you have natgas and biodiesel available at a gas station in convenient range wherever you are? I do.
And if that strategy backfires, we gonna pray to Cthulhu to put an end to all this...
You can, however, be in favour of strengthening vocational training without foaming at the mouth about liberal colleges destroying America(TM), as he did last week.
Just a thought, of course, made under the spurious assumption that anyone with a spare braincell would associate himself with Santorum. And if this strategy backfires for the democrat-leaning independents and you guys actually end up with a Frothy President, then Cthulhu help us all...
If you are rabidly pro-christian in Santorum's fundamentalist manner and share his anti-intellectualism, you are probably not a registered Democrat.... But what do I know, I am not from the US, I just watch and shake my head.
Now that is a flat out lie! I know many who are upstanding citizens!
I get my coat...
If you shove your head further up your arse and do a little flip through the 4th dimension, you might end up in a Klein bottle configuration.
That, in all likelihood, is what China is worried about.