Tag Archives: Unintended Consequences

Most productive workers fleeing high tax rates in New York state

Story in the New York Post. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.

The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City — meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out.

“The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource — people,” the report said.

What’s worse is that the families fleeing New York are being replaced by lower-income newcomers, who consequently pay less in taxes.

[…]It all adds up to staggering loss in taxable income. During 2006-2007, the “migration flow” out of New York to other states amounted to a loss of $4.3 billion.

I am 100% certain that the Democrats in Albany had no idea that this would happen. Economics is not something that the left does really well.

Understanding the long-term forecast for the federal budget

Watch this 2 minute video from Political Math.

Mandatory spending includes entitlements like social security, medicare and medicaid. It also includes payments on the national debt, which Obama intends to grow from about 12 trillion to about 19 trillion. The problem is that mandatory spending is set to skyrocket out of control in the next 8 years, and there isn’t any money available to pay for it.

Attacking businesses and productive individuals just reduces the amounts collected in income and sales taxes. In other words, taxing the rich just lowers government revenues by destroying economic growth. No one gets out of bed in the morning to earn 50% of what they are worth.

Public Debt Outlook
Public Debt Outlook

Click the images to enlarge them.

More charts:

Jobs Lost
Jobs Lost
National Debt
National Debt
Budget Deficit
Budget Deficit

More here.

In short, we’re doomed.

UPDATE: 1RedThread advises that I post the Doom Song.

I was JUST THINKING about 1RedThread a little earlier. I am NOT KIDDING.

This video is so going into the Friday Funny post.

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UK: Most teenage pregnancies end in abortion

Startling news from the other side of the pond.

Story here. (H/T My friend Andrew, who has an amazing marriage to Jen)

Excerpt:

Most pregnancies among girls under 18 ended in abortion last year.

Out of around 40,000 pregnancies more than 20,000 were terminated – the first time more had chosen this option than become mothers.

The figure is higher than 2007, when it just hit 50 per cent, and consistent with a steady upwards trend since the Government started its controversial Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1999.

Figures out on May 21 will also show that for the first time the number of abortions performed on women living in England and Wales topped 200,000.

The teenage pregnancy strategy, which has cost taxpayers more than £300million, was meant to halve the number of conceptions among girls under 18 in England between 1998 and 2010.

Ministers have tried to slash teenage pregnancies by freely handing out contraceptives and expanding sex education.

But the fall in pregnancy rates has not met Government targets, and in 2007 the rate actually rose.

Teenage pregnancy rates are now higher than they were in 1995. Pregnancies among girls under 16 – below the age of consent – are also at the highest level since 1998.

And:

Phyllis Bowman, of the Right to Life group, said: ‘Contraception campaigners and clinics depend for their living on providing contraception and abortion to underage girls.

‘The Government listens to them, but they are responsible for this disaster.

‘We have the highest level of sexually transmitted disease in Europe and the highest level of sexual activity among teenagers in Europe.

‘Unicef says we have the unhappiest teenagers in Europe.

‘The young have been deliberately sexualised in a culture which sneers at the idea of telling teenagers they should not have sex.’

“When you tax something you get less of it, and when you reward something you get more of it.” – Jack Kemp

I have an idea. Let’s find a special group of people. They must believe that the entire physical universe popped into being, fine-tuned for life, uncaused, out of absolute nothing. They must believe that the massive amount of DNA code in each cell sequenced itself, by chance. They must believe that morality and human rights are illusory. And that the purpose of life is to have happy feelings, even if it means exploiting the weakest among us.

Then let’s vote them into office so that they can impose their irrational worldview on us by government coercion!

What could go wrong?