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Progressivity: nice idea but here are some thoughts.

1. If progressivity applies to income taxes, should it not also apply to other taxes? Why not real estate? Why not sales taxes?

2. As long as the rich are taxed at higher rates, they will feel entitled to more benefits from the system. But if we eliminate progressivity (a flat tax is only regressive from the tipped perspective of progressivists), then the rich will have no claim on greater benefits from the system. Only then can those with lower-middle incomes (like me) reasonably argue that we deserve all the benefits the rich get.

posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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I had never heard of Ms. Spalding before your show. Thank you for introducing her to a wider audience. I love her music. And I enjoyed the interview. She showed she is not only a gifted musician but an extraordinary human being.

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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About 25 years ago, I moved to San Antonio, Texas. After living there awhile, I was shocked--and dismayed--to be told that in Mexico (Bolivia, Peru -- I don't know about other Latin American countries) "the lighter your skin color, the easier it is to succeed economically and socially." I grew up in a family in which judging someone by the color of his or her skin was not only wrong, it was unimaginable. I was taught not to judge them even by their character--I was taught not to judge them at all, to accept each person as an individual, as he or she is.

Since then, I have lived for extended periods in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East and I have discovered a great deal of racism in those cultures too. Yet, Americans are perceived by these cultures as racist. Could it be that much of the racism that is perceived to exist in America is in the eyes of the beholders?  At the summit, more will be accomplished if the participants look at the logs in their own eyes instead of the slivers in others'.

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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Refusing to sell coal to China is not going to stop China from buying and using coal for its energy needs. China will just buy it elsewhere and we'll get the pollution from Canadian, Russian or Indian coal. And we'll end up with nothing but dirty air an no money to clean it up with. Now that's an even smarter plan!

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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