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Nathan Roisen

St. Paul, MN
Commenter for
2 years 27 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 09/13/12 at 04:01 pm in response to Taking tax breaks seriously

The implication of the 'skin in the game' argument is that half the population is composed of freeloaders.

I don't think that is the case, and the idea that there is a national and local 'common good' that each require some level of 'skin' is hairsplitting that doesn't help your argument. What about the many, many projects or services that use a combination of federal, state, and local money?

Do the bottom 50% have requisite 'skin' to drive on state highways, but are...

Posted on 09/11/12 at 12:41 pm in response to Siren call of economic development: A cautionary tale from Vadnais Heights

At least the Vikings stadium bill has a provision in it that puts a tax on sports merchandise to pay for the stadium if (when) the magic pulltab money falls short.

Anyway, this is good reporting. It would be worth some further digging to find out just how this fiasco ended up happening. I'm sure the VH City Council meeting minutes from that time period are online somewhere and would shed some light the situation.

I know that many right-wingers have an almost allergic...

Posted on 09/10/12 at 11:13 am in response to Mitt Romney will cut your taxes — but won’t tell you how

Mitt's campaign just ended with his statement that he "likes parts of Obamacare".

To say so is complete heresy to his base.

It also opens himself up to two charges, neither of which is palatable, and both of which the Dems will hound him with for the next two months.

One: he is ignorant of the complicated workings of the health care system, so much so that he does not understand the relationship between the popular parts of Obamacare and the necessity for the mandate...

Posted on 08/29/12 at 11:23 am in response to Chris Christie’s GOP convention speech: 20 truths make a lie

Unfortunately the very concept of 'truth' is really ill-defined now...Romney could say that the sky is cerulean blue, while Obama says it is deep teal, and spark an instant and heated disagreement between their supporters. We're all looking at the same blue sky but seeing very different things.

I think the "truth" is this: the deficit is a very convenient, and very easy, political stick with which to beat Obama over the head with and the Republicans have had their period of fun....

Posted on 08/01/12 at 12:59 pm in response to Brookings: The benefits of Romney's tax plan mostly trickle up

The notion that there can be a plan reduces tax burden the wealthy, eliminates deductions, and doesn't increase the deficit is nothing more than a fantasy.

The fact of the matter is, the government needs more revenue - not an equal amount, not less - in order to provide the services that Americans have decided that they want and need. As a percentage of GDP, tax collections are at their lowest level in decades, while many of the institutions and infrastructure that underpin our high...

Posted on 07/14/12 at 04:16 pm in response to Life on the tube in a battleground state

It is things like this that make me question whether, above a certain threshold, it really matters who raises the most funds in a political contest. Who can possibly pay attention to an ad blitz this inane, for months and months on end? If Obama airs three commercials per Romney's two (or vice versa) is that really going to make a difference one way or the other?

Posted on 07/03/12 at 11:06 am in response to Get ready for The Interchange, Minneapolis’ Grand Central Station – and then some

At best, this project will provide an actual "front door" for the city, a pleasant place to wait for the train, a connection between the North Loop and Downtown, and a way to handle overflow crowds.

Unfortunately, the renderings that have been released give us next to no indication that any of those goals will be successful...unless fireworks and the mass release of balloons really get you going.

I worry that, because of the very limited schedule of commuter trains (and the...

Posted on 07/03/12 at 04:11 pm in response to Get ready for The Interchange, Minneapolis’ Grand Central Station – and then some

Completely agree that the comparisons to Grand Central Station are borderline ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the renderings that come with this article.

That doesn't mean that it can't be a nice space, and a functional space - definitely nicer and more functional than exists currently.

Posted on 06/15/12 at 01:33 pm in response to Obama and Romney Ohio speeches: some thoughts

Simple beats complex, every time. No argument there.

I don't know how the electoral college math stacks up right now, but it certainly seems like the Republicans have the wind at their backs recently, especially given the Walker victory in Wisconsin and the generally stagnant economic news of the last two months. Congratulations to them; they have managed parlay a wave of global pessimism into a neck-and-neck presidential race.

A word of warning to the conservatives out...

Posted on 06/08/12 at 12:44 pm in response to Why do working-class people vote conservative?

It seems that the author's research pinpoints this as the ideological divide: Conservatives have managed to distill the wide variety of interests that loosely fall into their tent into a message that is simple enough to be resistant to internal contradictions, Liberals have not.

For instance, two conservative camps: big business and evangelical Christians, whose interests truly have nothing to do with one another, are united behind notions of freedom and traditional values. Two...