Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party

Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party

Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:05 AM PDT

By MICHAEL J. BOSKIN, WallStreetJournal.com

President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic “recovery” appearing more and more elusive, his timing couldn’t be worse.

Two problems arise when marginal tax rates are raised. First, as college students learn in Econ 101, higher marginal rates cause real economic harm. The combined marginal rate from all taxes is a vital metric, since it heavily influences incentives in the economy—workers and employers, savers and investors base decisions on after-tax returns. Thus tax rates need to be kept as low as possible, on the broadest possible base, consistent with financing necessary government spending.

Second, as tax rates rise, the tax base shrinks and ultimately, as Art Laffer has long argued, tax rates can become so prohibitive that raising them further reduces revenue—not to mention damaging the economy. That is where U.S. tax rates are headed if we do not control spending soon.

The current top federal rate of 35% is scheduled to rise to 39.6% in 2013 (plus one-to-two points from the phase-out of itemized deductions for singles making above $200,000 and couples earning above $250,000). The payroll tax is 12.4% for Social Security (capped at $106,000), and 2.9% for Medicare (no income cap). While the payroll tax is theoretically split between employers and employees, the employers’ share is ultimately shifted to workers in the form of lower wages.

But there are also state income taxes that need to be kept in mind. They contribute to the burden. The top state personal rate in California, for example, is now about 10.5%. Thus the marginal tax rate paid on wages combining all these taxes is 44.1%. (This is a net figure because state income taxes paid are deducted from federal income.)

To read more, visit:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304911104576443893352153776.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Gold Extends Record Rally, Jumping Above $1,600

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:01 AM PDT

From: CNBC.com

Gold surged to an all-time high above $1,600 an ounce Monday, extending a record rally as investors sought a safe haven on fears that U.S. lawmakers could fail to raise the debt limit, resulting in a default.

Gold rallied even as the U.S. dollar strengthened, helping the precious metal hit record highs across a number of major currencies, namely euro, British sterling, South African rand and the Canadian dollar.

The latest rally, which began three weeks ago on euro zone debt worries, has powered gold into uncharted territory. Europe has been struggling to put together a second bailout for Greece and contain its debt crisis.

Bullion has gained 8 percent in 11 days, as President Barack Obama and Congress have failed to reach an agreement to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. borrowing limit. With the clock ticking toward an Aug. 2 deadline, investors have turned to gold at the expense of riskier assets, such as equities and commodities.

“What’s coming out of these debt talks is that you are seeing a lot of people focusing on the numbers and understand the ramifications of debt burden on countries. Governments are at a very precarious situation, which is not easy to rein in,” said Robert Lutts, chief investment officer of Cabot Money Management, which manages over $500 million in assets.

Spot gold [XAU= 1601.23 7.93 (+0.5%) ] rose as high as $1,607.01 an ounce and was up 0.8 percent at $1,605.30 an ounce in late morning trading. It has now set record highs in three out of the last four sessions.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery were up $16.40 an ounce at $1,606.40. Adjusted for inflation, gold’s all-time high was above $2,300 an ounce set in 1980.

To read more, visit:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/43788734

Cornell Team Builds Space-Time Invisibility Cloak

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:57 AM PDT

From: FOXNews.com

For the first time, a device has created a “hole in time” — for a few nanoseconds anyway.

The theoretical possibility of an “event cloak” — a metamaterial space-time device that could theoretically conceal an entire event in time from the view of an outsider — has been written about for years. And while some bright minds have been talking about bending space-time to their whims, a team at Cornell was doing it. And it works. For 110 nanoseconds.

Basically, you need two time-lenses — lenses that can compress and decompress light in time. This is actually possible to do using an electro-optic modulator (what, you don’t have one?). Two of these modulators can slow down or compress the light traveling through the first lens; a second lens downrange from the first can then decompress, or accelerate, the incoming photons from the first lens.

Think of the photons like steadily flowing traffic on a highway. If you slow the traffic at a point upstream, you create a gap. You can cross the highway through the gap and then accelerate that traffic to catch up to the traffic ahead, closing the gap. To someone further downstream, the gap isn’t there — to that observer, the gap might as well have never existed because there’s no evidence of it.

During that gap, whatever occurs goes unrecorded. But you’d have to be pretty quick were you to use such a device to pull some kind of shenanigans. The current gizmo the Cornell gents have built creates a 110 nanosecond event gap, and they concede that the best it could achieve is 120 microseconds.

But as Technology Review notes, rarely is anything final in cutting edge theoretical physics.

To read more, visit:  http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/18/cornell-team-builds-space-time-invisibility-cloak/

Anger as ‘totally bizarre’ doll that teaches young girls how to breastfeed launches in U.S. stores

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:53 AM PDT

From: Dailymail.co.uk

A doll that teaches young girls how to breast feed, which is about to hit stores across the U.S., has prompted a wave of complaints from angry parents.

Makers of The Breast Milk Baby claim that the doll, which simulates breastfeeding, allows children to experience the ‘magic of motherhood’.

But parents have spoken out in anger over the toy, which they have slammed as ‘totally bizarre’.

The doll comes with a bib for the child to wear, with pink flowers indicating the nipple area.

When held to the breast the doll makes suckling noises, and start crying if it is not burped afterwards.

Parents have complained that the doll, which has only been available online in the U.S. until now, is inappropriate for young girls.

To read more, visit:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015911/The-Breast-Milk-Baby-Anger-doll-teaches-girls-breastfeed.html

Tea Party Member Criticizes GOP Convention Idea

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:48 AM PDT

From: wvmetronews.com

A member of the Parkersburg Tea Party says independents could be completely left out of the Presidential nomination process if the state Republican Party again holds a convention next year.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for it to be taken away from the people and no argument for that,” Sandy Staats said of how she sees the possibility on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.

Later this week, members of the Republican Party will look at the different ways West Virginia could choose a Republican Presidential nominee and a convention is one of them.

The Republicans first held a nominating convention in 2008 when West Virginia selected Republican Candidate Mike Huckabee as its nominee. Some criticized the convention process, though, saying the issue should have been left up to voters completely.

Staats says her complaint is that a convention would happen without input from the conservative independents who routinely vote on the Republican ballot. “We basically have no say in whether they have this convention or a primary,” she said.

GOP leaders say holding a convention earlier in 2012 would give West Virginia more of a say when it comes to choosing a nominee.

To read more, visit:  http://www.wvmetronews.com/news.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=46641

DeMint: Debt-ceiling debate will show if Tea Party is still ‘a force’

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:43 AM PDT

By Daniel Strauss, The Hill.com

The debate over increasing the debt ceiling will show whether the Tea Party still has influence, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) said Monday.

“We’re going to find out if the Tea Party’s still there in force in the next few weeks on this debt limit because we’re trying to recruit Americans right now and there is a website — cutcapbalancepledge.com,” DeMint, a favorite of Tea Party supporters, said while speaking on York, Pa., radio station WSBA.

“We’re encouraging Americans to sign up, call their congressmen and senators and help us create some pressure in Washington and let those people know who are standing firm that Americans are with them. So we’ll know in the next few weeks if the Tea Party is still there, if they’re still active.”

DeMint has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the backup plan for increasing the debt-ceiling unveiled by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

On Friday, DeMint pledged to “use every tool” in the Senate to stop McConnell’s plan, which authorizes President Obama to raise the debt ceiling in three separate increments. The only way Congress could stop Obama would be with resolutions of disapproval that the president could veto if they failed to meet a two-thirds majority threshold in both chambers of Congress.

"It basically says you can raise the debt limit, but we don't have to vote for it," DeMint said on the Scott Hennen radio show on Sunday. "It's like leaving the jail door open and looking the other way, then saying it's not our fault."

To read more, visit:  http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/171965-demint-debt-debate-will-show-if-tea-party-still-qa-forceq
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