Author Archives: Bok
Tax Reform Rescue Mission
During a week of inspiring rescues, President Trump introduced his tax reform plan. The U.S. has the world’s highest corporate tax rate at 39%. As a result, over two trillion dollars is parked overseas in low tax countries like Ireland. Trump proposes a 15% corporate rate as ransom to rescue that cash and bring it home. Which in return will lead to growth.
Tax Reform
Of course Democrats don’t see it that way. To them it’s all just an elitist gift to the rich. Maybe, but Kimberly Strassel points out in the WSJ that Trump is an ideal pitchman for the plan. He’s rich but he’s also seen as a populist outsider:
Mr. Trump has defined himself as the protector of America’s forgotten man, an outsider to the swamp, an America Firster. The result is that he is uniquely qualified to sell a tax plan decried as “elitist” to average Americans.
In Missouri, Mr. Trump busted up the left’s class-warfare model. He didn’t make tax reform about blue-collar workers fighting corporate America. Instead it was a question of “our workers” and “our companies” and “our country” competing against China. He noted that America’s high tax rates force companies to move overseas. He directly and correctly tied corporate rate cuts to prosperity for workers, noting that tax reform would “keep jobs in America, create jobs in America,” and lead to higher wages.
Cajun Navy
The Atlantic has a nice story about the “Cajun Navy.” It’s made up of private citizens with boats who rescue Hurricane Harvey victims:
Clyde Cain, who runs a Cajun Navy Facebook page told USA Today last year, “The reality of the Cajun Navy is everybody out here with a boat that isn’t devastated gets out and helps others.”
Hate Group Members
The extremist hate group thing seems a little trumped up to me.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says there are between 5,000 and 8,000 Klan members. The SLPC is the media’s go-to choice for hate stats. They even publish this helpful hate map.
But their definition of hate seems broad. They label some Christian groups that don’t share their views on LGBT issues, like the Family Research Council, as hate groups. Then again, I suppose the Klan also considers itself a Christian group not big on the LGBT agenda.
Anyway, I found the FBI figure of 2,200 Klan members quoted in Newsweek archives. So I went with it.
Robert Lee Removed From University of Virginia
ESPN removed Robert Lee from the University of Virginia. Not the statue. Robert Lee the announcer. He’s the guy scheduled to do the play by play for Virginia’s opening game against William & Mary. In the hope of avoiding offense, ESPN removed him from the game.
Robert Lee and the Horse He rode in On
Meanwhile USC students want Traveler the Trojan Horse removed from Southern Cal games. Traveler was also the name of Robert E. Lee’s horse. That would be Robert Lee the general, not the announcer.
No Statue of Limitation in Identity Politics
Tear ’em all down.
Mark Lilla is a liberal history professor at Columbia. He blames identity politics for Democrats’ failure to win elections. The professor thinks the left focuses too much on what keeps us apart rather than on what brings us together. He says his conservative students make arguments based on ideas and principles. But his liberal students make their arguments based on identity.
Here’s a link to his latest book The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. And here are a couple of reviews from The Guardian.
