News Commentary

How Congress Snuck in a 3.8% Tax Increase that Will Kick in on Jan. 1

"Scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, the tax, which was adopted as part of the 2010 health-care law, is a 3.8 percent levy on interest, dividends, capital gains and passive business income received by taxpayers with incomes exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 for couples). Because the new tax was added to the health-care law late in the process without congressional hearings, it received little attention at the time. With only a few weeks left before it takes effect, it remains largely unknown. One problem with the unearned income Medicare contribution tax is the name Congress chose for it, which is a triple misnomer." Continue reading →

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Understanding the Budget Cuts in the Current Fiscal Crisis Talks

"Even someone following the budget negotiations closely might be surprised to learn that there are no real cuts on the table in the way normal people think of them. That goes for Republican proposals, too. For example, households may decide to reduce their holiday spending this year from $750 to $500 and forgo the summer family vacation because times are tough. Those are spending cuts. Washington is the only place where a cut isn’t a cut. Instead, so-called spending cuts are reductions in the growth rate of outlays as prescribed under current law. Nothing is cut." Continue reading →

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A Swiss-Style Spending Cap Would Have Prevented the Current Fiscal Mess in America

"I greatly admire Switzerland’s 'debt brake' because it’s really a spending cap. Theoretically, taxes could be hiked to allow more spending, but that hasn’t happened. The Swiss are very good about voting against tax increases, so the politicians don’t have much ability to boost the revenue trendline. Since the debt brake first took effect in 2003, the burden of government spending has dropped from 36 percent of GDP to 34 percent of economic output – a rather remarkable achievement since most other European nations have moved in the wrong direction." Continue reading →

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Government Stops Ebay Market in NotHaus Coins

"Mac Slavo has an article on this. See also his warnings 16 months ago. I've written here on the travesty of finding NotHaus guilty of counterfeiting and on the utterly false government arguments made in the case against him, which nevertheless found favor with a jury. Wikipedia provides an outline here. What do I think of this? I think that this entire government action against NotHaus is evil, by which I mean profoundly wicked, malevolent, and immoral. The government people doing this have labeled him a 'domestic terrorist', which is about as deep a lie and falsehood as can be concocted." Continue reading →

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Portugal May Become the First of Europe’s Bankrupt Welfare States to Recover: Less Spending AND Lower Tax Rates

"The Portuguese government is seeking to cut its corporate tax rate for new businesses to one of the lowest in Europe as part of a plan to attract investment and revitalize ailing industries, the minister of economy said. The government is in talks with the European Commission’s competition agency in Brussels to get approval to cut the tax on corporate income for new investors to 10% from the current 25%, the minister, Alvaro Santos Pereira, said in an interview." Continue reading →

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Big Brother Spying Didn’t Stop Connecticut School Shooter … Or 9/11

"The separation between spy agencies and military operations has disappeared … to the point where the same unaccountable government agency which spies on all Americans also decides who gets assassinated by drones. And anyone who questions government actions or policies may be labeled a potential terrorist. And yet – even with Big Brother sticking his nose in every aspect of our lives – that total surveillance didn’t stop the Connecticut school shooter. Or the Batman shooter, the shooter of Congresswoman Giffords, Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc. etc. etc." Continue reading →

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The HSBC Debacle – A Double Whammy Of Political Risk And Hypocrisy

"Where does all of this money in fines go? The booty goes to the Federal Reserve (which probably gives it back to these big foreign banks anyways through stealth bailouts), the Justice Department, and other federal agencies. I struggle to think of another country besides the US that could successfully impose such obscene fines for similar reasons – that is because there are no meaningful comparisons. It may be easier to see the political risk in this if it is put in another perspective. Imagine if China imposed a 13 billion yuan (~$2 billion) fine on JPMorgan for doing business that somehow involved Taiwan, a country Beijing considers a 'rogue state.'" Continue reading →

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The Hidden Cost of Oil

"Prior to its $130 billion social-spending spree, Saudi Arabia needed oil prices somewhere north of $70 to balance the kingdom’s budget, according to the International Monetary Fund. Now the per-barrel cost is reportedly approaching $100. Russia needs something close to $120. Social costs also play a similarly large role in Bahrain, Kuwait, Venezuela, Iran and elsewhere, where oil revenue accounts for up to 90% of domestic income. The United Arab Emirates, for instance, needs oil prices in the $85 range to balance a budget larded with social programs. Tiny Bahrain needs about $119." Continue reading →

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The 12 Gold Bugs of Christmas

"None of these parties think the gold bull market is over, nor the price too high. They recognize the implications of a world floating on fiat currencies, and that government 'solutions' to debt and deficit spending will significantly – perhaps catastrophically – dilute the value of currencies, the fallout of which has yet to materialize. As for me, I think that the longer the malaise continues, the more likely the breakout is to be both sudden and dramatic." Continue reading →

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Sandy Hook Massacre: Sympathy from the Devil

"What Adam Lanza did once in a fit of murderous irrationality, the Regime over which Obama presides does practically every day – by people who act with clear-eyed, clinical indifference to the suffering they inflict. The killer who slaughtered the innocent at Sandy Hook is dead. The Child-Killing Apparatus over which Obama presides continues merrily along. Americans understandably shaken and saddened to the depth of their souls by the horrors in Newton should consider this: The government that impudently presumes to rule us has made Sandy Hook-style massacres routine for residents of Pakistan." Continue reading →

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