Author: Victor Allis

While our early ancestors thought that Earth was the center of the universe, and later thought that at least our sun was that center, today we know that the universe is vast. Earth is just 1 of 8 planets, orbiting a run-of-the-mill star somewhere in the outer reaches of just an ordinary galaxy out of…
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At ActiVote we want to make it easy to vote your values. For that to work, we aim to visualize your position in the Political Matrix, as well as those of any candidate you can vote for. With today’s release, we have made sure that all federal legislators are automatically included. Our current elected officials…
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The US spends far more on healthcare per person than any other developed country in the world. A major contributor to the cost difference is the price of prescription drugs, which are, on average, about twice as expensive as in other developed countries, and form 17% of total healthcare costs.  In recent years, pharmaceutical companies…
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The “marginal tax rate” is the percentage of tax you pay over “brackets” of your income. For instance, for the first approximately $10,000 of income, the marginal tax rate is 10%, thus about $1,000 in tax. Over the next ~$30,000 the marginal tax rate is 12%, thus another about $3,600 in tax. The “maximum marginal…
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The Federal Minimum Wage was raised to $7.25 on July 24th, 2009. In the 10 years since then inflation has been approximately 20%, steadily reducing the purchasing value of that $7.25 wage.  An ActiVote poll asking about the Federal Minimum Wage shows that only 1% of respondents would like it to remain at $7.25. So,…
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Four decades ago, a newly appointed US Ambassador was asked why he had accepted the job offer after many years working in the private sector. He explained that he had spent ⅓ of his life getting an education, ⅓ of his life working for a living and was hoping to spend the final ⅓ of his…
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