Drums of Pacific - Hyatt Luau

I recently came back from vacation at Hawaii. It was nice fun. Here are glimpses of the Luau at Hyatt.

Do the Hula



Glimpses of Luau

Negative Income Tax

I have been a long time reader of www.mises.org. They have a subscription service which sends out articles daily. They recently had an article on fallacies of negative income tax

The article says

An orthodox relief program would pay the jobless head of a family, say, $60 a week. If he then started to earn something, he would be paid simply the difference between that amount and $60. Under the NIT principle a man who was earning nothing would also receive a relief payment of $60 a week. But if he then earned $30 a week on his own he would still get a $45 payment (reduced by only $1 for every $2 earnings), bringing his total income to $75 a week.

I am not an economist. Infact this was the first post where I ever heard of negative income tax. However, I feel that the numbers in the examples just don't add up.

According to me under the NIT principle if he earned $30 a week on his own he would still get a $15 (half of the difference) payment from the government. So his total income would be $45 and not $75.

So there is no anamoly. Anytime a person earns more than $60 he gets nothing from the government. Anytime he earns less than $60 he would be just that much close to $60. So earning $58 a month would get him $1 from the government for a total salary of $59.

Rejection

This is funny. I wish I could write to b-schools somethinng like this :)

Herbert A. Millington
Chair - Search Committee
412A Clarkson Hall, Whitson University
College Hill, MA 34109

Dear Professor Millington,

Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me an assistant professor position in your department.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite Whitson's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume the position of assistant professor in your department this August. I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,
Chris L. Jensen