The Top Income Tax Bracket Used to Be 90% or More Fact
The top marginal income tax rate was over 90% under FDR and Eisenhower, but the effective rate in those times ranged from roughly 0% – 60%.
Economics
Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, trade, and consumption of goods and services. Economics uses a mix of psychology, mathematics, experiment, and analysis to predict and understand economies.
Commodity Fetishism, Consumerism, the Society of the Spectacle, Alienation, and More
We define terms related to “the society of the spectacle” like commodity fetishism, consumerism, “proletarianization,” and alienation.
The Long Term Capital Gains Tax is Lower Than the Short Term Capital Gains Tax Fact
The long term capital gains tax is lower than other federal income taxes, including the capital gains tax and the income tax.
Friedrich A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom Explained
Friedrich A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom essentially explains itself (or at least the cartoon that comes with it does). We explain it anyway.
The Poor and Middle Class are Subject to the Estate Tax Myth
It is a myth that the estate tax hurts poor and middle class Americans, only the richest Americans (0.2% of families) pay the estate tax.
Getting Rid of the Estate Tax Would Increase the Wealth Gap Fact
The estate tax (“death tax”) is one of the taxes preventing an unsustainable wealth gap; eliminating the estate tax would increase the wealth gap.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century By Thomas Piketty Explained
We explain the general idea behind Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century and offer links to summaries and the full text.
Life is all About “Trade-offs” Fact
Life is all about “trade-offs,” and almost everything in life is a trade-off. If one thing increases, another must decrease.
Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth Explained and Annotated
Below we present an annotated version of Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay Wealth (better known as the Gospel of Wealth).
The Purpose of the Social Safety Net
The Social Safety net is a collection of welfare services meant to help people bounce up when they hit bottom, it is not meant as a net to trap the poor under.