The NSA Leak: A Lesson In Human Nature, Opportunistic Behavior, and Altruism's Levee

Almost overnight, Edward Snowden went from being a former NSA computer technician to civil libertarian demigod. Snowden, identified (with permission) by the UK newspaper The Guardian and The Washington Post as the informant that leaked information to the newspaper about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs of collecting records from phone and Internet companies, has been predominantly lauded for his actions. Snowden's actions are a prime lesson in human nature, the reality that we are all opportunists, and altruism's levees can and will always be subject to a breach.

The Guardian's Simon Jenkins in his praise of Snowden that "[t]he US and Britain today are as invulnerable to military conquest as ever in history" and writes that the Western counter-terrorism crusade has developed into a machine that undermines freedom by its relentless use of fear and paranoia. He's right, and this has been proven throughout history. When entities, countries rather, reach that proverbial zenith of power, they will attempt anything and everything to maintain the status quo that has entrenched itself with that assumed power. While we may be astonished at the means at which the United States is willing to do it, and by no means I am endorsing these tactics, it should really come as no surprise. The feeling of control is the antidote against paranoia, and this is true from government to our own personal lives. It's almost like a vicious cycle -- accumulate power and wealth, celebrate the success and benefits of it, become paranoid of it ending, then in response to that paranoia, attempt to alleviate it by trying to accumulate more power and wealth: all for it to repeat again. In a way, it's one seriously fucked up self-fulfilling prophecy.

My personal feelings on the War on Terror? This is not a conspiracy theory, this is just absolute, rock bottom truth: it's more than just a counter terrorism program, it's about doing anything and everything to maintain the United States' position in the scope of world politics. Campaigns to achieve and then maintain positioning is nothing new -- the European powers did it, ancient Asian empires did it, Hitler did it, Hirohito did it, and the United States is doing it as well. However, what has galvanized the public these days is the latest chapter of the information revolution -- leaks, or more specifically, how well we can acquire information that nobody would have really thought it would have been possible to acquire. In the end though, it is a testament to the fact that as human beings, we're opportunistic. As new discoveries are made in regards to how we can secure an advantage over one another, covert programs, whistleblowing leaks, and finding more ways to deepen how well we retain and hide information creates an even more complicated Rubik's cube. This isn't a battle of "good vs. evil", it has been, still is, and always will be a battle between who's more effective than who at achieving whatever desired goal is, whether it is emotional, mental, or ideological.

When it comes to supporting those in power, there's expectation among us that the clear majority of the decisions that are made by the powers that be would have a wide ranging affect would never breach the levee of altruism. Snowden too gambled on the same thing, noting in his interview with The Guardian that he  wanted to go public before, but held out hope that the then-incoming Obama administration would shift the NSA's aggressive tactics. However, the Obama administration has kept many of the Bush-era surveillance policies to his dismay, and now to the dismay of many. However, altruism's levees become subject to higher stakes -- it's either weakened or strengthened, and whatever way it leads, the response is to mobilize and establish control, through covert or public means.

In short, when I look at the NSA leak, I go beyond the relationship between the government and the governed. It's another exercise in the complexities of humanity, as we forge ahead in our epoch of existence, one new discovery at a time. So while I will continue spectate the the inane justification for this program by administration officials and the romanticized stand of solidarity and support of Snowden by many, I am ultimately going to wait to see the next great example of what lengths we're going to be willing to take as humanity to assume control of whatever we desire to frame into each of our worldviews.

The Buffett Rule and the reality of taxation

The Warren Edward Buffett rule or The Art of Illustrating The Unfair Tax System is legislation proposed by the Obama administration, named after the esteemed head of Berkshire Hathaway that would enact a 30% tax rate on all Americans bring in more than $1 million in income, inspired by the namesake's outrage that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

In truth, I hope that Buffett would. With his wealth I would think he would have an army of accountants at his disposal to make sure he can secure every last advantage in the American tax system.

As for the Democratic Party, it's another folly (estimates put it at only a potential $50 billion in revenue that would be brought in) that is designed to score political points (by putting it voters mind that the Republican Party is still the party of the wealthy), in yet the latest example of how not to implement Keynesian economic strategies (no matter how much Paul Krugman favors legislation like this).


Candy Crowley's "spoiler" was humorous, yet true: this legislation has no chance in hell of passing. We're more likely to see Mitt Romney be consistent in his campaign banter that we would see tax-increasing legislation.


It's time to address the one thing that we long had to address: the reality of taxation. Before, I begin, there are two fundamental truths in regards to the current fiscal state of the United States government:

1. The government spends too much.
2. The government doesn't make enough money.

While the latter may seem preposterous, and there are some people accusing the government of actually being a corporation, in a way, as one of my friends put it who graduated with a degree in economics, the government is somewhat organized as a corporate firm.  The President is the chief executive, the Congress is the Board of Directors, and the constituents are stockholders. As with any company, spending is only one part of the problem: a company still needs adequate income to appropriately function. What your idea of "appropriate function" is in the eye of the beholder, in accordance to your political philosophical beliefs, of course.  For me, the function of really any government is to protect the civil liberties and civil rights of its citizens, to adequately defend the citizens of its country, and to soundly participate in a more interdependent world.

Cue the grumblings of debate. Let me stop before I digress any further.

Combine this with the expectations people have about what government should do, a distorted quandary is born. Cute pleas for tax cuts, tax credits, and the such.
So there are five fundamental facts that people should realize about "tax cuts":

1. They never pay for themselves (see the fiscal success of the Reagan and Bush tax cuts).
2. Most people do not make enough money in income to really see a benefit to tax cuts, beyond that, most people don't even pay enough in taxes to really see a benefit to tax cuts.
3. As long as private debt is high (the individual debt to income ratio stood at 112% last year), tax cuts will yield little to no economic benefit.
4. Tax cuts are a useless way to stimulate demand -- it stimulates the demand to have money to pay off debts, if you want to look at it in a smart ass, sarcastic way. Then again, in a way that is a legitimate argument.
5. Tax cuts create more fiscal issues than they resolve.

However, there are four fundamental facts about "taxing the rich":

1. Taxing the rich is of questionable economic benefit.
2. Marginal tax rates in the United States are at historical lows.
3. The wealthy actually pay more than their fair share in taxes, which may shock some people.
4. The wealthy (which for this statement, I'll consider the top 20% of income earners), for the most part still has substantial buying power after taxes over most Americans.
5. Because the wealthy take on so much of the tax burden, increased taxation on the wealthy yields little fiscal benefit, for that there are not enough Americans paying income taxes.

(Before I go any further, I wanted to elaborate on point #3. In 2009 the Congressional Budget Office released numbers that were interesting: the wealthiest 20% of Americans made nearly 56% of all pretax income in the United States, yet paid close to 70% of all federal taxes, a 14% discrepancy. The overall effective tax rate in the United States was 20.7%, which is not even top 50 in the world). Further more, the top 1% paid 28% of all federal taxes in 2007, and a 40% share of income taxes that same year. 

Now that I got "tax cuts" and "taxing the rich" out of the way, it's time to further illustrate the silliness of the American tax code:

1. 47% of American households did not pay income tax for the 2010 tax year. Of that 47%, nearly a third had incomes of $10,000 or less (which automatically puts them in the poverty threshold); of that 47%, nearly two thirds made less than $20,000; of that 47%, nearly 90% of them made less than $40,000. 
2. University of Michigan economists Joel Siemrod told NPR that while the top 10% of income earners pay 70% of the income taxes, they only make 40% of the income. It should be noted that entry into the the top 10% income club begins $110,000 for the 2011 tax year.
3.  Tax rates would have to increase by 50% on all levels to even possibly begin significant reduction of the federal deficit, Siemrod said in the same interview. However, I don't think it took into account spending cuts as it was not mentioned. 

A lot of economists are beginning to argue in favor of the value added tax system (you heard of it called "consumption tax", "luxury tax", or "FAIR tax"). While it would expand the tax base to force more people to contribute to it and end the income tax system, it comes at a cost -- it would have an adverse effect on consumption considering that a value added tax system punishes those with lower incomes. As such the cycle would begin once again in regards to loopholes, exemptions, and credits.
In truth, there are two reasons why the American tax code fails to work:

1) The tax code does not work as it was designed: For the most part, the tax code was designed to be fairly straightforward. The only issue is, the tax code got designed and redesigned for political points and pandering. The ones that benefited the most from these changes in the tax code are the wealthy and the married with children.

2) The tax code depends too much on one thing - income: As the tax code primarily depends on income for it to work properly, its vulnerable to changes in the economy and individual economic behaviors. 

So what's the solution?

A two-tier tax system that would combine two fairly brilliant ideas:

1. A value-added tax system that would equate to being roughly equal to one half of the average sales tax rate of all 50 states in the United States, with deductions placed only on food and medication.
2. A income tax system that reconciles each tax bracket to the poverty level income threshold. I wish I still had the link to where I read that idea (I do not take credit for it). The only difference would be that I suggest a multiplier system (i.e., 1.5 times over the threshold, 2.5x over the threshold, 3 times over the threshold, and so on.), with the poverty threshold formulated using the proposal by the U.S. Census Bureau put forth in 2011, which would be a vastly improved and more realistic alternative to the "thrift-basket model" that's been in use since the 1960s. 

At the same time, numerous tax credits, deductions, special case of income (i.e., a separate tax rate for capital gains taxes), and other loopholes would largely be eliminated. It forces more people to pay taxes, eases the evasion and regressive taxation issues of the value added tax system, and still maintains a progressive tax structure in regards to income.

Fareed Zakaria wrote that the best tax code would be one that can be written on two pages. Mine would take no more than five.

Close enough.

I'm well aware that I did not delve into federal spending. This post was not about federal spending -- it was about taxation, and taxation only.