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• A new report out from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) proves this rhetoric is just one more unfounded conservative talking point.
Higher State Taxes Bring More Revenue, Not More Migration
• Rich Stay Despite Higher Taxes

John Van Hecke, Executive Director & Fellow, Minnesota 2020

Minnesota progressives have long advocated for a fairer tax system—one in which the state’s wealthiest pay a proportion of their salaries consistent with what middle-class families pay.

In opposition, the state’s conservatives have argued higher taxes will hurt job creators and drive away high income earners, thus lowering our overall state revenue.

A new report out from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) proves this rhetoric is just one more unfounded conservative talking point.

The CBPP report analyzes data from states—New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, California, and Oregon—which are often cited as evidence income tax increases drive high income families out of a state. It shows the flaws in arguments for each state.

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• A colonial agenda that hides under the slogan of “humanitarian intervention.
• Cutting through Government Propaganda and Media Lies
• The rape of Libya

Brian Becker, Global Research

This article is made possible with the generous contributions of readers like you. Thank you!

Libya is a small country of just over 6 million people but it possesses the largest oil reserves in all of Africa. The oil produced there is especially coveted because of its particularly high quality.

The Air Force of the United States along with Britain and France has carried out 7,459 bombing attacks since March 19. Britain, France and the United States sent special operation ground forces and commando units to direct the military operations of the so-called rebel fighters – it is a NATO- led army in the field.

The troops may be disaffected Libyans but the operation is under the control and direction of NATO commanders and western commando units who serve as “advisors.” Their new weapons and billions in funds come from the U.S. and other NATO powers that froze and seized Libya’s assets in Western banks. Their only military successes outside of Benghazi, in the far east of the country, have been exclusively based on the coordinated air and ground operations of the imperialist NATO military forces.

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The rape of Libya, Bill Van Auken, World Socialist Website

• The focus of NATO operations has become a frantic effort to hunt down and murder Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled the country for 42 years.
• The Truth About the Situation in Libya

• Here's a brief overview of some key stats on where the economy stands.
• Economic Myths: We Separate Fact From Fiction

Braden Goyette, ProPublica

If you like reading this article, consider contributing a cuppa jove to Evergreene Digest--using the donation button in the above right-hand corner—so we can bring you more just like it.


A Florida man works a street corner hoping to land a job on June 3, 2011. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

With increasing signs that the economy is laboring [2], most economists agree that a short-term infusion of spending, or an extension of this year's temporary cut in Social Security taxes, could help fend off a new downturn. But whatever one thinks of the debt deal -- and most of its billions in cuts won't come for a few years [3] -- there's a near-consensus [4] in Washington against spending increases.

Here's a brief overview of some key stats on where the economy stands.

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Related:

Economic Myths: We Separate Fact From Fiction, Michael Grabell, ProPublica

• Was the 2009 stimulus package a deficit-busting failure or an unparalleled rescue? Are taxes stifling or the lowest they've ever been? We analyze the seven most prevalent economic myths to see what's true.
• America's Economic Chaos: Don't Panic, Get Informed!
• Americans Actually Lightly Taxed

• Was the 2009 stimulus package a deficit-busting failure or an unparalleled rescue? Are taxes stifling or the lowest they've ever been? We analyze the seven most prevalent economic myths to see what's true.
• The Latest on Our Sputtering Economy, by the Numbers
• America's Economic Chaos: Don't Panic, Get Informed!
• Americans Actually Lightly Taxed

Michael Grabell, ProPublica

If you like reading this article, consider contributing a cuppa jove to Evergreene Digest--using the donation button above—so we can bring you more just like it.

A sign about jobs created is posted at the Caldecott Tunnel construction project on Aug. 17, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

With the recent Iowa straw poll [1] and President Obama's bus tour [2], Americans are hearing a cacophony of arguments about the wobbly economy. The federal stimulus package passed in 2009 was either a deficit-busting failure full of wasteful projects or an unparalleled rescue that would have been more successful if it had only been bigger. Taxes are either stifling or the lowest they've ever been. America needs to invest in infrastructure, or "infrastructure" is merely a euphemism for more government spending. So, here's our guide to the most prevalent economic myths.

1. Taxes have been going up and are high compared to levels in other countries.

The first part is wrong; the second is also wrong but contains a grain of truth.

The percentage of income that Americans spend on taxes is the lowest it's been since 1958, according an analysis by USA Today [3]. And with the exception of five years after the 1986 Tax Reform Act, the highest marginal income [4] and corporate tax rates [5] are the lowest they've been since World War II.

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Related:

The Latest on Our Sputtering Economy, by the Numbers, Braden Goyette, ProPublica

• Here's a brief overview of some key stats on where the economy stands.
• Economic Myths: We Separate Fact From Fiction

America's Economic Chaos: Don't Panic, Get Informed! Global Research

• It is time to step back from the panic and understand what is happening. The mainstream media is having a heyday with sensationalized reports which at their core are masking several critical and grim truths.
• Know where to turn for the truth

Americans Actually Lightly Taxed, Juan Cole, Juan Cole.com

• What you may be able to link low rates of taxation (and regressive taxation policy, which is what the US has) to is levels of social violence. Thus, Mexico and the United States are both extremely violent societies compared to those at the top of this list, in part because the government is starved by its stingy wealthy elites of funds to deal with violence, especially in poorer communities.
• The argument that raising taxes on the wealthy would hurt growth or employment holds no water.