HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): U.S. Falls Out of Top 10 On Prosperity Index For The First Time. “Over the past four years, prosperity has increased around the globe, while it has remained stagnant in the United States, the Legatum Institute reports. As a result, the Institute ranked the United States 12th out of 142 countries on its 2012 Prosperity Index, putting the country outside the top ten for the first time.”
Forward!
Related: Spreading Misery Widely.
ADVICE FROM JAY LENO: How to Keep Classic Cars Road-Ready.
REASON TV: 5 Rules For Coping With Tragedy.
FROM GARDEN & GUN: New Southern Cookbooks. And recipes!
MATT K. LEWIS: The media should be ashamed of its Connecticut coverage. “What journalistic rationale could compel a reporter to interview young children at a mass-murder scene?”
They’re just Big Evil Corporations who don’t care what happens to children as they pursue profit without end! Lewis proposes some “sensible press controls” to rein in their greed.
GHOULISHLY EXPLOITING TRAGEDY: Bloomberg Uses Tragedy to Tell the 99% How to Live. Plus, a look at his 24-hour armed security, paid for by the taxpayers he likes disarmed.
I COULD DO THIS: Man Ironed Face When Phone Rang.
WHY DO PEOPLE BUY those ugly Christmas sweaters?
READER BOOK PLUG: From reader Douglas Hufnagel, Tales From The Shining Hand.
WHAT DID KIDS READ Before Hans Christian Andersen?
“SMART DIPLOMACY!” The Top 5 Foreign Policy Screwups of 2012. Hey, the year isn’t over yet!
IN THE MAIL: From David Weber and Jane Lindskold, Fire Season.
STILL WONDERING WHAT KIND OF GUNS RUPERT MURDOCH’S SECURITY TEAM CARRY. Also, Mike Bloomberg’s. Neither has answered my tweets requesting details . . . .
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Two Types of Artificial Muscle From Nanotechnology.
THE BRITS UNDERSTAND: Susan Rice was brought down by the long shadow of Benghazi, not race or gender.
ADAM GARFINKLE: What’s The Matter With Michigan?
ANN ALTHOUSE EXPLAINS LANGUAGE TO NATE SILVER: “If ‘gun control’ is avoided, it’s because those who would like to push it believe the public doesn’t like it! It’s not that we used to be more neutral and have become more politically charged. . . . There was a time when rights were real to liberals. Now, oh, let’s not talk about some text that may or may not transmit who knows what to us.”
HOW THE ECONOMY killed Gossip Girl.
CRITICIZING THE “DEATH PORN MEDIA.”
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN “SOUL MATES” ARE 150% more likely to end up divorced.
JUSTIN BINIK-THOMAS: ObamaCare And My Daughter. “In two years, the surgery will cease to be available for the insured due to Obamacare.”
FAILURE MODE: Blue Social Model Driving Banks (and Their Taxes) out of NYC.
New York remains the hub of the nation’s financial industry, but over the past few years, the city has been losing ground to a collection of cities across the country, including Salt Lake City, Columbus, and St. Louis. As the Wall Street Journal notes, the reasons are all too familiar: Banks are fleeing the high taxes, high cost of living, and endless red tape of the city for greener pastures elsewhere. . . .
A financial sector with more geographic balance is almost certainly a good thing for the country, but it’s bad news for New York, where the city’s recent revival has been financed largely through taxes on businesses and employees of the city’s high-powered banking sector. New York has managed to pursue blue policies longer than many of its peers due to its cash cow Wall Street banks. If these banks leave, their tax revenue will leave with them, and the city’s current policies will begin to look much less affordable.
But then again, it is these very policies that are causing the banks to leave in the first place. If it weren’t for big banks, there could be no Big Blue.
The symbiosis is breaking down. Move your banks to Tennessee. We have no state income tax, and we’re solvent.
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