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Woodshedder

Who Benefits from Corporate “Loopholes”?

The results may surprise you.

If nothing else, the statistic that “…only about 8 percent of corporate tax expenditure benefits are targeted to specific industries such as renewable energy, insurance, oil and gas, and coal” is worth adding to your mental quiver, just in case you’re having a discussion about corporate tax loopholes at a party or something.

Read the research here.

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Woodshedder’s Family Biz Shut Down By SC Gov’t Regulators

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – Looking for raccoon meat? You won’t find it at a country convenience store in South Carolina after state health inspectors told employees to throw out their supply.

Tipped off by a complaint, inspectors recently found the cleaned raccoon meat in plastic bags inside one of the store’s coolers, along with bagged ice.

“In my 28 years with the agency, it’s the first time I’ve heard of this,” Thom Berry, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, said on Wednesday.

“My inspectors, they see all kinds of things, but this is something new even to them.”

The Lucky 7 store — located in Gadsden, near the state capital of Columbia — removed the meat upon request, Berry said. But when inspectors went back several days later, they found it outside the building near some trash.

Read the rest here.

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Congressional Report Details AARP’s Financial Gain From Health Care Law

“Washington, DC – Ways and Means Committee Members Wally Herger (R-CA), Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Charles Boustany (R-LA) today released “Behind the Veil: The AARP America Doesn’t Know,”  a new report exposing the conflict between AARP’s drive for profits, the best interests of its members and the organization’s tax exempt status.  The report, which is the culmination of more than a year-long investigation, concludes that AARP stands to make upwards of one billion dollars over the next ten years as a result of the new health care law through the sale of their endorsed-Medicare insurance products.  The Members have now turned over their findings to the IRS to determine if AARP has abused its tax-exempt status, and whether or not that status should be revoked.”

Read the rest here.

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Sell-Side Analysts and Gender: A Comparison of Performance, Behavior, and Career Outcomes

Abstract:
Using a comprehensive sample of investment recommendations from 1994 to 2005, we investigate differences in the performance, behavior, and career outcomes of male and female sell-side analysts. Compared to their male counterparts, we find that the recommendations of female analysts produce similar abnormal returns but significantly lower idiosyncratic risks, which suggest higher information ratios for the recommendations of female analysts. Female analysts also issue significantly less biased recommendations. Further, gender does not seem to negatively influence female analysts’ career outcomes as defined by their star rankings and job mobility among brokerage firms. In fact, being a female analyst seems to increase the likelihood of being listed among the prestigious Institutional Investor stars.

Get article here.

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American Terrorist Bill Ayers Admits He Wrote Obama’s Book Dreams

And the media goes wild and rabidly attacks Obama…Right? A terrorist wrote his book?

March 27, 2011

Ayers affirms he wrote Dreams from my Father

Jack Cashill

Last Thursday evening at Montclair State University, with a video camera rolling, Bill Ayers volunteered that yes indeed he had written the acclaimed Barack Obama memoir, Dreams from My Father.

Unprompted, Ayers also noted that while Dreams deserves its praise, Obama’s second opus, Audacity of Hope, is “more of a political hack book.”

Not surprisingly, Ayers retreated into irony as he ended the session. “Yeah, yeah,” he said after confirming again that he wrote Dreams, “And if you help me prove it, I’ll split the royalties with you. Thank you very much.”

With his final comment, the Ayers-friendly audience laughed in relief.  The media will laugh nervously upon seeing the video as well.  The White House will not.

Read the rest and see the video here.

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Hedge Fund Bets $40 Million That Twitter Can Predict The Stock Market

“Last October, Johan Bollen and Huina Mao, professors of informatics and computing at Indiana University-Bloomington, caused a stir in the business world when they said Twitter could be used to predict the Dow Jones.

Paul Hawtin, a 28-year-old hedge fund manager, liked the idea so much that he’s now dedicating an entire hedge fund to it.

The original paper, entitled “Twitter mood predicts the stock market,” investigated whether “collective mood states derived from large-scale Twitter feeds” like OpinionFinder and Google-Profile of Mood States correlated with the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. What they found was that their algorithm not only paralleled market changes, it predicted them, with startling 87.6 percent accuracy.”

Read the rest here.

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Cuomo Strikes Tentative Deal on N.Y. Budget With Big Cuts

Well hell, where are all the protesters? Cuomo is is cutting education, health care, and lowering taxes on high-income New Yorkers, and the people aren’t going bonkers in the streets and at the state capitol?

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and THOMAS KAPLAN

Published: March 27, 2011

“Culminating weeks of secretive negotiations and intense political jockeying, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and leaders of the Legislature announced on Sunday the outlines of a $132.5 billion budget that would cut state spending, impose no major new taxes and begin a long-term overhaul of the state’s bloated Medicaid programs.

The agreement comes five days before the March 31 budget deadline, offering the prospect of Albany’s first on-time budget in five years, in what Mr. Cuomo and his counterparts in the Legislature said they hoped would signal a new day of responsible budgeting and effective government in a Capitol long criticized for its gridlock and dysfunction. The deal would end a temporary income tax surcharge on high-income New Yorkers, which some have called the “millionaire’s tax” even though it affects incomes starting at $200,000 annually.

Mr. Cuomo’s aggressive and strategic approach to negotiations appeared to have yielded significant victories, including a year-to-year cut of more than $2 billion in spending on health care and education, the two largest drivers of New York’s ever-growing budget. Mr. Cuomo and the Legislature also agreed to create a new Department of Financial Services by merging the existing state banking and insurance agencies, as well as other consolidations.”

Read the rest here.

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Obama’s Unconstitutional War: Bringing US Closer to Imperialism than Bush Ever Did

By unilaterally going to war against Libya, Obama is bringing America closer to the imperial presidency than Bush ever did.

BY BRUCE ACKERMAN | MARCH 24, 2011

“In taking the country into a war with Libya, Barack Obama’s administration is breaking new ground in its construction of an imperial presidency — an executive who increasingly acts independently of Congress at home and abroad. Obtaining a U.N. Security Council resolution has legitimated U.S. bombing raids under international law. But the U.N. Charter is not a substitute for the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress, not the president, the power “to declare war.”

Read the rest here.

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The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics: The left’s obsession with the Koch brothers

Apr 4, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 28 • By MATTHEW CONTINETTI

“David Koch’s secretary told him the news. This was in February, during the rowdy standoff between Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and demonstrators backing 14 Democratic legislators who’d fled to Illinois rather than vote on a bill weakening public employee unions. Koch’s secretary said that an editor for a left-wing website, the Buffalo Beast, had telephoned the governor posing as David Koch and recorded the conversation. And Walker had fallen for it! He’d had a 20-minute conversation with this bozo, not once questioning the caller’s identity. But then how could Walker have known? Sure, David Koch was a billionaire whose company had donated to his campaign. But Koch (pronounced “Coke”) had never talked to Walker in his life.

Yet here were the media reporting that he and his brother Charles were behind Walker’s push against public employees. Anger washed over David like a red tide. He’d been victimized by some punk with a political agenda. “It’s really identity theft,” he told me a month later, during an interview at Koch Industries’ headquarters. “And I think it’s extremely dishonest to misrepresent yourself. I think there’s a question of integrity. And the person who would do that has got to be an incredibly dishonest person.” Up until Walker’s showdown with the Democratic state senators, Koch had never seen a photograph of the governor. He didn’t know him at all. But now the protesters occupying the Wisconsin state capitol were calling Walker a “Koch Whore.”

Why? Because the Koch Industries PAC had given $43,000 to Walker’s campaign. That was less than one half of one percent of Walker’s total haul—but still enough for the left to tie Koch Industries to the battle royal in Wisconsin. David found the whole affair disturbing. “One additional thing that really bothered me,” he said, “was that the press attacked me rather than the guy who impersonated me! And I was criticized as someone who’s got a death grip on the governor and his policies. And that I control him—I mean, that’s insane!”

Read the rest here.

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Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham 5:00PM GMT 25 Mar 2011

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited “around 25” men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are “today are on the front lines in Adjabiya”.

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters “are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists,” but added that the “members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader”.

His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad’s president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, “including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries”.

Read the rest here.

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Coming Soon to a City Near You: 500K British Protest Spending Cuts

Do government employees work to support Americans, or do Americans work to support government employees? If this question is not dealt with soon, look for similar protests in a city near you.

“Organisers of a huge protest against the Government’s public spending cuts tonight hailed the demonstration a “fantastic success” after hundreds of thousands of people joined the biggest event of its kind for over 20 years.

Between 400,000 and 500,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, council and NHS workers, other public sector employees, students, pensioners and campaign groups from across the UK marched through central London to a rally where union officials and Labour leader Ed Miliband condemned the “brutal” cuts in jobs and services.”

Read the rest here.

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The Price of Taxing the Rich

“As Brad Williams walked the halls of the California state capitol in Sacramento on a recent afternoon, he spotted a small crowd of protesters battling state spending cuts. They wore shiny white buttons that said “We Love Jobs!” and argued that looming budget reductions will hurt the Golden State’s working class.

Mr. Williams shook his head. “They’re missing the real problem,” he said.

The working class may be taking a beating from spending cuts used to close a cavernous deficit, Mr. Williams said, but the root of California’s woes is its reliance on taxing the wealthy.”

Read the rest here.

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How Does Your State Compare? Tax Foundation Releases 70th Anniversary Edition of Facts & Figures

“Gives Taxpayers, Lawmakers a Guide to Their States’ Rankings on Vital Tax and Fiscal Measures

Washington, DC, March 1, 2011-Today the Tax Foundation is releasing the 2011 edition of Facts and Figures: How Does Your State Compare?, a pocket-sized guide ranking all 50 states on 32 different measures of taxation and fiscal policy. Topics include individual and corporate income tax rates, business tax climates, state-local tax burdens, and excise tax rates. Facts & Figures is edited by Mark Robyn, staff economist at the Tax Foundation.”

The 2011 edition of Facts & Figures: How Does Your State Compare? is available here.

Read the rest here.

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Oh Big Brother: The Gov’t Wants to Track and Tax Miles Driven

How long before a trip to the 7-11 costs more in taxable miles than a trip to say, a GM dealership?

“The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs of highway maintenance at a time when federal funds are short.

The report discussed the proposal in great detail, including the development of technology that would allow total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to be tracked, reported and taxed, as well as the pros and cons of mandating the installation of this technology in all vehicles.”

Read the rest here.

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U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Soon to Be #1

American Businesses Falling Behind while Policy Stands Still

Washington, DC, March 11, 2011-The U.S. corporate tax rate will soon become the highest in the industrialized world, and is already in its 20th year of being above the average for similar economies, according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation. As other nations enact reforms and rate cuts, the U.S. corporate rate will continue to stand out as a hindrance to economic growth and competitiveness unless lawmakers move to lower the tax burden for businesses.

The combined federal and state rate of 39.2 percent of corporate profits is exceeded only by Japan, whose rate stands at 39.5 percent. When Japan enacts planned cuts next month, however, the United States will have the highest rate of all of the economies in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the group of 34 advanced countries with economies most comparable to the U.S.

“Of course, OECD nations have not been the only countries reducing their corporate tax rates to remain competitive,” said Tax Foundation president and study author Scott A. Hodge. “Since 2006, some 75 nations have cut their rates, many multiple times.”

Read the rest of the article here.

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No Country Leans on Upper-Income Households as Much as U.S.

Be sure to read the whole piece, if for no other reason than to access the tables. The money quotes come in the last paragraph, which I’ve not quoted here.

“During my recent testimony before the Senate Budget Committee (found here), I cited an OECD statistic that the U.S. has the most progressive income tax system among industrialized nations.[1] This prompted one Senator to point out that if the richest 10% of taxpayers earn the most of any OECD country, shouldn’t it make sense that they bear the largest tax burden of any country?

The answer can be found in the OECD table below. This table shows the share of taxes paid by the richest 10 percent of households, the share of all market income earned by that group, and the ratio of what that 10 percent of households pays in taxes versus what they earn as a share of the nation’s income.

The first column shows that the top 10 percent of households in the U.S. pays 45.1 percent of all income taxes (both personal income and payroll taxes combined) in the country.  Italy is the only other country in which the top 10 percent of households pays more than 40 percent of the income tax burden (42.2%). Meanwhile, the average tax burden for the top decile of households in OECD countries is 31.6 percent.

By contrast, column #2 shows that the richest decile in America earned 33.5 percent of the market income in the country in 2005 – the year in which this snapshot was taken, but little has changed since then. But, a few other countries do have a greater or similar concentration of income as does the U.S. For example, the OECD table shows that the wealthiest decile of households in Italy and Poland earn a greater share of their country’s market income than do our “rich” – 35.8 percent and 33.9 percent respectively – while the share of income earned by the top decile of households in the U.K. is about on par with those in the U.S. at 32.3 percent.”

Read the rest here.

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Allies Playing Hot Potato With Libya

Sadly, this was predictable.

“Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign.”

Read the rest here.

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