4/28/2012

Budget Proposals

  •  CBO Updated Budget Projections:, Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022 (March 2012) 
    • Baseline (2013-2022) = -1.4% of GDP
    • Alternative Fiscal Scenario = -5.3% of GDP (2.5% change due to taxes, and 1.4% due to outlays)
  • "Debt, Taxes and Politics: The President's Budget for 2013" Note the DEBT/GDP:
    1. Decreased from WW II till FORD 
    2. a flat-ish period under FORD and CARTER.
    3. Increased under REAGAN and BUSH I,
    4. Started to Decrease under Clinton, and then
    5. Increased at the end of BUSH II and OBAMA.
    6. The president's budget seems to start decreasing the DEBT/GDP ratio in 2015 
     
  • What Caused The Deficit? ... The White House fought back with a chart showing that its policy changes contributed only a small fraction to the worsening deficit picture
  • the BUSH II and OBAMA increase in the Debit was roughly equal to the Bush tax cuts, the Wars, the loss of revenue due to the recession and the automatic recession spending, with a short term, 3 years, also due to the Stimulus "TARP..., Recovery" packages.
  • Individual Income Tax Breaks ~1.3 trillion/year
    • A Roadmap for America’s Future {"Jan 2010, Republican house (Paul Ryan)} is a comprehensive alternative to the heavily government-centered ideology now prevailing in Washington, which pursues a relentless expansion of government, and creates a growing culture of dependency – and in the process worsens a status quo that already threatens to overwhelm the budget and smother the economy."
     Summary
    Obama proposal to Joint Committee:
    • Obama does have a deficit-cutting plan, one that's been lauded for its specifics and includes a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, with an emphasis on near-term stimulus and middle-term deficit reduction -- a hierarchy of priorities that coincides with the advice of economists, who note that unemployment is still the most immediate need. (PDF)

    Simpson-Bowles proposal:
    • On November 1, 2010 the committee submitted its final report making recommendations on discretionary spending, tax reform, health care savings, social security, and other mandatory programs. The plan needed a super-majority to be officially supported by the committee, but on December 3, 2010 if received only 11 of the 14 votes needed.  (http://www.thepoliticalguide.com)
    • What Was Actually in Bowles-Simpson? (From: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
      •                                       Total plan   Not yet enacted
        Ten-year cumulative totals in trillions of dollars




        Revenue increases $2.6 $2.6
        Program cuts $2.9 $1.4
        Interest savings $0.8 $0.6
        TOTAL deficit reduction $6.3 $4.6
        Ratio, program cuts to revenue increases
        Not counting interest 1.1 to 1.0 0.5 to 1.0
        Counting interest 1.4 to 1.0 0.8 to 1.0

         


    • The Congressional Progressive Caucus’s Budget for All puts Americans back to work, charts a path to responsible deficit reduction, enhances our economic competitiveness, rebuilds the middle class and invests in our future. Our budget makes no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits, and asks those who have benefited most from our economy to pay a sensible share. Executive Summary: (PDF)
     Social Security

    Paul Ryan (and Romney) negative links.

    Various graphs/analysis of Budget factors

        3/23/2012

        Health bill, Supreme Court

         Health bill, Supreme court

        See Previous HelthCareUS etc.

        (SCOTUSblog)

        SCOTUSblog: Our health care resource page, including briefs and documents, argument previews ..
         

        (American Progress)


        SCOTUS Preview Part I:     What The Heck Is The Tax Anti-Injunction Act?
        SCOTUS Preview Part II:   Clement’s Misleading Brief, By Ian Millhiser on Mar 23, 2012
         SCOTUS Preview Part III: The Perils Of Overreach
        SCOTUS Preview Part IV:   The Big Scary 
        Romney Celebrates Health Care Reform Anniversary By Lying About It
        1. It’s more like double that (a trillion dollars) …Obamacare is massively more expensive than had been originally estimated.”
        2. Thirty percent of employers said they are going to drop the coverage for their employees when Obamacare is installed.” 
        3. The Catholic Church is being told that they have to provide insurance that covers morning after pills, sterilizations, and contraceptives. Despite the fact that these very features violate the conscience of the Catholic Church itself. 
        ==============================================================

        The Multimillionaire Helping Republicans Win N.C. (NPR summary)

        ===============================================================

        George Washington University School of Business March 2012

        The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis Origins and Mission of the Federal Reserve, (Videos)

        3/20/2012

        March 20, 2011

         March 20, 2011

        10 Ways to Visualize How Americans Spend Money on Health Care - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

        Does the American Dream Exist Only in Europe? -- Perhaps. But if you think America’s class system is as rigid as Europe’s, then you don’t know an old-fashioned social hierarchy when you see one.

        The Twilight of Retirement's Golden Age -- Chart of the Week, March 20, 2012


        The Most Conservative Congress Ever Recorded --  Republicans are both beholden to the 1 percent and responsible for the hyper-polarization of Congress. A new study by Poole has found that Republicans have moved so far to the right that the House is now the most conservative it has even been in the last 133 years

        Teaching Abstinence Works Better Than Sex Ed, Feb 2, 2010
        • 1/2 -- Just under half of the students in the study who received sex-education classes that included information about contraceptives went on to have sex in the next two years. 
        • 1/3 -- But only one out of three students in the study who received abstinence-only education did.
        "MIT OpenCourseWare is developing a set of courses called Scholar, which are designed for self-learners. We recently published 6.00 (or Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in normal speak). There are lecture videos, recitation videos, handouts, slides, code files, homework assignments (with sample solutions), and even an explanation on how to set up Python on your computer.

        The Origin of Modern Republican Fiscal Policy, By BRUCE BARTLETT

        3/13/2012

        Political Polarization ... voteview blog

        • The national government is strongly Ideologically Polarized, and by Party Polarization. This segregation seems to have been increasing, at least amount our government officials and perhaps even among our population.

        VoteView.com /Blog

        Media and Polarization, (56p) Nov 16, 2010 , Filipe Campante, Harvard Kennedy School
        • This paper provides an economic framework to explain the impact of the media on political polarization.
         
        Who Fits the Left-Right Divide? Partisan Polarization in the American Electorate, Edward G. Carmines (See:)

        3/10/2012

        2012/03 stuff



        2/20/2012

        Betting sites, Specifically Barack Obama to be re-elected

        Intrade - Barack Obama to be re-elected President in 2012 
        •  2012/02/20 -- 59%
        The IEM (Iowa Electronic Markets) is an online futures market where contract payoffs are based on real-world events such as political outcomes, companies' earnings per share (EPS), and stock price returns.
        • 2012/02/20 -- 60%
        Discussion of betting sites:


        2/17/2012

        Economic Indexes

        CPI [core] -- Consumer Price Index, the best known measure of inflation (which is the overall inflation rate excluding Food and Energy). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) divides all expenditures into eight categories and assigns a relative size to each. (This also shows the growth of the CPI components as well as the core and extended CPI growth)

         Inflation Deflation- New York Times (Econmix.blogs) Aug, 2011


        "John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics"
        An electronic newsletter service that exposes and analyzes flaws in current U.S. government economic data and reporting, as well as in certain private-sector numbers, and provides an assessment of underlying economic and financial conditions, net of financial-market and political hype.


        INFLATION
        GDP -- Goss Domestic Product.
        The S&P Composite (CPI adjusted) stretching back to 1871


         

          Items Feb 2012

          The course 'Model Thinking' will go live very shortly. When it does go live, we'll be asking you to officially register and agree to some standard terms and conditions. In the interim, you can now go to the site ... and watch the first two sets of lectures. [See mail]
          • The first set of lectures covers the benefits of modeling and provides a framework for the course. 
          • The second set covers Thomas Schelling's seminar model of segregation as well as a model of standing ovations that I developed with John Miller of Carnegie Mellon University.
               I’m beginning a new project at Stanford/CDDRL called “The Governance Project.” The intention is to focus on conceptualizing and measuring governance, and applying those measures to two specific countries, China and the United States....
               I discuss these issues at greater length in a paper on authoritarian government in Asia for the Journal of Democracy, and a draft discussion paper on how to define and measure governance (pdf) for The Governance Project.


          Gov 2.0 year in review ... A look at the Gov 2.0 themes, moments and achievements that made an impact in 2011.

          Coming Apart: The State of White America

          David Frum recently reviewed .... "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010".
               [by Charles  Murray] -- Feb 9, 2012

          Charles Murray [perhaps] does a Tucker Carlson, provoking me to unleash the usual torrent of graphs
                -- 8 February 2012,

          Citizens Untied

          The Media’s Shameful, Inexcusable Distortion Of The Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision
               by Dan Abrams  -- February 8th, 2012

          Corporate Leveraging of Campaign Contributions Under Citizens United
               Posted by Beverly Mann | 2/10/2012


          WWS 594, Economics of the Welfare State,  [Paul Krugman]

          Class #1 -- Feb. 8: Introduction,Class #2, February 15,

          Berin Szoka: "Privacy, Analytics & the First Amendment" at GSM Workshop
          November 11, 2011, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM


           Political Polarization (VoteView)

          Obama the Moderate (a plot of the last 11 presidential positions Liberal/Conservative) [Forwarded to: Edward G. Carmines] carmines@indiana.edu 

          An Update on Political Polarization (through 2011) -- Posted on January 30, 2012 by voteview


          Obama's Economic Speech

          President Obama's speech in Oklahoma

          The Most Important Economic Speech of His Presidency [Robert Reich]
          HealthCare

          The Options for Payment Reform in U.S. Health Care // By UWE E. REINHARDT, February 17, 2012
          ------------------------------------------------------------------------

          Wow: Larry Lessig Interviews Jack Abramoff

          ‘Repeal’ of Glass-Steagall Irrelevant to Financial Crisis by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

          Social Security: The Elevator Pitch, Posted by Steve Roth | 1/29/2012 

          Nick Kristof and the School Reform Straw Man 01/23/2012 by Peter Hart

          The Best App Discovery App for iPhone ... , Discovr Apps makes it easy to find what you're looking for by mapping apps you like (or any app at all) to related options you may enjoy as well.

          Create a Bootable Linux Flash Drive in Three Easy Steps By Rick Broida, PCWorld    Feb 13, 2012

          ----------------------------------------------------------------------

          12/29/2011

          2012 Political Predictions

          2012 Political Predictions
          ----------------------------------------------

            12/24/2011

            12/20/2011

            Newt and the Courts

            Newt And The Courts, Andrew Sullivan The Dish 

            1. Courting Disaster ... Newt Gingrich's ill-advised war on the only branch of government that people believe in. By Dahlia Lithwick  (Slate)

            2. Newt and His Surprising Liberal Allies ... He’s not the only one who thinks there is a huge problem with giving the Supreme Court final say on the Constitution. By (Slate)

            When Did Liberals Become So Unreasonable? ... If every Democratic president disappoints, maybe there’s something wrong with our expectations. Tough love from a fellow traveler. By Jonathan Chait (New York  mag)

            Political Calculations .. Welcome to the blogosphere's toolchest! Here, unlike other blogs dedicated to analyzing current events, we create easy-to-use, simple tools to do the math related to them so you can get in on the action too!

            Sorry, Deniers, Study of “True Global Warming Signal” Finds “Remarkably Steady” Rate of Manmade Warming Since 1979

            Fannie and Freddie Didn't Cause the Housing Crisis, By David Min .. The housing bubble occurred during a period when Fannie and Freddie's market share of, high-risk mortgages dropped. 

            9/18/2011

            2011/09 topics

            Sept 21

            And About Those Structural Imbalances I think Matt Yglesias is closing in on a crucial difference between two sides in this debate about how to get out of our current economic mess, a difference that doesn’t divide neatly along a right-versus-left axis....
            1. What caused that hit – presumably the massive financial crisis triggered by the fall in housing prices – is less important than the fact of the hit. Monetary policy has the tools to reduce the attractiveness of holding money. If money is less attractive, then goods and services become relatively more attractive, so aggregate demand goes up. ...

            2. the broader cause of the crisis was that consumption growth in the 2000s was overwhelmingly driven by rising consumer debt. Consumer debt was rising because wages were not keeping up with the rising cost of living. The large gains in global productivity in the 2000s, to the extent that they accrued to the United States, were captured as what amount to rents by the health and financial sectors.
            ____________________________________________
            Sept 17

            Grading Obama Economic Policy: The First Year and a Half
             (Brad DeLong)
            • The banking system collapse was averted.
            • The spike of the unemployment rate to 15% was averted.
            • Obama passed a pretty good regulatory reform.
            • Obama passed a pretty good health reform.
            • Obama passed the largest quick fiscal expansion he could get through congress (using Reconciliation would have taken a lot longer).
            • but We are left with a jobless recovery, and with crippled mortgage finance and construction, and a ticking bomb in Europe.

            Hidden Tax: US Families Pay an Extra $1,000 per Year to Support Religion

            Report: What Happens If The Tea Party Wins, everything that will cease to exist if the Tea Party gets it’s way:
            • Social Security and Medicare
            • Medicaid, SCHIP, and other health care programs
            • All federal education programs
            • All federal antipoverty programs
            • Federal disaster relief
            • Federal food safety inspections and other food safety programs
            • Child labor laws, the minimum wage, overtime, and other labor protections
            • Federal civil rights laws
            Would a Perry v. Obama Contest Be a Confederacy v. Union Rematch? For conservatives, Perry victorious would mean nothing less than the South as a phoenix in the form of an eagle, rising from the ashes of a short-lived and fallen nation.

            Ideological Locations of 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates (VoteView)
            Can Retraining Give the Unemployed a Second Chance? Americans looking for employment often lack the skills they need. Retraining works. Sometimes (Bloomberg)

            The Election of 2012: Why the Most Important Issues May Be Off the Table (But Should Be On It) (Robert Reich)

            Has American-Style Conservatism Become a Religion? Fundamentalist religion plays a big role in today's Republican party--but has it gone even further, spreading dangerous beliefs as articles of faith? 


            Clarence Darrow on Eugenics
            The 10 Numbers You Need to Know About E-Verify, E-Verify has a massive failure rate and will keep legal workers out of a job. 
            • $17.3 billion: The amount of federal revenue that will be lost over 10 years.
            • $2.6 billion: The amount small businesses would have had to spend in 2010 if E-Verify had been mandatory.
            • $1,254 to $24,422: The average first-year startup costs for running E-Verify per small business.
            • $765 million to $838 million: The amount of money the Department of Homeland Security estimates it will need to run mandatory E-Verify over a four-year period.
            • $281 million: The amount of money the Social Security Administration estimates it will need to run mandatory E-Verify over a five-year period60 million: The number of new hires in the United States each year, all of whom would require verification through E-Verify.
            • 22 million: The number of government employees who would require re-verification—verification through E-Verify 
            • 1.2 million to 3.5 million: The number of Americans who will be required to go to a Social Security Administration office to fix erroneous information.
            • 770,000: The number of Americans who will be unable to fix the government database errors and will ultimately lose their jobs because of E-Verify.
            • 46 percent: E-Verify’s success rate at catching unauthorized workers. In other words, E-Verify fails to detect unauthorized workers more than half of the time.
            The Myth of Middle-Class Stagnation

             The Pentagon’s Latest Misleading Argument To Protect Its Budget: Cuts Will Lead To Higher Unemployment,
            military spending does very poorly. It creates about
            • 12,000 jobs per $1 billion in spending, [military spending] compared with 
            • 17,000 for the green economy,
            • 20,000 for health care and 
            • 29,000 for education.

            8/21/2011

            Texas "Facts"

            Liberal spin
            • Texas Tax System Heavily Burdens Poor Residents (Aug 2011) Huff post
              • Even without having to pay income tax, the poorest fifth of Texans ended up paying about 12 percent of their income in taxes in 2009, ITEP reports. The wealthiest 1 percent of Texans paid only 3 percent of their income in state and local taxes.  

              8/16/2011

              8/15/2011

              << p.s. In the future I will be investigating what rights Americans have, if any, relative to the states, as strong federalists see them, or if most of these are entirely up to the individual states independent of any federal intervention ... As far as I can see there is very little that restricts the states actions"
              Links:

              http://gizmodo.com/5831085/everything-scientists-thought-they-knew-about-cancer-might-be-totally-wrong

              http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/08/15/295767/rick-perrys-plan-for-higher-taxes-on-the-retired-and-disabled/

              http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/08/medicare-spending-decelerates.html

              http://reason.com/blog/2011/08/15/what-would-libertarians-do-a-c

              http://www.viralblender.com/2011/08/14/earth-landscapes-that-will-blow-your-mind/

              http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/08/15/295839/rick-perry-thinks-texas-climate-scientists-are-in-a-secular-carbon-cult/

              http://www.slate.com/id/2301691/?from=rss

              http://www.alternet.org/news/152037/21_reasons_rick_perry%27s_texas_is_a_complete_disaster/?page=entire

              http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Regression-to-Trend.php

              http://www.alternet.org/economy/152010/americans_don%27t_realize_just_how_badly_we%27re_getting_screwed_by_the_top_0.1_percent_hoarding_the_country%27s_wealth?page=entire

              http://politicalirony.com/2011/08/16/actual-government-spending-has-gone-down/



              Note: In the future I will be investigating what rights Americans have, if any, relative to the states, as strong federalists see them, or if most of these are entirely up to the individual states independent of any federal intervention ... As far as I can see there is very little that restricts the states actions"

                I am defining "Strong Federalists" as those who interpret the Constitution as:

                  1) Restricting the Commerce clause as only allowing federal action with respect to adjudicating direct movement of (manufactured) goods between the states, or perhaps from one state to foreign areas.

                  2) Restricting the incorporation of rights to those that were required to allow the freed slaves to participate in national and possibly local government.

                  3) Restricting the Federal Courts to deciding the constitutionality of  its own functioning, not that of other branches of the Government.

              8/13/2011

              Monitory Policy, (Skepical Optimist)


                  Money: The economy’s lubrication
              1. Money: The economy’s lubrication
              2. Two Printing Presses: One at the Fed, One at the Treasury
              3. How the Fed creates money without creating socialism
              4. How the US Treasury pays back the debt
              5. The public’s T-bond supply
              6. Paying down the debt: Our dubious history, and a startling conclusion

              Articles on Economic "theories"

                Other interesting stuff
                    "Seriously, what would it take for you to change your mind?"
                    • 1. For the left, If the Bush tax cuts benefitted only the rich, as you’ve been saying for nine years, why are you now saying that letting all the tax cuts expire will hurt the middle class? Which is it: Did the Bush tax cuts help the middle class, or didn’t they?  
                    • 2. For the tea party, If you had a choice between a tax policy that would increase tax revenues by increasing the number of job creators and taxpayers, versus a policy that would decrease the total debt level by whatever means, which one would you favor? Would you settle for a debt level that is shrinking relative to the size of the economy (an expanding economy with a falling debt/GDP ratio), or would you insist on surpluses that reduced the total debt, regardless of the impact on jobs and job creation?   
                    • 3. For everyone: Why do we hear so much about where and how to “cut” – but so little about where and how to “grow”?  
                    • 4. For everyone: How about we redefine the term “balanced budget” as follows: A fiscal budget that causes, or at least coincides with, job creation and economic growth that exceeds debt growth, such that the ratio of debt to GDP is decreasing?





                    8/09/2011

                    Political Taxonomies

                    Political Taxonomies

                    There are at least two definitions for "Political Taxonomy":
                    1. A categorization of the  political systems, e.g. Democracy, Dictatorship... (Which I will ignore)
                    2. A categorization of the ways that individuals value political issues, and perhaps the valuation of an issue. e.g. Liberal, Conservative... (Note this is what I am interested in, MLL)
                    My theory is that a Good Political Taxonomy allows individuals and policies to be evaluated on each of the "dimensions", e.g. Categories, with a number from +1 thru -1. The objective is to be able to take the generalized distance between a person and a policy, and predict how close the policy is to the person's values. An ideal Taxonomy would:
                    • Minimize the number of, independant, Categories.
                    • Choose Categories that are: instinctive, clear, and easy to evaluate.
                    • Be effective at determining the important areas of agreement and disagreement between people and policies.
                    My theory is that an individuals and policies, can be  characterized by numeric (+1,-1) measures along each of the Taxonomy Categories and that one can make a reasonable guess as to how much a person prefers a policy by taking the "distance" between their location in the Taxonomy space.

                      I have tried to collect a list of these individual values taxonomies in  WeMatter.com/links#quiz


                      The one that I thought was most interesting was the: "Political Position Quiz, World's Smallest Political Quiz: 10 questions-- Libertarian vs. Authoritarian, Left vs. Right. The Advocates"
                      Note: This is similar to the PoliticalCompus.org analysis (See: below)

                      I just, 8/8/2011, started the book: "Beyond Red and Blue" and it suggests that there are 12 different political philosophies, (Political Taxonomies) that shape American debates:n

                      1. Theocracy
                      2. Natural Law
                      3. Libertarianism
                      4. Utilitarianism
                      5. Free-market Conserfatism
                      6. Contratirianism
                      7. Social Conservatism
                      8. Feminism
                      9. Mulitculturalism
                      10. Environmentslism
                      11. Communitarianism
                      12. Cosmopolitanism
                      ____________________________________________________________________


                      See:


                      • Liberal vs. Conservative -- relates to one’s basic assumptions about human capacities. -- a liberal outlook trusts individuals and questions authority; a conservative outlook distrusts individuals and defers to authority.
                        • A liberal is someone who is generally impressed with the capacities of an individual, and who therefore wants individuals to be free to develop those capacities. 
                        • A conservative by temperament takes the opposite side in this dispute. Most human beings are naturally afraid of freedom, eager to hand over decisionmaking power to some authority.

                        • Left vs. Right -- defined by attitudes towards success. -- A left-wing perspective is animated by an affinity for the losers and their interests, while a right-wing perspective is animated by an affinity for the winners and their interests.
                          • A left-wing perspective is animated by failure and the consequences thereof. Whether we’re talking about Rawlsian liberals or Christian socialists or orthodox Marxist-Leninists, the ultimate object of concern is the miserable of the earth. Their perspective, their needs, are the beginning and the end of political morality.
                          • A right-wing perspective is opposite to this. How to design a system that adequately rewards success is the essence of the right-wing political project.

                          • Progressive vs. Reactionary -- revolves around attitudes toward time and history -- A progressive viewpoint looks toward the future, while a reactionary looks back to the past.
                            • The progressive is future-oriented. Things will – or could – be better in the future than they are now.
                            • The reactionary, by contrast, is past-oriented. Things will – likely – be worse in the future than they are now, just as they were better in the past. 

                          • The Economic (Left-Right) axis measures one's opinion of how the economy should be run: "left" is defined as the view that the economy should be run by a cooperative collective agency (which can mean the state, but can also mean a network of communes), while "right" is defined as the view that the economy should be left to the devices of competing individuals and organisations. 
                          • The Social (Authoritarian-Libertarian) axis measures one's political opinions in a social sense, regarding a view of the appropriate amount of personal freedom: "libertarianism" is defined as the belief that personal freedom should be maximised, while "authoritarianism" is defined as the belief that authority and tradition should be obeyed
                               


                            7/12/2011

                            Consider no Debt increase

                            There seems to be more than a 2:1 ratio of the public in favor of no debt limit increase, I'm about ready to abandon the effort to increase it and then let the programs that spend more than, say 10% of the budge ,to be cut about 50% till the next election with no IOU's or change in policies  ...  It's a plan... that saves $981 with only the top level cuts

                            The second option is "for the Treasury Department to Prioritize", lets see how that works.

                            Revenue: $2,163 Billion

                             Interest:             196
                             Social Security   704 <900 so far>
                             Medicare           446 <1,346>
                             ~50% Security   407 <1,753>

                                  Leaving: 410 for the rest, which is:

                            ~50% Security   407
                              Non-Security   491
                              Medicaid         273
                              Other              644 <1815>

                                  Or about a 78% cut in these rest...
                              


                            • Appropriated (“discretionary”) programs:
                            Security ................................................................... 815
                            Non-security ............................................................ 491
                                            Subtotal, appropriated programs ..................... 1,306

                            • Mandatory programs:
                            Social Security .......................................................... 701
                            Medicare .................................................................. 446
                            Medicaid .................................................................. 273
                            Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) 2 ................... –110
                            Other mandatory programs ......................................... 644

                                  Subtotal, mandatory programs ................................... 1,954

                            Net interest ................................................................ 196

                                        Total outlays ............................................................. 3,456


                            Receipts (billion):

                            Individual income taxes ................................................ 899
                            Corporation income taxes ............................................. 191

                            • Social insurance and retirement receipts:
                            Social Security payroll taxes .......................................... 632
                            Medicare payroll taxes .................................................. 180
                            Unemployment insurance ................................................ 45
                            Other retirement .............................................................. 8
                            Excise taxes .................................................................. 67
                            Estate and gift taxes ....................................................... 19
                            Customs duties .............................................................. 25
                            Deposits of earnings, Federal Reserve System ................... 76
                            Other miscellaneous receipts ............................................ 21
                                     Total receipts .......................................................... 2,163

                                Deficit ................................................................................ 1,293



                            See:

                            6/23/2011

                            Free Enterprise market

                            Free Enterprise market 

                            Much of economics is based on the assumption that the systems that they are analyzing are a coordinated set of "Free Enterprise Markets" with entities who are guided by "Rational Actor Theory". This entry attempts to clarify my thoughts about the Assumptions and Conclusions of this situation.


                            Free Enterprise market. (competitive model),
                            • [T]he flows of services that would be offered and purchased and the prices that would be paid for them if each individual in the market offered or purchased services at the going prices as if his decisions had no influence over them, and
                            • [T]he going prices were such that the amounts of services which were available equalled the total amounts which other individuals were willing to purchase, with no imposed restrictions on supply or demand.

                            Rational Actor

                            Results.

                            First Optimality Theorem:
                            • If a competitive equilibrium exists at all, and if all commodities relevant to costs or utilities are in fact priced in the market, then the equilibrium is necessarily [Pareto] optimal in the following precise sense: 'There is no other allocation of resources to services which will make all participants in the market better off'
                            Second Optimality Theorem:
                            • If there are no increasing returns in production, and if certain other minor conditions are satisfied, then every optimal state is a competitive equilibrium corresponding to some initial distribution of purchasing power

                            See:

                            Kenneth Arrow’s seminal article on the economics of medical care (pdf)

                            JSTOR: Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 317-344 (http://www.jstor.org/pss/2264946)

                            6/21/2011

                            Philosophy(1)

                            Philosophy (Main theories) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                            Branches of philosophy

                            • Ethics, or "moral philosophy", is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily, concerning the question of whether this question can be answered. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concerns the nature of ethical thought, such as the origins of the words good and bad, and origins of other comparative words of various ethical systems, whether there are absolute ethical truths, and how such truths could be known. Normative ethics are more concerned with the questions of how one ought to act, and what the right course of action is. This is where most ethical theories are generated.[7] Lastly, applied ethics go beyond theory and step into real world ethical practice, such as questions of whether or not abortion is correct.[8] Ethics is also associated with the idea of morality, and the two are often interchangeable.
                            • Political philosophy is the study of government and the relationship of individuals (or families and clans) to communities including the state. It includes questions about justice, law, property, and the rights and obligations of the citizen. Politics and ethics are traditionally inter-linked subjects, as both discuss the question of what is good and how people should live.

                            6/09/2011

                            Kenneth Arrow Was Here (Editorial) HealthCare (4)

                            June 9, 2011, 5:34 pm

                            Kenneth Arrow Was Here

                            Some readers ask why my argument that relatively centralized systems work better for health care  (nyt) than the “free market” isn’t an argument for government ownership of everything.
                            The answer is that health care is different: it’s a sector in which basically every market failure you can think of takes place. And we’ve known that since Kenneth Arrow’s classic analysis (nyt) half a century ago.
                            It’s shocking, though not surprising, that we keep having to relearn this basic point.

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