Day: June 25, 2012

Rich Americans Renouncing Citizenship at Record Rate

Buck Banks

8,000/week

Average rate at which U.S. immigration officials predict wealthy Americans will renounce their citizenship in 2012, the New York Post reports, largely to avoid any stiff tax bills resulting from the proposed 55 percent hike on the rich — as well as the likely expiration of the Bush era tax cuts Dec. 31. That’s about 154 a week, versus 3,805 in 2011, or about 73 per week.

Everything Is Political, So Get Over It Already

Buck Banks

Let’s posit that the point of politics is to get more votes than the other side — so everything a politician does is by definition political. Shocking. But there is, frequently, also an element of principle, a dash of ideology, and maybe even a hint of idealism. To analyze every act in terms of motive, and to reduce every motive to its basest level, is just dumb. … You can drive yourself crazy trying to peer into a person’s soul —or you can do the sensible thing: ask not what inner motives drive a politician’s policy choices but instead whether those choices are good for the country.

— Paul Begala, writing in the Daily Beast.