Krugman Writes that We Are the 99.9%

Paul Krugman at the New York Times headlines that We Are the 99.9%.

Anyone who disagrees with that is going to have a tough time.

The percentages would appear to be in Krugman's favor.

:-)))))))


Now, what do we do with the top .1% ??

Mobile Patent Wars Turning Intellectual Property Law Upside Down -- Ron Miller Reports at Internet Evolution

Ron Miller has a perspicacious article at Internet Evolution titled EU Eyes Mobile Patent Wars in which he discusses the fact that patent law in the 21st century has been stood on its head, writing:

"A funny thing has happened to patent law in the 21st century. Instead of protecting intellectual property rights, patents have been hijacked by rich companies to take control of a market -- and the problem is particularly acute in the mobile space."

Read the whole thing here.

Taxes are a Part of the Solution: Get Over It

Paul Krugman at the New York Times has it right in Things to Tax,
sanely arguing from his economic expertise that taxation is part of the solution.

America, Taxes are Part of the Solution!You might not like to hear that.
Get over it.

If taxes were high enough to pay for government expenditures -- and this includes the military spending and war financing that many people support but are unwilling to pay for -- there would be no government deficits.

Governments started borrowing money because people who had the money were unwilling to pay enough taxes to cover all the services that governments offer and all the expenditures that governments make,
but
those same tax nay-sayers WERE willing to lend their money to the government to make a personal profit on it and so the "haves" enabled legislatures to engage in that kind of lending, which was made for their OWN benefit and profit. It was not the poor who instituted these things.

Government finance via bonds, treasury certificates, etc. was and remains a great business for those who had and who have money -- offering guaranteed returns on money and no risks.

But consider that if governments borrowed and borrow money because existing taxation does not cover government expenditures, then, where, pray tell, where is one going to get the money to pay off the interest on that borrowing down the road?

Remarkably, the "haves" are even clamoring for less taxation in spite of record deficits.
That is tantamount to total avoidance of reality.

If you have a giant kettle full of food and a small group takes 90% of that food and leaves only 10% for the majority of the hungry, then that same group of greedy people should be made to replace the food in that kettle.

The same is true for American wealth where a small percentage of people in the USA own and earn far beyond their fair share and have taken far more OUT of the kettle than they are putting INTO that kettle.

Incredibly, those same people who have taken the lion's share out of the kettle are expecting those who are looking at a nearly empty kettle to fill it, and, if they do not, to force them to tighten their belts for the inevitable famine to follow.

That is simply not going to work without increasing civil unrest.

You have to refill the kettle and that means taxing the nation's citizens comparably to what they have already taken out of the kettle and comparably to what they are continuing to take out of it.

To us, that is not a political question of Republicans or Democrats, or Tea Party Steepers or Coffee Drinkers.
It is economic reality.

Get over it.

It is your country.
If you are profiting from and in that country,
it is your duty to pay for what you are getting.
PAY, and smile, and stop complaining.