Hell In A Hand Basket* Dep't.

Sayonara Mlle. McArdle, & even the business section at The Atlantic is safe:

The other, even-more-disturbing explanation, is that Republicans see the rich as worthy members of society (the "producers") and the poor as a drain on society (the "takers"). In this warped moral universe, it isn't enough that someone with a gross income of $10 million takes home $8.1 million while someone with a gross income of $20,000 takes home $19,000.* That's called "punishing success," so we should really increase taxes on the poor person so we can "reward success" by letting the rich person take home even more. This is why today's conservatives have gone beyond the typical libertarian and supply-side arguments for lower taxes on the rich, and the campaign to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich has taken on such self-righteous tones.

This just goes to show how pathological the Republican Party has become. It would be so much simpler, more logical, and more politically appealing if they would just draw a line against higher taxes for anyone. That's what the Taxpayer Protection Pledge does, and it makes a certain amount of sense, even if I think it's bad policy. The fact that Eric Cantor feels compelled to go out of his way to talk about raising taxes on the poor shows how the nasty instinct for class warfare is undermining what should be a simple, small-government agenda.

*Those are at 2011 tax rates, including the employee's share of payroll taxes, assuming that the rich person makes $2 million in salary and $8 million in capital gains. Note that the effective rate of 19 percent is still significantly higher than those of Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett.

Not that Megatron is off the radar; she'll be sharing servers w/ David (Lest we forget: "Axis of Evil.") Frum, who presented charts to the class.

This is handy. Henry Blodget of Business Insider compiles in one place the charts showing the ominous divergence between the fortunes of working America and ownership America

Not that the arguments of savages fighting over their shares of a pie that is about to turn to shit in & at their hands are going to make any difference. In the long run we're all boiled alive.

Localized ecological systems are known to shift abruptly and irreversibly from one state to another when they are forced across critical thresholds. Here we review evidence that the global ecosystem as a whole can react in the same way and is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence.

Ha ha. (Oh, alright. If you're not a subscriber, a recap.)

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*Or: Link Dump Dep't.