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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 9, 2024

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I agree that most/all of these proposals seem unwise. We need to tax the poor more and cut spending harshly, particularly the insidious "refundable tax credits" that have really caught on lately.

That said, people mostly complain about "fake email jobs" that are in government, or are government facing. These jobs require credentials that are typically not actually market based but mandated or "mandated". So saying they exist in a market is kinda false.

I don't really think raising taxes on the poor exclusively is a great idea. While the poor have been doing alright recently, I'd say that's generally a good thing given the US's gini coefficient is generally higher than other OECD countries. Letting most parts of the Trump Tax Cuts expire would be a good start. Also, slashing all refundable tax credits seems unwise, given that the EITC qualifies as one according to my Google searches, and it's one of the best redistribution programs that exist. Economists across the ideological spectrum generally rate it pretty highly.

The credentials issue of jobs generally is certainly an issue, but for reasons of zero sum signaling competition rather than... the fact that people work at a desk.