Recent kwiples

Thursday 28th of March 2024

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2007 financial crisis Why would we expect people from the classes that are most insulated from economic downturns to feel a sense of urgency about an economic crisis that hit the most vulnerable Americans the hardest? Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election They came from the valleys, they came from the rivers, they came from the cities, they came from all over, they voted in one of the greatest elections in the history of our country. Donald Trump, March 22, 2018, reminiscing about his 2016 victory © 2019 Kwiple.com
Activism The loudest duck gets shot. Chinese proverb © 2019 Kwiple.com
Activism The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Japanese proverb © 2019 Kwiple.com
Activism The squeaky wheel gets the grease. American proverb © 2019 Kwiple.com
Class The old notion that politicians from different classes essentially want the same things — that the interests of the mechanic “can be more effectually promoted by the merchant” [as Hamilton said] — is deeply mistaken. On the important economic issues of the day, members of Congress routinely vote with class. Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com
Class Policy-makers from blue-collar backgrounds change classes when they enter politics, but they do not appear to change their policy perspectives. Neither do business owners, technical professionals, or legislators from other lines of work. The proceses that give rise to class-based differences in legislative voting continue to operate long after lawmakers enter public life. Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk I want to shift the entire planet. And I'm doing it. Newt Gingrich © 2018 Kwiple.com
Communism I think there are fewer things that contributed more to the disenchantment of the population in communism than the ostentatious consumption patterns of their leaders. Granted, the value of these consumption goods was trivial compared to the spending patterns of today's oligarchs, or of the rich in the West and Latin America. The communist elite was relatively poor compared to other elites. But the point is that their behavior stood out so sharply because it was so blatantly in contradiction with the ideology they preached. Branko Milanovic, The Haves and Have Nots © 2019 Kwiple.com
Congress Although women and minorities were still underrepresented [in Congress] at the end of the twentieth century, both groups gained considerable ground during the postwar period. In sharp contrast, working-class Americans — who have made up more than 50 percent of the labor force for at least the last hundred years — have never made up more than 2 percent of Congress. Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government [2013] © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say The Republican Party will become “the Party of Healthcare!” Donald Trump, 9:58 AM – 26 Mar 2019, after having having announced his plan to to use the courts to overturn Obamacare in its entirety and to deprive tens of millions of Americans of healthcare insurance © 2019 Kwiple.com
Economic growth The tendency of capital to go from one rich country to another and more recently even to flow “upward” from poor to rich countries, as rich people from poor countries, fearful for their money and lives, invest abroad, has been termed the “Lucas paradox.” Branko Milanovic, The Haves and the Have Nots © 2019 Kwiple.com
Fox News The President's world view is being specifically shaped by what he sees on Fox News, but Fox's goals are ratings and money, which they get by maximizing rage. It's not a message that is going to serve the rest of the country. Max Gertz © 2019 Kwiple.com
Income inequality … citizenship and income class of his parents. These two factors explain more than 80 percent of a person's income. The remaining 20 percent or less is therefore due to other factors over which individuals have no control (gender, age, race, luck) and to the factors over which they do have control (effort or hard work). Branko Milanovic, The Haves and the Have Nots © 2019 Kwiple.com
Income inequality One's income thus crucially depends on citizenship, which in turn means (in a world of rather low international migration) place of birth. All people born in rich countries receive a location premium or a location rent; all those born in poor countries get a location penalty. Branko Milanovic, The Haves and the Have Nots © 2019 Kwiple.com
Income inequality The poorest American ventile [bottom twentieth or bottom 5%] is at the 68th percentile of the world income distribution … This means that the poorest Americans are better off than more than two-thirds of the world's population. People in all other (higher) U.S. ventiles are, of course, even better off, and the richest Americans belong to the top world percentile. Branko Milanovic, The Haves and the Have Nots © 2019 Kwiple.com
Income inequality Today, it is much more important, globally speaking whether you are lucky enough to be born in a rich country than whether the income class to which you belong in a rich country is high, medium or low. Branko Milanovic, The Haves and the Have Nots © 2019 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Count votes in Congress by: 1. Calculating a Member's Proportional Vote (MPV) for each member, as follows: MPV = SPNP / NLRS where: SPNP = State's Percentage of the National Population NLRS = Number of Legislators Representing the State (in that legislature) 2. Totaling “yes” MPVs and “no” MPVs 3. Passing if total MPV is more than 50 OTHERWISE Abolish the Senate © 2019 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Enhance America's infrastructure (1) without privatizing it (2) without giving tax breaks and windfall profits to private investors (3) without issuing government bonds, which increases government debt and income inequality resulting from paying interest to bondholders by (1) contracting to build or improve assets of long-lasting public value, like roads, schools, parks, housing (2) printing money and paying for work as it's done © 2017 Kwiple.com
Liars say It was a complete and total exoneration. Donald Trump, commenting on William Barr's letter quoting special counsel Mueller's findings about possible obstruction of justice: “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Post-2018 Senate shituation 15 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming) 2018 population: 40,056,961 Senators: 30 Republicans 1 Senator per 1,335,232 people 1 state (California) 2018 population: 39,776,830 Senators: 2 Democrats 1 Senator per 19,888,415 people 19,888,415 / 1,335,232 = 16, therefore: average 15er's vote is worth 16 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 6% of an average 15er's 1 state (Wyoming) 2018 population = 573,720, therefore: 1 Senator per 286,860 Wyomians, a Wyomian's vote is worth 69 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 1.4% of a Wyomian's © 2016 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say That's not enough. I need a majority.  Adlai Stevenson, responding to a supporter who called out, “Governor Stevenson, all thinking people are for you!” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Social Security In the United States, the poverty rate among older adults is now just 9 percent; if Social Security were not included in their income, it would be 40 percent. Almost one third of beneficiaries rely on the program for at least 90 percent of their income. Cass Sunstein, New York Review of Books, April 4, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say [T]he evidence developed during the special counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. William Barr, Trump's self-proclaimed Exonerator General  and Republican-proclaimed Attorney General, superseding Congress's authority to decide the issue left unresolved by special counsel Mueller's investigation © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I don't think anybody could say that the president is anti-Muslim. Mick Mulvaney © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say One side has about 8 trillion bullets, while the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use. … Wonder who would win. Steve King, imagining "another civil war," this time betweeen red states and blue states © 2019 Kwiple.com
White-collar government Across the board, white-collar government is good for white-collar Americans and bad for the less fortunate. Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com