Nonzero, 03/03/25
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Trump vs. Zelensky: The Morning After | Robert Wright & Andrew Day.” (03/03/25)
What’s at Stake in the Budget Battle
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann
“For the first time in years, the U.S. Congress is considering budget bills that could seriously rein in government spending growth. The big-budget news came out of the House of Representatives last week. The House passed its budget blueprint by a two-vote margin. House Concurrent Resolution 14 covers proposed spending for the entire U.S. government for the remainder of its 2025 fiscal year through its 2034 fiscal year.” (03/03/25)
Which Century Are We In?: Slouching Toward Mount McKinley
Source: TomDispatch
by Alfred McCoy
“In the weeks leading up to the recent presidential inauguration in Washington, this country and an anxious world expected many different things from what might be called (to borrow the title of the famed William Butler Yeats’s poem ‘The Second Coming’) Donald J. Trump. But nobody expected this. Nobody at all. ‘We will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley where it should be and where it belongs,’ President Trump announced to a burst of applause during his inaugural address on January 20th. Continuing his celebration of a decidedly mediocre president, best known for taking this country on an ill-advised turn towards colonial conquest, Trump added: ‘President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent …'” (03/04/25)
15% corporate rate & 25% small business deduction should be Trump tax cut centerpieces
Source: Fox News
by Grover Norquist & Alfredo Ortiz
“Now that House Republicans have agreed on a budget resolution to finance their legislative priorities, debate begins on the specific tax cuts to include in the final ‘big, beautiful bill’. At the top of this list is fulfilling President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated call to reduce the corporate tax to 15%. This tax rate cut would make the U.S. significantly more competitive and jumpstart our economy still feeling the effects of four years of anti-growth policies. According to an analysis by the Tax Foundation, a 15% corporate tax rate would significantly boost GDP, wages and jobs. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which took effect in 2018, reduced the corporate tax from 35% – one of the world’s highest – to 21%, middle of the pack. In response, U.S. corporations increased their domestic investment by an average of 20%, according to an NBER study that analyzed 12,000 corporate tax returns.” (03/04/25)
World’s largest iceberg runs aground off remote island
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The world’s largest iceberg has run aground in shallow waters off the remote British island of South Georgia, home to millions of penguins and seals. The iceberg, which is about twice the size of Greater London, appears to be stuck and should start breaking up on the island’s south-west shores. Fisherman fear they will be forced to battle with vast chunks of ice, and it could affect some macaroni penguins feeding in the area. But scientists in Antarctica say that huge amounts of nutrients are locked inside the ice, and that as it melts, it could create an explosion of life in the ocean. ‘It’s like dropping a nutrient bomb into the middle of an empty desert,’ says Prof Nadine Johnston from British Antarctic Survey.” (03/04/25)
LP Alliance Livestream, episode 7
Soure: LP Alliance
“Building Maintenance is Woke.” (03/03/25)
An Economic Approach to Homer’s Odyssey: Part III
Source: EconLog
by Tyler Cowen
“In my reading, Pylos and Sparta, the polities visited by Telemachus, is what the world looks like when you do not have the critical faculties acquired by traveling. Pylos is the world prior to an understanding of options, as only Odysseus has seen war, anarchy, orderly kingship, and various polities based on intoxication. Sparta represents post-traumatic tragedy and intoxication as a substitute for ongoing conflict. Ogygia is the rejected and intolerable utopia. Sparta vs. Ithaca is one meaningful contrast, but most of all The Odyssey is a comparison between Phaeacia and Ithaca, so to that contrast I shall now turn.” (03/03/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/cowenodysseypart3.html
Serbia: Opposition members throw smoke bombs, flares inside parliament
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Serbian opposition lawmakers have thrown smoke grenades and tear gas inside parliament to protest against the government and support demonstrating students, with one legislator suffering a stroke during the chaos. As the spring session of parliament opened on Tuesday, after the ruling coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) approved the agenda, some opposition politicians ran out of their seats towards the parliamentary speaker and scuffled with security guards. Others tossed smoke grenades and tear gas, with live TV showing black and pink smoke inside the parliament, which has also witnessed brawls and throwing of water in the decades since the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1990.” (03/04/25)
Free Talk Cast, episode 33
Source: Free Talk Live
“But was it aliens?” (03/03/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-cast-033-but-was-it-aliens
Ukraine Will Fight On, With or Without the West
Source: Reason
by Paul Schwennesen
“While heads of state jockey and pontificate, the average Ukrainian defender simply doesn’t give a damn. The fight will go on regardless of whatever separate peace deals are brokered over their heads. Moreover, the threat of withdrawing Western support only further inclines them toward tools of last resort—nuclear and chemical, to be precise. When all other options for defending their freedom and sovereignty have been removed by far-away politicians, Ukrainian citizens will do what they must. This is what national defense looks like. As in the first days of the invasion, the national spirit of resistance is revived.” (03/03/25)
https://reason.com/2025/03/03/ukraine-will-fight-on-with-or-without-the-west/