The top of today's reading list asks why do we pay taxes (and the answers may surprise some) ........ and the tenth article is a satirical spoof about the start of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado.  The bonus (11th article) discusses the explosive growth of local government debt in China.

• Why do we pay taxes? (Walter Kirtz, Sober Look) Prof. L. Brownstein, University of Leeds, says federal taxes paid in in countries like the UK, the U.S. and Japan (just three examples) have no functional relationship to federal spending, deficits or national debt. Read the fourth article today by Warren Mosler as a companion to this.

• The Snowden saga heralds a radical shift in capitalism (Evgeny Morozov, Financial Times) Hat tip to Roger Erickson, Mike Norman Economics.

"What Mr Snowden has revealed is the new tension at the very foundations of modern-day capitalism and democratic life. A bit more imagination is needed to resolve it."

• Estate Planning Dangers to Avoid (Martin Shenkman, Financial Planning)

• Where is the 2% GDP Growth lost from Fiscal Drag Going to Come From? (Warren Mosler, Soft Currency Economics) Warren Mosler has contributed to Global Economic Intersection. Read the first article above by Sober Look as a companion for this.

• This is the oldest living thing on the planet (Jonathan Anker, HLN) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni.

• The Birds (Jonathan Rosen, The New Yorker) Why the passenger pigeon became extinct.

• Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing (Steven C. Sherwood, Sandrine Bony and Jean-Louis Dufresne, Nature) Hat tip to Sig Silber. Link is to abstract only. Purchase or subscription necessary for full access. This is wonkish but worthwhile. The article proposes a mechanism for the wide range of estimates of future climate warming based on a multi-level atmospheric mixing process that is not properly understood. Sig wrote:

The article offers an explanation for the wide range of estimates of future climate warming which according to the authors is the result of an inadequate representation withing the current climate models of multi-level atmospheric mixing processes. The article provides its own interpretation of these atmospheric ocean-coupled processes which if confirmed to be correct would result in the narrowing of the range of estimates of future warming by eliminating or reducing the likelihood of the lower part of the confidence interval. Thus this is a very significant article.

Click on graphic for larger image.

• The World Braces For Retirement Crisis (David McHugh, Elaine Kurtenbach and Paul Wiseman, TPM News)

• Look What Big Banks Are Hiding from You Now (Shah Gilani, Wall Street Insights & Indictments) Shah Gilani contributes to Global Economic Intersection. A special case of shadow banking is shadow commodities.

• Marijuana Overdoses Kill 37 in Colorado On First Day of Legalization (The Daily Currant) Hat tip to John O'Donnell. Why isn't this all over the news? Also missing from the lame stream media are the other stories listed on The Daily Currant front page.

BONUS

• The auditors' footnotes (S.C., The Economist) Is 63.5% increase in 2 1/2 years a bubble?