More Of The Same

Peas and Pods
On the surface, Greece and Italy seem remarkably alike. Both countries have entrenched patronage networks that predate the European Union by centuries and suffocating regulations and work rules. (NYT, 11/11/2011)


Hmm....reminds us of what? Now to avoid or reverse these issues, the best course of action is to do what?


The Sutton Principle
To solve our debt problems, we have to go to where the money is — the middle class. People who earn between $30,000 and $200,000 a year make a total of around $5 trillion and pay less than 10 percent of that in taxes (owing mostly to tax incentives and the fact that most families make less than $68,000, where larger tax rates begin). Increasing the middle-class tax burden an additional 8 percent, however, would actually have a bigger impact than taxing millionaires at 100 percent. (Adam Davidson, NYT, 11/9/2011)


Why the Republican firewall against raising taxes on "millionaires and billionaires?"  One reason is that Liberals won't stop there. They will then carve away until everyone is paying confiscatory taxes. Of course, another alternative to raising taxes is for government to spend less.


Germ Warfare
Dr. Philip M. Tierno Jr., the director of clinical microbiology and immunology at NYU Langone Medical Center, said the conditions could leave park-dwellers susceptible to respiratory viruses; norovirus, the so-called winter vomiting virus, which can lead to vomiting and diarrhea and which could quickly overwhelm the limited bathroom facilities in the area; and tuberculosis, which is more common in indigent populations and can be spread by coughing. (NYT, 11/11/2011)


Like the microbes that brought down the alien invaders in War of the Worlds, the Occupiers could also be felled by the unseen!