Aspiring Economist

libertybill

New Jersey Prepares To Raise Taxes On "Almost Everything" As It Nears Financial Disaster

“He must be kidding,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean said of governor Murphy's proposal. “I don’t think anybody could have anticipated this level of tax increases.”

stuff-that-irks-me

Last week we noted that in what was a radical U-turn to what other public pension funds have been doing in recent years - most notably Calpers - the struggling New Jersey public pension system decided that instead of lowering its expected rate of return, it would raise it, from 7% to 7.5%.

The simple reason behind this odd increase in projected returns was an accounting sleight of hand which would allow the state of New Jersey to save some $238 million in pension contributions as a result of the higher discount rate applied to the fund’s liabilities. And with a pension funding level of only 37% for the 2015 fiscal year, the worst of any state in the US, New Jersey would gladly take even the most glaring accounting gimmickry that would delay its inevitable death.

Unfortunately, being the not so proud owner of the most distressed and underfunded public pension fund in the US is just the start of New Jersey’s monetary woes, and as Bloomberg reports, New Jersey’s fiscal situation is so dire that new Governor Phil Murphy has proposed taxing online-room booking, ride-sharing, marijuana, e-cigarettes and Internet transactions along with raising taxes on millionaires and retail sales to fund a record $37.4 billion budget that would boost spending on schools, pensions and mass transit.

The proposal which is 4.2% higher than the current fiscal year’s, relies on a tax for the wealthiest that is so unpopular it not only has yet to be approved, but also lacks support from key Democrats in the legislature, let alone Republicans. It also reverses pledges from Murphy’s predecessor, Republican Chris Christie, to lower taxes in a state where living costs are already among the nation’s highest.

Source: zerohedge.com

libertybill

Source: bryansbeard

peace-love-colbert

The West Wing | 1x21 | Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Bipartisanship

vintageborn

Today hundreds of thousands are marching on Washington for the right to life in the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world. President Trump will be the first president of the United States to address this movement in 45 years. It will not be televised on any mainstream news channel, unlike the Women’s March the following day. Like every March before it, it will be kept as silent as possible. Just like the children who have been silenced before birth and the women who have been broken by it. I want everyone to know that the world is not okay with the theft of human life. We must give them back their precious voice.

“My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the
depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all
the days ordained for me were written
in your book before one of them came
to be.”

Psalm 139:15-16

ingmarbergmanz

markhamillz

Western Civilization: *exists*

Tumblr:

gouachevalier

While slavery was common to all civilizations, as well as to peoples considered uncivilized, only one civilization developed a moral revulsion against it, very late in its history–Western civilization.

Thomas Sowell, Black Rednecks and White Liberals (via gouachevalier)

introtowitchcraft

Anonymous asked:

Before you defend males being witches I think you need to step back and realize why people are hesitant about involving males in witchcraft. Historically males were the ones burning and murdering females for witchcraft. It's no coincidence why women are more strongly associated with life/death, magic, etc. It's not transphobic to say this and that men deserve no acceptance in something women were persecuted (and in some areas still are). Women own witchcraft.

introtowitchcraft answered:

I’m sorry if you thought you’d be informing me of something I had no clue of, but earnestly this whole “Women own witchcraft” is the very most idiotic, Euro centric argument I have ever heard in Witch Discourse.

You need to get off your racist, sexist high horse right this instant.

I’ve done research and experienced witchcraft in my own culture and have knowledge of the witch hunts of the 1600s. It’s not a case of “The evil males murdering women!!!” It was a case of both women and men who used their religion to murder people horrifically and senselessly out of ignorance and fear. Both genders were the perpetrators and victims, both genders were the victims. Some women are more in tune to their spirituality and open to witchcraft due to the way western culture has brought women and men act. In other cultures, men are more likely to be spiritual leaders, or it may be perfectly egalitarian.

Saying that women own witchcraft because men in their culture fucked shit up for witches is essentially saying that atheists and pagans alone own witchcraft because Christians fucked shit up for witches.

Saying that women own witchcraft is like saying that poc own witchcraft because of imperialism’s damage to poc’s culture.

Saying that women own witchcraft is like saying that only people born to witch families own witchcraft.

Inherently, all people, males included, have the same amount of spiritual potential and energy. The way some people’s witchcraft works is recognizing that we are all witches, we are all beings with energies and spirituality and we choose to develop and partake in our own. Blocking off half the population for crimes they did not commit is disgusting.

Not to mention how GODDAMN RACIST THIS IS!

I come from Miami, and in Miami I’ve experienced a lot of the Santeria culture. Here, people mostly talk about it when there’s dead chickens washing up on shores after sacrifices or when dead animals are dropped off in bags at the courthouse, and I’m going to assume that you think witchcraft is revamped spells from the 1600s where animal bones are cutely replaced with some other herb followed by crystals sitting on the shelf.

However..

Santería is a culture of witches. Santería is very valid witchcraft, it is sometimes bloody and not cute and not adapted to Western Culture but that is the goddamn point. There are males that practice witchcraft in this culture, in fact leaders of all genders.

Native Indigenous culture have had Shamanism and related spiritualistic religions, there are so many tribes where witchcraft comes in the forms of women, men and non binary people such as the complex Two Spirit identity doing rituals, sacrifices, meditations… witchcraft is the practice of magick, and guess who practices magick?

These babies! See the things in grey! Those are called non western civilizations! Theses are places where thousands of individual communities exist, all with their own religions and native cultures! And most of them have all practiced some form of magick! Both men and women and non binary people!

If you’re a crystal witch, male or female or nonbinary Shamans probably made or sold you your crystals. Your lore could be from a Jewish Rabbi, of Jewish Mysticism. Or the Muslim intertwining of pagan and occultism. Or it could be the literal God Of Witchcraft, Thoth, in Egyptian culture. It could be an Alchemist, such as Gilles de Rais or Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, all males murdered for their practicing witchcraft. The masks and skulls bought may very well be from Ghana tribes that were used as Talismans, or certain artifacts and rituals may come from Benin, West African tribes and communities.

You do not, never have, never will own witchcraft. No one ever will. And if you think men should be excluded, then only female, magick inherited African tribes victim to imperialism should own witchcraft.

Thank you for reading, and fuck Euro Centric supremacy.

ianbelthoff

This is easily one of the worst, most uneducated, void of any real understanding of the history of Europe, post modern, bullshit posts i have ever seen on this app