Student Activists Deserve Our Thanks
By Randy ShawThese are not the best of times to be a college student in the United States. Spiraling tuition costs, huge post-graduation debt, and a shrinking job market could understandably demoralize an entire generation. But recent events demonstrate that college students are responding to the tough economic times not by giving up, but rather by redoubling efforts to create a more just society. In fact, as was true with the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960’s, today’s college students are in the vanguard of highlighting the profound disconnection between the nation’s stated ideals and its actual practices.
Students have played leading roles in the Occupy movement both on an off campus, inspiring longtime activists to regenerate their own efforts for change. On this Thanksgiving week, the students risking physical harm and school discipline to demand greater social and economic fairness truly deserve the nation’s thanks.
Tax the Rich! In Fact, Let's Double Their Taxes
By Richard (RJ) EskowConservatives say they want to "bring back" the old USA, the one that existed during those decades of the twentieth century they only seem to see through a gauzy golden haze. Whatever its problems, that country was a place where Republicans and Democrats agreed on two simple principles: That the most fortunate among us should pay their fair share, and that our government must invest in the nation and its future.
When Rick Perry says he wants to bring back "the America I where I grew up," he's talking about the era when Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican President, built the Federal highway system. One of the reasons Eisenhower was able to do that is that the top tax rate was much higher than it is today. While today's highest marginal today is 35% and capital gains are taxed at only 15%, the highest tax bracket was 91% the year Rick Perry was born.