Share the View: A New Tax Code

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THE LATEST OPINIONS FROM BLOOMBERG VIEW

JANUARY 27, 2015 bloombergview.com

TAXES The Editors: "President Barack Obama and the new Republican majorities in Congress have spent the past few weeks posturing on tax policy rather than advancing serious proposals. This ought to change -- and it can. The U.S. badly needs tax reform, and there's surprising scope for cooperation." Read more... ECONOMICS Noah Smith: "There's an eternal debate about how government can best help people when they aren't doing well economically. ... In past decades, this debate has been mostly about poor people. But in the future, the discussion may shift to how to encourage entrepreneurship." Read more...' REGULATION Megan McArdle: "Senator Elizabeth Warren has a modest proposal for pharmaceutical companies that get fined by the Food and Drug Administration for rule violations. ... There are a few problems with Warren's proposal, starting with the fact that it seems to assume that the NIH is the ultimate source of all those Big Pharma profits." Read more... MIDDLE EAST Meghan L. O'Sullivan: "A consensus has emerged since the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia that the kingdom will not change course on oil policy. This consensus is probably right, at least for the short term. It is, however, correct for reasons other than the ones that most observers have invoked." Read more... COMPANIES Justin Fox: "These are tough times in the U.S. for workers older than 50. ... There's at least one group of over-50 workers that's doing awesome, though. Corporate board members!" Read more... HEALTH-CARE REFORM Peter Orszag: "After years of slow cost growth, health care is reaching a crucial tipping point. ... The next year or two will determine whether the recent era of slow cost growth becomes the new normal, or instead is reversed." Read more... POLITICS Jonathan Bernstein: "We're hearing too many horror stories about how much time House members are 'expected' to spend raising money. The truth is legislators don't have to do as much fundraising as they are 'supposed' to." Read more... RUSSIA Mohamed A. El-Erian: Standard & Poor's announced "that it downgraded Russia's sovereign debt to junk status. ... What is the immediate impact of S&P's action?" Read more... UKRAINE CRISIS Leonid Bershidsky: "As Ukraine burned again last weekend, Western leaders stubbornly stuck to their chosen path: no appeasement and no military action, just more economic sanctions against Russia. It's a surefire way to get more Ukrainians killed." Read more... TRANSPORTATION Adam Minter: "Around 10 a.m. local time on Monday morning, visitors to the Malaysia Airlines website were greeted with an image of one of the carrier's jets flying above the clouds, and a not very funny message: '404 - Plane Not Found.' ... Despite appearances, there's really only one certainty about this bizarre hack: Islamic State had nothing to do with it." Read more...