• Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz tells the truth about taxes in the NYT – Republicans, Not Biden, Are About to Raise Your Taxes (except if you’re rich, in which case they will go down).  The law initially lowered taxes for many, but there are automatic stepped increases starting after this election year, increases every two years through 2027 for people making under $75K (about 65% of the population).  Some excerpts:

• The current poverty line for a family of four is $26,200: People with incomes between $10,000 and $30,000 — nearly one-quarter of Americans — are among those scheduled to pay a higher average tax rate in 2021 than in years before the tax “cut” was passed. The C.B.O. and Joint Committee estimated that those with an income of $20,000 to $30,000 would owe an extra $365 next year — these are people who are struggling just to pay rent and put food on the table.

• By 2027, when the law’s provisions are set to be fully enacted, with the stealth tax increases complete, the country will be neatly divided into two groups: Those making over $100,000 will on average get a tax cut. Those earning under $100,000 — an income bracket encompassing three-quarters of taxpayers — will not.

• At the same time, Trump has given his peers, people with annual incomes in excess of $1 million dollars, or the top 0.3 percent in the country, a huge gift: The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the average tax rate in 2019 for this group to be 2.3 percentage points lower than before the tax cut, saving the average taxpayer in this group over $64,000 — more than the average American family makes in a year.

Adding to his seemingly unending stream of self-serving lies and distortions, the current president this weekend claimed that since doctors and hospitals “get more money” if they report a death as COVID-related, they are inflating COVID-related numbers, and he continued to claim that the pandemic “is going away.” The recent spikes in reported cases and ensuing deaths (as predicted by the same scientists the president has disparaged) make the latter claim ridiculous on its face. In a statement issued Sunday, the American College of Emergency Physicians  called the president’s assertions “reckless and false.” The American College of Physicians, which represents internal medicine doctors, denounced the president’s allegations as “a reprehensible attack on physicians’ ethics and professionalism.” The Council of Medical Specialty Societies said Trump’s claims “promulgate misinformation that hinders our nation’s efforts to get the Covid-19 pandemic under control.”  The number of excess deaths in the US has to be attributed to something, and it’s not traffic deaths.

William McRaven, from a 10/19 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal:

“We need a president who understands the importance of American leadership, at home and abroad. We need a leader of integrity whose decency and sense of respect reflects the values we expect from our president. We need a president for all Americans, not just half of America.

This week I went to the polls in Texas. Truth be told, I am a pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, small-government, strong-defense and a national-anthem-standing conservative. But, I also believe that black lives matter, that the Dreamers deserve a path to citizenship, that diversity and inclusion are essential to our national success, that education is the great equalizer, that climate change is real and that the First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy. Most important, I believe that America must lead in the world with courage, conviction and a sense of honor and humility.

If we remain indifferent to our role in the world, if we retreat from our obligation to our citizens and our allies and if we fail to choose the right leader, then we will pay the highest price for our neglect and shortsightedness.

I voted for Joe Biden.”

McRaven was a Navy admiral and commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011-14. 

This is a thoughtful essay in the NYT by John Barry, writing on the numerous flaws implicit in the arguments advocating population immunity as the solution (e.g. the “Great Barrington Declaration”) to the pandemic:  “Herd Immunity? Or ‘Mass Murder?’”

We don’t need to add more than a million additional deaths to the toll in order to get through this (not to mention the destructive effects on overburdened health care workers and systems, long term ill effects on survivors, and inequitable effects on less fortunate societies whose populations do not have access to advanced health care measures).

From the NYT: “The Trump administration has rejected California’s request for disaster relief aid for six major wildfires that scorched more than 1.8 million acres in land, destroyed thousands of structures and caused at least three deaths last month.” The depths of Trump’s petty vindictiveness are breathtaking.

While republicans try to push a distracting and distorting hypothetical about supreme court packing, it’s worth looking at the real facts. Heather Cox Richardson mentions this in her October 11 Letters from an American: “What makes this so especially bizarre is that it is Republicans, not Democrats, who have made the courts the centerpiece of their agenda and have packed them with judges who adhere to an extremist ideology. Since the Nixon administration began in 1969, Democrats have appointed just 4 Supreme Court justices, while Republicans have appointed 15.“

Released by the CDC on October 6, more evidence that mitigation measures DO work:

From the report: “The number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona stabilized and then decreased after sustained implementation and enforcement of statewide and locally enhanced mitigation measures, beginning approximately 2 weeks after implementation and enforcement of mask mandates and enhanced sanitations practices began on June 17; further decreases were observed during July 13–August 7, after statewide limitations and closures of certain services and businesses.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Widespread implementation and enforcement of sustained community mitigation measures, including mask wearing, informed by state and local officials’ continual data monitoring and collaboration can help prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and decrease the numbers of COVID-19 cases.”

The US is averaging nearly 1,000 Covid-19 deaths per day. That equals:
– 250 Benghazis per day
– A 9-11 every three days
– An Omaha Beach every two days
– A Pearl Harbor every 2 ½ days
And yet: “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said in an interview with Bob Woodward, the audio recording of which was made public in September. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

I wonder when, if ever, we’ll hear any explanation for or apology because he has needlessly (his own best interest excepted) put secret service personnel, first responders, White House staffers and even his own supporters at risk of illness by campaigning and fund raising (without masks or social distancing), perfectly exemplified by his attending a fund raiser in New Jersey after his known exposure last Thursday, and then taking a joy ride for political theater the day before his release. His irrational behavior was then compounded further by his maskless reentry into the White House after discharge.  Public health advocates are driven to despair…

It’s definitely not typical, but evidently some national security experts, military and civilian,  have both a conscience and a discerning intelligence and so have endorsed Joe Biden. From their September 24 “Open Letter to America”: “We are 489 retired Generals, Admirals, Senior Noncommissioned Officers, Ambassadors and Senior Civilian National Security Officials supporting Joe Biden for President.” And more samples of the text:  “The current president has demonstrated he is not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small,” and “Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us…”  They conclude: “Joe Biden has the character, principles, wisdom, and leadership necessary to address a world on fire. That is why Joe Biden must be the next President of the United States; why we vigorously support his election; and why we urge our fellow citizens to do the same.”  Now if only more people would listen…

This hurts in so many ways.  We’ll miss you, Justice Ginsburg!