Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is clapping back at the people who criticized an old video of her dancing — by posting a new video of her dancing, as CNN is reporting.
“I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous. Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too! Have a great weekend everyone,” she tweeted, with a video of her dancing outside her new office on Capitol Hill.
“The video that sparked her response was widely shared on Twitter on Wednesday and appeared to show a younger Ocasio-Cortez gleefully dancing on the roof of a building. A day later, she was sworn in as the youngest woman in Congress.”
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez proposed taxing the wealthy as high as 70 percent to fund a climate change plan she’s pushing called the “Green New Deal.”
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 
I suspect she will need a tax rate much higher than 70% to fund getting us off of all fossil fuels in twelve years! 🙂
BTW, I agree with you that 100% off fossil fuels is not possible in 12 years. It is good to set aspirational goals but there are elements of our fossil fuel based economy that we don’t have the technology to replace yet. These are most notably aviation, isolated communities and activities, and places where redundancy are necessary.
We can overcome some of these barriers by improving storage technology and scaling, but then there are other barriers…most difficult is replacement cost. We have about $18trillion sunk in energy infrastructure in the US, 90% of it directed to fossil fuels…some of this can be redeployed for renewables but much of it will need to be replaced, and at even the most aspirational replacement rate it will take much longer than 12 years…more like 30-40 years.
Research on the shift to deep decarbonization indicates we could get to 80% elimination in about 20 years, but that last 20% is going to be extremely difficult. That is where other technologies, like carbon capture and storage and increasing carbon sequestration through landscape management are going to have to kick in.
John, I have no doubt the services at Church of the King or Bayside would benefit from hearing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speak.
Let’s remember how a 70% top marginal personal income tax rate worked before 1980.
Top earners were taxed on what they took as income, if their wealth grew and it stayed in investments that were tax deferred, they did not pay the top rate until they took it as income. That meant a much larger pool of private capital for investment in things like infrastructure, innovation, research, expanding markets, and foreign investment. It was a strategy that built wealth in an expanding managed market economy, not income in the top tier.
If the top tier in 1980 were indexed to inflation today it would mean the 70% rate would only be on earnings taken as income above roughly $700k.
AOC’s proposal is only effective for earnings taken as income above $10m. That is a much less onerous rate than we had until 1981.
AOC is entirely correct about this strategy.
The key function a higher top marginal rate provides is driving $$ to private pools of capital to be used for investment, not increasing the pool of capital available to government. Yes, it would increase government revenue to some degree that could be reinvested in things like clean energy, but the bulk of the $$$ would go to private capital pools for reinvestment.
Thanks Steve. Happy New Year! And thanks for all you do for community at the Sierra Business Council. A breathe (sic) of fresh air in the local blogosphere too. LOL.
Thanks Jeff. Happy New Year to you and your family as well.
If we ever run out of fossil fuels we can just burn all the fossils over on Rebane’s blog…although I wouldn’t want to breathe the air 🙂
If I understand it correctly, investments held for a specific number of years are taxed under capital gains, which is much lower then normal rates.
“In 2018 the capital gains tax rates are either 0%, 15% or 20% for most assets held for more than a year. Capital gains tax rates on most assets held for less than a year correspond to ordinary income tax brackets (10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% or 37%).”
The time that one holds investments is now at one year to qualify. It used to be several years. So it’s basically a joke to allow the rich to become richer…natch.
That’s correct Bruce but there are a number of ways one could avoid a big portion of the capital gains tax…one is hold an asset for longer than a year before you sell and you cut it about 50%, or place assets in an IRA….or gift it…or place it in a longer term tax sheltered account like an enterprise or opportunity zone fund, or exchange one asset for another within 180 days like a 1031 exchange…the point is that higher marginal rates combined with capital gains taxes encouraged people to put assets into funds that avoided these taxes thus increasing the amount of private capital available for other investments.
Todd writes: “Ronil Singh, A American hero”
Do you think he meant “An American hero”? Of course Todd’s website is Sierra Dragon’s Breathe (sic). You can’t fix stupid.
The bonehead fixed his error: “Ronil Singh, an American hero.” You’re welcome Todd!
What a hoot! Todd corrects his headline after I call it out (and after he read this post). But he denies it, claiming ” You cannot nake his hubris up.” Nake? I think he meant “make.” Meet the Village Idiot!
Todd is now calling me a “douche.” It’s hard to believe this clown was ever elected a County Supervisor. Times are changing, though.
Todd reminds me of the “Chatty Cathy” doll of the ’60s. He can’t stop talking, even to himself. I hope to see him at tomorrow’s swearing in of “electeds” and the luncheons that follow — assuming he was invited. https://youtu.be/f-sYQ8_2v_Q
Lo and behold, Barry Pruett weighed in on Todd’s blog with another nasty comment. I was “fingers crossed” that he’d disappear all together from the local blogosphere after his blissful European holiday with #2. But I lost the bet. BTW, I don’t think we’ll see Barry at those celebratory luncheons tomorrow either. Go figure! ROFLOL.
So much for the “new and improved” Barry Pruett! He blathers on about his “international travel” (more like the “best of Rick Steves”) on Todd’s blog and then claims he’s being followed. He might want to revisit that narrative — just like most of his others, going back to losing the Clerk-Recorder’s race to Greg Diaz in 2010. I was hopeful that he would stop in the New Year, but it’s part of his DNA. Go figure!
“Barry Pruett, December 27, 2018 at 10:15 AM:
We left over a week ago. We’ve been to Dublin, flew to Rome and drive to Verona, then drove through the Italian alps to Innsbruck and stayed in Tulfes. Now we are in Ravenna, Italy and meeting all the eight kids in Rome for eight days.”
“Barry Pruett, December 27, 2018 at 5:28 PM:
As you know Todd, this journey was not about touristy sights. It’s about my grandfather’s journey.”
Todd needs an imaginary friend to play with. Poor fellow.