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Wednesday, April 01, 2026

HEGSETH the knives are out: The Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation

“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism

The right to criticize.

The right to hold unpopular beliefs.

The right to protest.

The right of independent thought.” — Margaret Chase Smith, first woman to serve in both houses of Congress


Revenue the Australian Government is estimated to have not collected since July 2022 by not implementing a 25% tax on liquefied natural gas exports.

Australia's Gas Giveaway


Fake IDs and laptop farms: North Korea targets Australian firms to fund weapons program

Australia is firmly in the sights of North Korea’s aggressive thousands-strong army of agents posing as remote IT workers.


A new edition of On Liberty, a canonical work of political philosophy, “is the first to show officially name Harriet Taylor Mill as a co-author alongside John Stuart Mill”.



The leaks keep coming from inside targeting Hagueseth. Similar to leaks that kept coming targeting Noem before she was booted out of DHS. The knives are out.

“. . . A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
Just 4 days ago NYT did a 4-byline story as well zeroing on Hegseth's "unusual decision to remove officers from a one star promotion list" spurring "allegations of racism and gender bias." That story also seemed to be generated from the inside.





Martin McMahon (Florida), The Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation

Abstract: “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” — Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verse 29. 

The term the “Matthew effect,” was coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1968 based on the passage from the Gospel of Matthew in the epigram. “Put in less stately language, the Matthew effect insists in the accruing of greater increments of recognition for particular scientific contributions to scientists of considerable repute and the withholding of such recognition from scientists who have not yet made their mark.” 

The Matthew effect is not limited to the context in which Robert Merton first coined it. More generally, it is a synonym for the well known colloquial aphorism, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” This article is about the Matthew effect in the distribution of incomes in the United States, and the failure of the federal tax system to address the Matthew effect.


Bush & Cheney 2003 Tax Returns

Thursday, April 15, 2004

Jack Bogdanski’s (Lewis & Clark) blog has a great post about the Bush & Cheney 2003 tax returns released by the White House (as well as a great cartoon suitable for classroom use). He also promises future blogging about the motherlode of tax returns released by John Kerry (1999-2003 returns).



Herzfeld: Wars and Oil Crises Drive Tax Policy Shifts

Mindy Herzfeld (Florida), Wars and Oil Crises Drive Tax Policy Shifts, 121 Tax Notes Int’l 2101 (March 23, 2026)

The U.S. bombing of Iran has disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to wild swings in the price of oil and reports of windfall profits for U.S. oil companies. (See “U.S. Oil Groups in Line for $63bn Windfall From Gulf War Disruption,” Financial Times, Mar. 14, 2026.) This $60 billion in projected excess profits far exceeds the cost of the first two weeks of the war, estimated at approximately $16 billion.



Why Trump only has a month left to end the warTelegraph. Word of the low stockpiles is getting out.

How to find data

How to find and vet credible data sources you can use right away – NICAR 2026 meeting – Slide Deck by Stephanie Lamm, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Greg Morton, Baltimore Banner; Sean Mussenden, University of Maryland.

A new source I learned about via this presentation – WONDER online databases utilize a rich ad-hoc query system for the analysis of public health data. 

Reports and other query systems are also available. Data & Site Updates Changes are coming to CDC WONDER! As part of CDC’s ongoing digital modernization, we’re improving how you access public health data. In the coming months, expect to see changes that make CDC WONDER easier to navigate and simpler to understand.


Data is Beautiful – VeridionData – Top 20 Federal Government Contractor by Contract Value

  • Sources: SAM.gov/FPDS FY2023 all-federal contract obligations, supplemented with FY2024 DoD data from Defense Security Monitor and Washington Technology Top 100.
  • FY2023 because it’s the latest complete all-agency dataset publicly available. Subsidiaries rolled up under parent companies. I handle the sector labels; some companies straddle categories.
  • What’s missing: Classified spending, subcontracts, and IT reseller pass-through. AWS and Palo Alto sell billions to gov through aggregators like Carahsoft, so their prime contract numbers are way understated.
  • Tools: HTML/CSS, Puppeteer for export.
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