Friday, October 14, 2022, Delray Beach, Florida


News & Views

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Do the Rich Pay Their “Fair” Share of Taxes? 

AOC doesn’t think so. Neither does Bernie Sanders. Neither does Elizabeth Warren. And it’s not just left-leaning politicians. Ask ten Americans if the top 1% pay their “fair share” and nine of them will say, “No!”

Do you agree?

Do you know what percentage of all tax revenues the rich pay each year?

No?

Well, this may surprise you Here are the facts…

According to the IRS:

* The top 1% pay about 40% of all taxes.

* The top 10% pay about 70% of all taxes.

* The top 20% pay about 90% of all taxes.

* And more than half of Americans pay no taxes at all.

Here are two entertaining little video lessons on this issue.

 

Look Who’s Trading Stocks on “Inside Information”

From the WSJ:

Thousands of officials across the government’s executive branch reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

More than 2,600 officials at agencies from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department, during both Republican and Democratic administrations, disclosed stock investments in companies while those same companies were lobbying their agencies for favorable policies. That amounts to more than one in five senior federal employees across 50 federal agencies reviewed by the Journal.

From Bonner Private Research:

These officials had what the SEC calls “inside information.” Because of their privileged positions in regulatory agencies, they had a better chance than the rest of us mortals of guessing which way the stocks would go. It is supposed to be illegal to trade on inside information. But there are gray areas. The regulators make the rules; and they’re careful to stay in the shade.

 

More Big Companies Leaving Chicago 

Tyson Foods will relocate about 1,000 corporate positions from the Chicago area as well as South Dakota to its headquarters in Arkansas.

Chicago has had a number of corporate departures in the last two years, including Boeing, which is moving its headquarters to Arlington, VA, and Citadel Hedge Fund, which moved its offices to Miami.

In a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago last month, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he plans to keep the company’s headquarters in Chicago. But he admits that the pressure to move elsewhere is mounting.

“While it may wound our civic pride to hear it, there is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis,” Kempczinski said, adding that it is becoming more difficult for the company to recruit promising employees.

Arts & Letters

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Bach, Rachel Carlson, and MC Escher 

I’m a fan of MC Escher’s art. And Rachel Carlson’s writing. And Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. (Who isn’t?) But did you know that they are connected? Escher and Carlson were inspired by Bach. And each was also inspired by the other. In fact, thanks to The Marginalian, I discovered that Escher wrote about his admiration for Carlson several times in letters to his friends and to his son. For example:

She describes that liquid element, with an overview of all its associated facets and problems, in such an enthralling manner, with precision and poetry, that it is driving me half insane. This is exactly the kind of reading material I, with my advancing years, need most: a stimulus from our mother earth for my spatial imagination…. It is kindling in me intense inspiration to create a new print.

If you’d like to read more about this connection, Maria Popova writes about it in this (typically overly florid) essay. Click here.

Worth Reading

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One of the Boys 

By Daniel Magariel

176 pages

Released March 14, 2017 by Scribner

It was in one of several to-read stacks in my office. I selected it to take with me on the trip to Myrtle Beach because (1) it was thin, (2) it had a bright orange cover, and (3) it had an endorsement by George Saunders (a writer I greatly admire) above the title: “Brilliant, urgent, darkly funny, heartbreaking – a tour de force.”

The Story: After a divorce and acrimonious custody battle, a man and his two sons leave Kansas for Albuquerque, where they will start a new life. The boys enroll in school and join the basketball team, while the father works from their apartment. As the weeks go by, the father’s behavior becomes suspect. As the months pass, things go from bad to worse.

One of the Boys is a good book. Compelling, insightful, and well written. It is about love and abuse, ambition and addiction, and dependence and desperation. If that sounds depressing, it is. I was in a low mood when I read it, and it didn’t cheer me up. But it did get me thinking.

Critical Reception 

* “Magariel’s debut is sure, stinging, and deeply etched, like the outlines of a tattoo. Belongs on the short shelf of great books about child abuse.” (Kirkus Review)

* “Magariel’s gripping and heartfelt debut is a blunt reminder that the boldest assertion of manhood is not violence stemming from fear. It is tenderness stemming from compassion.” (New York Times)

* “Because it homes in on instances of abuse to the exclusion of all else, it risks feeling like a deposition rather than a story. Whenever the father appears, he is doing another thing that would scar a child for life. Virtually every adult is a seedy, frightening derelict to whom the boys are exposed through the father’s neglect.” (The Guardian)

Fun and/or Interesting

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Are Ladies Lightweights?

The average woman weighs about 15% less than the average man. So why is it that all the rules on safe drinking suggest that the average man can safely drink twice as much alcohol as the average woman?

Is this sexist? Unscientific?

It turns out to be roughly accurate. That’s because the capacity for absorbing and tolerating alcohol depends on more than just body mass. There are three factors that matter. Body mass is arguably the least important.

Here’s a brief explanation from Peter Attia. Click here. 

Fun and/or Interesting

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For Your Edification: The Best and Worst Airlines 

I’ve done a fair amount of plane travel in my life. Not millions of miles. But probably close to a million. I’ve traveled domestically at least 1,000 times and internationally at least 100. There are many people that have flown more than I have. In fact, I probably haven’t flown enough to have an informed opinion about which are the best and worst airlines. And yet, I do!

And I compare my opinions to those I see published every year by various travel magazines and newsletters. In a rating recently published by World Airline Awards, the lion’s share of the top 20 spots were divided between Asian and Arab country airlines. That’s been my experience, especially in the first-class cabin. (If you’ve never experienced first-class flight with Singapore, Qatar, or Emirates Airlines, you don’t know how luxurious first class can be.)

In comparison, US airlines generally provide their customers with a distinctly second-class experience. Even in the first-class sections on domestic flights. The equipment (which is how people in the industry refer to the planes) is often old and dirty. The flight attendants are at best officious and, more often, disagreeable. And the efficiency and reliability of the service ranges between average and disappointing. It doesn’t surprise me that only three US airlines made it into the top 50 – and that was Delta at 24, Southwest at 34, and Jet Blue at 48.

As a rule, you’re almost always better off with an Asian, Arab, European, or Australian airline when traveling internationally. In the US, Jet Blue is solid. Southwest is one step down. And Delta and the rest of the US airlines are to be avoided, if you can. (For East Coast to West Coast flights, I would recommend Virgin Airways.)

Worth Quoting

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“I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on.” – Jean Kerr (who was my godmother!)

Readers Write

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Re my “Father-Son Talk” essay in the Oct. 11 issue: 

“I loved your piece on father-son talks. It was funny because it was so painfully true!” – SA

 

“Once men were direct and straightforward. Sadly, slowly, they turned into pushovers.” – VB

Postscript

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Here’s Katy Perry singing “One of the Boys,” a song that was not inspired by the book I reviewed above (and, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with any of the book’s themes). It’s about something that might be considered impolitic today. It’s about a tomboy, who, as she moves into puberty, realizes that she really is a girl after all.

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