Favorites April 23 2021

Big news today was about Biden announcing plan to raise capital gains up to the marginal rate for those with incomes over 1 million, and raise the top tax rate back to the pre-Trump level. A few weeks ago he also announced increases to corporate tax rates. If you’re wondering whether those kinds of taxes are correlated with S&P returns, there’s actually some interesting data:

Liz Ann Sonders @LizAnnSonders

Virtually no relationship between changes in capital gains tax rate & S&P 500 returns in year of change ... last time cap gains went up (in 2013), S&P 500 had stellar year (up 30%) @FactSet @UBS

Sam Ro 📈 @SamRo

"calendar years in which tax hikes went into effect have historically coincided with double-digit S&P 500 price returns and stronger US GDP growth, on average” - BMO

Not clear whether they’ll be able to actually get this change through the Senate, but:

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Obviously their first choice would be universal assent to their ideas, but in a world where controversy is inevitable don’t underrate the extent to which the White House and Senate Dems welcome a national debate about billionaire tears.

Democrats probably feel that raising taxes on the rich is a winning conversation for them to be having.

b-boy bouiebaisse @jbouie

.⁦@willwilkinson⁩ being brilliant as usual

modelcitizen.substack.comThe Anti-Majoritarian MistakeJonah Goldberg thinks liberal societies don’t need much democracy. He’s wrong.

This is a pretty long article, but the upshot is that even conservatives who were strongly anti-Trump continue to hold surprisingly anti-democratic views, this is made especially clear when it comes to DC statehood.

Joe Sondow @JoeSondow

Representative Mike Loychik @MikeLoychik

The founders never intended for Washington DC to become a state.

Weyoun has strong opinions about The Founders

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The opening scene of the James Bond movie Spectre is set at the annual Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City, which was not a real tradition but became one after the movie came out.

theguardian.comMexico’s Day of the Dead festival rises from the graveyard and into pop cultureMexico City’s parade has grown bigger each year as the holiday becomes a part of Halloween festivities outside of Mexico

Life imitates art. Yglesias argues cities should throw more parties like this, and I’m all for that, especially because as an individual member of the public, I can tell you throwing a party myself is a real pain.

Derek Thompson @DKThomp

Why malaria is so hard to vaccinate: It isn't caused by a virus or bacteria. Unlike most diseases, it shakes off our immunological defenses, consistently outwitting our cells, making it possible to catch the disease over and over. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

New malaria vaccine shown to be 77% effective, which is teriffic news. Also, I had no idea it was such a different kind of disease.

micah english @micahanglais

Democrats have started using racial justice framing to promote their progressive policies (eg, student debt relief is good b/c it will close the racial wealth gap). Is this language helpful for their causes? In a new working paper with @j_kalla, we find NO osf.io/tdkf3

Racial justice isn't *just* a bad way to sell zoning reform, it appears to be a bad way to sell any policy

lines @thatinterlace

announcing my new cryptocurrency MammonCoin, which uses a proof-of-sacrifice model. it's more environmentally friendly because all you need to do is set up a furnace dedicated to Moloch in your own back garden and acquire some of the unique fuel, which is renewable.

lines @thatinterlace

Increasingly feel like cryptocurrency is basically the most likely source of a paperclip apocalypse https://t.co/8iVhIT9acX

Mammon: "any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain". Yes I had to look that up. Proud to say I was already familiar with the concept of Paperclip Apocalypse.

Finally, did you know that there are these massive Art Deco sculptures at the Hoover Dam?

I took this photo back in February 2018