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Open thread Feb., 24, 2014

Dan Crawford | February 24, 2015 8:49 am

Tags: open thread Comments (7) | Digg Facebook Twitter |
7 Comments
  • rjs says:
    February 24, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    about all the explosions last week:

    exploding oil trains, rig counts & other oil patch news

    (there were 4)

  • Denis Drew says:
    February 24, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    IL Governor Rauner Gets $750,000 Tax Break, Proposes Slashing Services to Middle Class and Poor
    Robert Creamer

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/il-governor-rauner-gets-7_b_6742500.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

  • Denis Drew says:
    February 25, 2015 at 9:44 am

    [cut and pasted from CEPR — Lost in Numbers In Illinois]

    llinois’ income tax
    February 19, 2015 10:30
    http://www.itep.org/whopays/states/illinois.php
    Based on these figures, the top 20% of Illinois earners have an income of about $250 billion, and pay 3% of their total income in state income tax. Double that, problem solved. It’s ridiculous to say that we are “broke.”

  • Jack says:
    February 25, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Denis,
    Top 20% is far too large a cohort to allow for a revealing analysis of the free ride provided to the very wealthiest Americans and that same group when broken into states sub sets. It would be far more revealing to see the top 5% divided into one percent cohorts. I don’t do the math so to speak, but I’d not be surprised to see that of that $250B earned by the top 20% a greater portion is earned by the top 5%. So that’s where the money is. Is Illinois household income broken down by percentile rank? Look at the 80th to 85th group and compare their total share of income with the 95th to 99.9th group. Including the masses, as in all those below the 90% level, assures that no action will ever be taken to level the taxation distribution playing field. The One Percent are always hiding behind the 20%. It helps to keep them invisible to the general public.

  • Jack says:
    February 25, 2015 at 4:14 pm

    When Gravis Marketing released a poll yesterday showing Scott Walker leaping out to a big lead in Iowa with 24% of the vote, a lot of observers probably made a mental note but ignored it, since the firm has a spotty track record. But now the more firmly established Quinnipiac University outfit has a new Iowa poll in the mix, and itโ€™s showing the same thing (as did a national poll by PPP we discussed yesterday). Ed Kilgore @ Washington Monthly

    Can someone ‘splain to me why Iowa with 6 electoral votes has become such a big influence on Presidential candidacies, especially of the Republican kind? Those six votes are about 1.2% of the total electoral votes in the Electoral College. Iowa is almost of no consequence in the general election. Iowa should be of little consequence in the process of selecting the candidates for such an election.

    Yes, I know it’s in the Constitution. Maybe it’s time to recognize that either Hamilton and Madison were not so brilliant after all. Or maybe they could not foresee that as a nation the U.S.ofA. would fail to recognize the need to make modifications to ideas that may have served a useful purpose, but are no longer rational.

  • Denis Drew says:
    February 25, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    Jack,
    I agree with you 100% about sorting out the top tax bracket by different incomes. I have not dug into the charts and stuff yet. Something you probably don’t know is that in the 70s the top earners here managed to get into the Illinois Constitution a provision that income tax cannot be graduated — a constitutional flat tax; fancy that.

    With a new progressive coming in to the Chicago mayor’s office and an offensive as hell one-percenter for governor, maybe public opinion will get around to coalescing against such a crackpot provision. We do have lower income tax than any state nearby. We are also sixth best on the scale of high income/low prices so we are not the disaster zone the Repubs pretend.
    http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/10-states-where-salaries-are-too-low.html/?a=viewall

    Emanuele’s almost unknown opponent got 35% — compared to Emanuele’s 45% — will surely get the 20% that went to the other minority candidates: two black and one very progressive. Get more now that he has established recognition. Was definitely a vote against Clinton/Obama style Dems.

    Big union state, big Dem majority in both houses — very different from Wisconsin with many red meat conservatives (still votes Dem nationally).
    * * * * * *
    I’ve been watching Iowa and New Hampshire set the pace in the presidential primaries since The Making of a President 1960. Before your time. ๐Ÿ™‚ All I can guess is that they are only important because they are first out. Always figured the voters in both states could (afford to) take a very academic (hobbyist) interest in politics because they are such plain white bread plates with nothing of the harsh conflicts of interests awash in the big red meat states. ???

  • Denis Drew says:
    February 25, 2015 at 5:04 pm

    oh; that’s how it works not over here

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