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How to think about tax systems

  By Taxation

There is no tax system that, from every point of view and in every particular case, will always look just. That’s true for two reasons. First, our intuitions about justice are quite varied and what looks just from one point of view might not look just from another. Second, what looks just in the micro case might be impossible to create in an large, complex market based economy. Thus we can’t define rules of justice for a political economy as a whole that looks only at the individual case and does not take into account the broad consequences of one or another set of political and social arrangements. Continue reading

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We Need a Bridge To Health Care

  By Health Care

Published in the Chestnut Hill Local, April 2, 2009 Commentary: We need a strong bridge to adequate health care by Marc Stier The Pennsylvania and New Jersey chapters of Health Care For America Now, a nationwide organization advocating for President Obama’s health care reform program, are holding a march for quality affordable health care at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. There will be rallies at Franklin Square in Philadelphia and near the north walkway of the bridge in Camden. And then the Pennsylvania and New Jersey contingents will march across the bridge and meet in the middle.  Why have we chosen to do this event at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge? Because the path Americans take from hard work to quality affordable health care has become a tightrope over a chasm.  Continue reading

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A three sided budget fight

  By Philadelphia, Philadelphia Budget

Progressive forces won an important victory by building support for the preservation of essential services even if this requires a tax increase. This was a incredibly beautiful and wide ranging struggle with many people playing a role. And Mayor Nutter deserves credit for recognizing that the citizens of this city are willing to bear higher taxes temporarily in order to save services that are so important to us. Now, however, we have to recognize that fight continues on three sides. On one side, we want to make the tax increases as progressive as possible. Many of us have concerns about the regressivity of the sales taxes and the danger that the property tax increase will fall too heavily on the poor and working people if it goes into effect without the implementation of a homestead exemption and a broad based and fair revision of property assessments. On a second side,… Continue reading

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Healthcare at the crossroads

  By Health Care

We are at a crossroads for healthcare President Obama’s budget, which includes $634 billion in the budget as a down payment on health care reform, is before the Congress. This is critical. If Congress does not pass a budget that funds health care reform, it won’t happen this year in any form. Click here to call your Members of Congress to tell them to fund health care reform now! President Obama with your support has said that we can’t fix our economy if we don’t reform health care. But the momentum we have built for winning quality affordable health care for all this year will stop in its tracks if the President’s budget fails. Health Care For America NOW ahs put together some easy-to-use talking points to help you send a strong message to your Members of Congress that you support the President’s budget. Can you give your Members of… Continue reading

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A Truly Nasty Bug

  By About me

FINALLY I seem to be getting over a truly nasty virus that attacks soul as well as body This has been an extraordinarily unpleasant experience. I had a fairly normal cold for a few days starting last Friday and kept working through it as I always do while coughing and hacking away. Then on Monday, I started feeling this incredible and unremitting fatigue. It particularly attacked my hands and arms. I couldn’t lift my arms above my shoulders without feeling exhausted. And my arms and hands would get tired after two minutes of typing, keeping me my favorite thing to do with my clothes on, writing. Continue reading

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Hannah Miller on tour

  By People

As many of you know, for her new position with the Media and Democracy coalition, Hannah Miller is going to be working all over the country from a new base in Washington, DC. There was a going away party for Hannah on Friday that I missed because I was very late in getting back from Harrisburg. I was sorry to miss it because, though we said goodbye earlier in the week, I believe in the power and importance of public ceremony. And when someone who is not only one of my best friends but an important part of the progressive movement in our city leaves for a time, that event should be marked publicly. So I had hoped to be there to say a few things about what Hannah has meant to all of us. I’m a little reluctant to post this, undoubtedly much much longer more formal version, of what… Continue reading

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Health Care Cure For the Economy

  By Health Care

Daily News, February 11, 2009 People who suffer from chronic diseases are vulnerable to temporary maladies. Those with heart disease, asthma or diabetes sometimes find a bad accident or the flu creating an acute crisis. People sometimes discover chronic illnesses only when acute problems make them evident. And sometimes, it is impossible to deal with a medical crisis without addressing the underlying chronic problems. What is true for our health is also true for health care. Health care in theUnited Statessuffers from chronic maladies. The current economic crisis is showing us how bad they are. That’s why an economic recovery bill that includes initial steps toward health care reform is before the Congress now. One chronic problem is the rising cost of health care, which increases two to three times faster than inflation. Businesses, governments and individuals face insurance premium increases of up to ten percent per year. The recession… Continue reading