http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/ A collection of real-world libertarian, individualist and laissez-faire rants on policy, culture and other current events by an average, everyday lawyer & investment banker and part-time pop scholar. en-us 2008-06-28T11:06+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1213650652.shtml Barack Obama has, as was widely expected, introduced a proposal to lift the cap on wages subject to Social Security tax, but with an exemption &mdash; often referred to as... Kip 2008-06-16T21:06+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1205371354.shtml Regardless of which Democrat is elected in November, one of the first policy showdowns in 2009 will likely be calls to eliminate the wage cap on Social Security taxes ("scrap the... Kip 2008-03-13T01:03+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1200836878.shtml The conundrum I (and Lewis Black) hinted at previously about the latest plan to pander to the middle class stimulate the economy via minuscule (i.e., purely symbolic) "tax rebates"... Kip 2008-01-20T13:01+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1198552269.shtml Perhaps the New York Times editorial board has finally embraced fiscal responsibility?... Kip 2007-12-25T03:12+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1198031154.shtml Class warrior John Edwards this past Sunday:... Kip 2007-12-19T02:12+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1196735623.shtml A question I posed to Robert Reich ("the nation's 22nd Secretary of Labor and a professor at the University of California at Berkeley") in response to his question: "Why is... Kip 2007-12-04T02:12+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1195179888.shtml Paul Krugman lying yet again about Social Security:... Kip 2007-11-16T02:11+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1193611581.shtml Pot.Kettle.Black.... Kip 2007-10-28T22:10+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1192014359.shtml First it was newborns whom Hillary Clinton invited to suck at the government teat via her infinitely asinine "Baby Bond" proposal. Now it's entire families:... Kip 2007-10-10T11:10+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1191764019.shtml I always try to pass along these data whenever I see them updated:... Kip 2007-10-08T11:10+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1191027065.shtml Specifically, the Democrats of 1935:... Kip 2007-09-29T00:09+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1188955222.shtml To review: There are only three "dials to fiddle with" in addressing the Social Security crisis:... Kip 2007-09-05T01:09+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1182266302.shtml This is pretty much all you need to know:... Kip 2007-06-19T15:06+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1178729816.shtml The Urban Institute, a think tank whose research I have cited favorably in the past, has unfortunately engaged in a bit of myopic tap dancing around the question of how... Kip 2007-05-09T16:05+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1177463450.shtml As I noted yesterday, the trustees of Social Security and Medicare released their annual report on the state of the systems' finances.... Kip 2007-04-25T01:04+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1177360431.shtml Just a reminder that the annual Report of the Social Security Trustees (or, as I call it, "The Doomsday Report") is expected to be released today, although it was... Kip 2007-04-23T20:04+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1176744843.shtml One last thought today on income taxes -- a reiteration actually.... Kip 2007-04-16T17:04+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1168370279.shtml Remember Robert Pozen, the lawyer-economist who had found a "solution" to the Social Security crisis that he called "progressive indexing" (an absurd nomenclature given that Social Security is already a <a... Kip 2007-01-09T19:01+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1161712774.shtml The professionals who tell corporate America how to keep their books have some advice for those who cook Social Security's books:... Kip 2006-10-24T17:10+00:00 http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/posts/1161220657.shtml "More than one in six people in the United States receive federal benefits that will increase because of the annual cost-of-living adjustment."... Kip 2006-10-19T01:10+00:00