What do people think so far of the OccupyWallSt./Boston/DC/Chicago etc. movement as it has developed?

Since the thread from Dale Coberly’s post on Social Security for the Young has over 120 comments, and many are not short but could be essays by themselves, I am starting a companion thread for the conversation to contine.

When someone attempts to impede democracy actions are good things: Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau was once locked up for refusing to pay a poll tax. He opposed the tax on moral grounds – in a democracy, he argued, a man shouldn’t have to pay to vote…. That night, so the story goes, Thoreau […]

Most of us are familiar with the widely used data that shows health care spending as a share of GDP. It tells a scary store that dominates the political debates in Washington and that everyone is concerned about. Looked at this way health care spending clearly looks like the monster that ate Tokyo. But the […]

by Beverly Mann The Plot Sickens – The Heart of the ACA Litigation Moves to the Supreme Court. Maybe. Last week’s big political news concerning the PPACA (a.k.a. “Obamacare”) litigation was the administration’s decision to forego the option of asking the full membership of the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the appellate for several […]

by Dale Coberly Social Security For The Young Intelligence Squared U.S. (corrected link: http://intelligencesquaredus.org/) is sponsoring an Oxford-style debate Tuesday evening in Manhattan. The program is entitled “Grandma’s Benefits Imperil Junior’s Future” The resolution: “Commitments made to seniors decades ago failed to foresee the harsh economic realities of the present. Do entitlements saddle our children […]

By Jeff McCord is a former US Senate staffer, Securities Investor Protection Corp (SIPC) executive and has been a free-lance journalist for Dow Jones publications. His academic background in economics includes post-graduate work at the London School of Economics and George Washington University. FREQUENTLY MALIGNED CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS ACTUALLY DETER FINANCIAL WRONGDOING, STUDY FINDS  Though […]

by Mike Kimel Via asymptosis this cartoon….

by Linda Beale Repatriation Holiday Lobbying–Money Speaks… We’ve discussed repatriation before–the tax break being pushed by multinationals who want to bring some of their offshore profits home without paying taxes, as they did in the 2004 “one time only” repatriation break. The reason they have so much money offshore is that they use gimmicks–such as […]

White House Launches “We the People” Platform on Website On Sept. 22, the White House launched the “We the People” platform on its website. The platform is designed to encourage ideas from citizens, and if a petition on the site is signed by 5,000 people or more, the White House promises to lift it up […]