So I can find it again:
Article about Ayn Rand and her effect on American conservatism. I'd actually never heard of her until recently (and only just found out she was a she.)
Anyway, one of the bits I wanted to keep:
The sum total of these taxes levies a slightly higher rate on the rich. The bottom 99 percent of taxpayers pay 29.4 percent of their income in local, state, and federal taxes. The top 1 percent pay an average total tax rate of 30.9 percent--slightly higher, but hardly the sort of punishment that ought to prompt thoughts of withdrawing from society to create a secret realm of capitalistic übermenschen. These numbers tend to bounce back and forth, depending upon which party controls the government at any given time. If Obama succeeds in enacting his tax policies, the tax burden on the rich will bump up slightly, just as it bumped down under George W. Bush.I've been wondering what the total federal, state, local taxes add up to for the average American. Thank you helpful reviewer! (And holy crap I pay more than the top 1% of Americans in terms of cents in the dollar. On the other hand, I have health care. *shrug*)
In a similar vein:
Most US doctors support some form of public option. As the article points out, what the definition of 'public option' is is currently undefined, but either way, only 27% support private options only.
Mind you, if
getting beaten up by your domestic partner can be described as a "pre-existing condition" and you can be denied insurance over it in some US states, I'm amazed that
anyone supports the current system.