tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post8300734007801725287..comments2023-05-13T08:06:53.033-04:00Comments on Prettier Than Napoleon: "And if you are a woman, decide whether you'd be happier being a nun or a whore. Or hope some nice free peasant marries you. You have my sympathies."Amberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11792206117772893217noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-54588174146538032752010-04-14T15:46:59.595-04:002010-04-14T15:46:59.595-04:00You could pay me enough to live in the fifties, bu...You could pay me enough to live in the fifties, but only if I got to be an expat in Paris with a fellowship.<br /><br />The high tax rates of the fifties (>90 at the top!) came up at unfogged—I am informed by seemingly confident people that very few were actually stuck with the bills (or deductions) those rates would suggest.Ben Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06887096661154495898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-43536960755303971712010-04-14T13:21:52.587-04:002010-04-14T13:21:52.587-04:00^^ Yes, absolutely agreed with all of this.^^ Yes, absolutely agreed with all of this.Jacob T. Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02575549001627195334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-81005401069784141162010-04-14T12:33:09.572-04:002010-04-14T12:33:09.572-04:00Sure, there's more than the income tax, but th...Sure, there's more than the income tax, but those other taxes hit wealthy people in the 1950s too. Take for example the estate tax, which unlike most other taxes <i>only</i> falls on those who are wealthy, at least as measured by assets. According to the <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/ninetyestate.pdf" rel="nofollow">IRS</a>, estate and gift taxes were a higher percentage of total PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-49429157518402394622010-04-14T08:43:33.921-04:002010-04-14T08:43:33.921-04:00Even setting aside the lack of material resources ...Even setting aside the lack of material resources in the past (the presence or absence of which is in part a function of prevailing legal and economic norms), the fact that vast numbers of occupations and educational opportunities were just flat denied, by law, to women and persons of color should be a huge clue that the absence of high tax rates and regulation would have little impact on the &Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11792206117772893217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-88482606039370718482010-04-14T08:12:49.091-04:002010-04-14T08:12:49.091-04:00In a world of economic growth and technological an...In a world of economic growth and technological and medical progress, the time-travel thought experiment should almost always come out in favor of the present, for any inhabitant of a wealthy western country that lacks a civil war.<br /><br />I don't think that categorically rules out interesting comparisons with the past on other normative dimensions. In this case (as I've been arguing Jacob T. Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02575549001627195334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-6160184724353397192010-04-14T05:06:23.759-04:002010-04-14T05:06:23.759-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-83481852845498382962010-04-14T02:59:42.772-04:002010-04-14T02:59:42.772-04:00Since you allude to social contract theorists -doe...Since you allude to social contract theorists -doesn't it come down to that typical Rousseauian conundrum? It depends whether your definition of freedom is positive or negative rights based.<br /><br />Emily<br /> <br />(I cannot remember my google password so using my partners)gordonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09745000624709305787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-18330148158732961802010-04-14T00:56:32.707-04:002010-04-14T00:56:32.707-04:00PG,
There is more to an income tax code than mar...PG,<br /> There is more to an income tax code than marginal tax rates. Most rich people would prefer the tax system back in the 50's to the tax system today. There were so many loopholes and tax shelters available back then that you didn't have to pay any taxes at all. <br /><br />As for the 50's, you could not pay me enough to go back and live in that era.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03537981274809055415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-49026132761798352532010-04-14T00:25:47.904-04:002010-04-14T00:25:47.904-04:00I think Krugman's point was not that the '...I think Krugman's point was not that the '50s were great all around for every American (he's a Jew married to a black woman, after all), but that <br />(1) conservative nostalgia for Ike's time ignores the fact that Ike was a Commie, if one judges by the highest marginal federal income tax rate, and that <br />(2) it was a great time for the middle class compared to how the middlePGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-30047488335971987162010-04-14T00:06:11.642-04:002010-04-14T00:06:11.642-04:00I never understand all this nostalgia for the past...I never understand all this nostalgia for the past. Reminds me of a few years ago when Krugman was arguing about how the 50's were such a great time in America because there was less inequality.<br /><br />For all the problems that we have in America today there is no better time to be an American than today.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03537981274809055415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-44470056976479238532010-04-13T21:31:07.385-04:002010-04-13T21:31:07.385-04:00Fixed.Fixed.Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11792206117772893217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-14160066493110002102010-04-13T21:13:50.495-04:002010-04-13T21:13:50.495-04:00"This" was a link, but "pair" ..."This" was a link, but "pair" was just underlined, and it looks like it was intended to be a link.Jens Fiedererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14677879209417044496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574772.post-34158145223294912572010-04-13T20:19:35.793-04:002010-04-13T20:19:35.793-04:00http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzYMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05271175695509162818noreply@blogger.com