A few random thoughts and links from the past couple weeks: Obama the Communist has presided over a shrinking of the government workforce. You don’t see that reported very often. Once again, more proof that we need to disassociate health insurance coverage from employment entirely (a personal story along these lines will be posted later…)… Continue reading A few thoughts
Author: Nathan Hunstad
Ditching Health Insurance
I’ve harped on this issue before, but I still don’t get it: why aren’t businesses in favor of universal health care and severing the link between employment and insurance? Businesses don’t really want to be in charge of insurance plans; if they could get away with it, they would drop insurance. But they can’t, and… Continue reading Ditching Health Insurance
That’s a tax plan!
The Center for American Progress (CAP) came out with a tax plan. And it’s a pretty darn good one! It’s actually fairly close to a plan I’d support. It raises the top bracket to Clinton-era levels, it caps deductions, it increases the capital gains tax and the tax on dividends, it gets rid of the… Continue reading That’s a tax plan!
Austerity Bombe
A few facts about the budget: 1. Tax revenue as a percent of GDP is incredibly low. Lower than even the lowest of the Reagan years. Lower by far than the Clinton years. 2. Popular programs are popular. 3. Raising taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year is popular. 4. People who want… Continue reading Austerity Bombe
Historical Tax Incidence
Note: These graphs have been corrected in the 2012 Tax Incidence post. I like analysis, and I like tax policy. Put the two together, as I’ve done before, and it’s a pretty sweet time. But I have a lot of numbers at my disposal, much more than the past couple of years. So because I… Continue reading Historical Tax Incidence
The CISSP Exam
Last Sunday, I took and passed the CISSP exam. I had made it a personal goal to pass the exam before the end of the year, and I’m happy to say that I have achieved my goal. What was my study plan? Read on…
Election Postmortem
So, how did I do? Pretty well I’d say, although my super-secret strategy was basically to believe Nate Silver. I didn’t get everything right, but pretty much everywhere I was wrong I was too pessimistic: the DFL did take back the MN House, Obama did have a good night and won Florida, he won MN… Continue reading Election Postmortem
Electoral Prognostications
So here’s where I lay out my predictions for two days hence…
The Legislature, Then and Now
I worked at the legislature for almost 11 years. The first six of those years were when the Republicans had the majority in the house. Then came four years of a DFL majority, and then a return to the Republican majority that we have today. Even though only four years separated the two Republican majorities,… Continue reading The Legislature, Then and Now
Thus passes history
Two things were in the news this week that, while not necessarily effecting me immediately today, nevertheless represent things that had a large influence on who I am as a person. The first was the decision that Newsweek will no longer produce its print magazine, ending almost 80 years of print editions. The second, announced… Continue reading Thus passes history