M2RB: The Doors
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
By Glenn Harlan Reynolds
There's an old joke about a boy who complains to his mother that his little sister keeps pulling his hair.
"Oh," responds the mother, "she doesn't know that it hurts."
A few minutes later, the mother hears the girl scream and runs into the other room. "She knows now," the boy explains.
There's a lesson for Republicans in that old joke, if they're smart enough to absorb it.
For the past few years, there has been a
drumbeat in favor of increased taxes from Democrats of all stripes. Make
the rich pay their "fair share." Get rid of "loopholes." Make the fat
cats "chip in a little more." Then Democrats hold up budgets and bills
in an effort to extract some tax increases from Republicans.
It's no coincidence that much of the
Democrats' base doesn't have to worry about taxes much, either because
they work for nonprofits and public entities that don't pay taxes, or
because they live off government benefits, or because they work in
industries -- like the motion picture and recording industries -- with a
long history of shady accounting and favorable tax treatment.
Republicans, if they're smart, can nonetheless teach them that tax
increases do, in fact, hurt.
They should head into the next budget battle
with a list of proposals for tax increases that will sting Democratic
constituency groups, but which will seem eminently fair to voters.
The first such proposal
would be to restore the 20 percent excise tax on motion picture theater
gross revenues that existed between the end of World War II and its
repeal in the mid-1950s. The campaign to end the excise tax had studio
executives and movie stars talking like Art Laffer, as they noted that high taxes reduced business income, hurt investment and cost jobs.
The movie excise tax was imposed in response
to the high deficits after World War Two. Deficits are high again, and
there's already historical precedent. Of course, to keep up with
technology, the tax should now apply to DVDs, downloadable movies,
pay-per-view and the like. But in these financially perilous times, why
should movie stars and studio moguls, with their yachts, swimming pools
and private jets, not at least shoulder the burden they carried back in
Harry Truman's day -- when, to be honest, movies were better anyway.
For extra fun, they could show pictures of
David Geffen's yacht and John Travolta's personal Boeing 707 on the
Senate floor. You want to tax fat cats? I gotcher "fat cats" right here!
Repeal the Hollywood Tax Cuts!
Another valuable proposal would limit the
ability of tax-exempt organizations to escape scrutiny and hoard funds.
To limit foundations' role as perpetual-employment agencies for
cause-oriented Lefties (and it's mostly Lefties), Congress might require
them to spend at least 10 percent of their endowment each year, with no
wiggle room. Why should rich people be able to go on influencing the
culture, tax-free, for decades after they die? (Or, perhaps more
accurately, why should foundation apparatchiks be free to pursue their
own goals tax-free with other people's money?)
Limits on the charitable deduction might be
worth considering: Perhaps a $50 million lifetime limit, which should
surely be enough for anyone; perhaps a $1 million to $5 million annual
limit. Why should fatcats like Warren Buffett be able to get millions in
tax deductions that average Americans can't?
Limiting the pay of nonprofit leaders
(including university presidents and foundation heads) to no more than
the pay of a member of Congress or a Supreme Court justice might also be
worthwhile. Who needs to make more money than that, especially when
it's coming from tax-deductible sources? At some point, you've made
enough money, as a great man once said.
Beyond this, if Democrats demand truly serious
tax increases, Republicans could propose capping the mortgage interest
deduction so that houses worth more than $250,000 are ineligible. (You
say that hits blue states harder? Darn!) Ending the deductibility of
state property and income taxes -- which would also hit residents of
high-tax blue states harder -- might also be worth it. These measures
would be unpopular with a lot of voters, but they'd mostly be Democratic
voters.
I'm just a mild-mannered law professor, and if
I can think of these things, I suppose the tax experts and legislative
wizards in Congress could do much better. So why haven't they?
One reason -- as many observed when so many
Republicans were carrying water for Big Entertainment over various
draconian and corrupt intellectual property bills, from the DMCA all the
way to SOPA and PIPA -- is that too many Republicans can't bring
themselves to go against big business, even big businesses that are
their sworn enemies. That hardly speaks well of their perspicacity, or
their public-spiritedness.
Another reason may be that they're so used to
attacking Democratic tax increase proposals that they're in a rut. But
these are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. A
little bit of hair-pulling by the GOP, and Democrats may quickly lose
their enthusiasm for tax-increase grandstanding. If some of them wind up
sounding like Art Laffer, well, that's just a bonus.
Examiner Contributor Glenn Harlan
Reynolds is a University of Tennessee College of Law professor and
founder and editor of Instapundit.com.
L.A. Woman - The Doors
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woo, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
Drive thru your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue Blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah
I see your hair is burnin'
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
Motel Money Murder Madness
Let's change the mood from glad to sadness
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Got to keep on risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mojo Risin', gotta Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', gotta keep on risin'
Risin', risin'
Gone risin', risin'
I'm gone risin', risin'
I gotta risin', risin'
Well, risin', risin'
I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin'
Woah, ohh yeah
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woah, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman, your my woman
Little L.A. Woman, Little L.A. Woman
L.A. L.A. Woman Woman
L.A. Woman c'mon
L.A. Woman - The Doors
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woo, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
Drive thru your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue Blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah
I see your hair is burnin'
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
Motel Money Murder Madness
Let's change the mood from glad to sadness
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Got to keep on risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mojo Risin', gotta Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', gotta keep on risin'
Risin', risin'
Gone risin', risin'
I'm gone risin', risin'
I gotta risin', risin'
Well, risin', risin'
I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin'
Woah, ohh yeah
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woah, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman, your my woman
Little L.A. Woman, Little L.A. Woman
L.A. L.A. Woman Woman
L.A. Woman c'mon
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