Month: February 2014

Bitcoin

I’m fascinated by Bitcoin, but not as a currency. I enjoy it’s mathematical underpinnings, its algorithms, its self-enforcing decentralization (I like torrents for the same reason). It is pretty ingenious with its block chain record of transactions and its use of cryptography, which I love. As a currency, though? It’s absurd. Ignoring the fact that… Continue reading Bitcoin

Tax Brackets

I’m with Atrios here (warning: profanity). The easiest part of computing your taxes is the calculation of tax from Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) facilitated by the tax tables. You could have one bracket, ten brackets, a hundred brackets, or an elliptic curve; the lookup tables make that computation simple, and the fact that most people… Continue reading Tax Brackets

Healthcare Agonistes Redux

It’s been a few months since the launch of the health care exchange, one of the biggest remaining pieces of Obamacare. It’s been rocky, but the numbers are not too far off from projections. As the exchanges and the other pieces of the law become status quo, however, that has not stopped the doom and… Continue reading Healthcare Agonistes Redux