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Thursday, July 17, 2014

Miscellany: 7/17/14

Quote of the Day
He who is drowned is not troubled by the rain.
Chinese Proverb

My Tweets
Image of the Day

Via Bastiat Institute
Via the Independent Institute

Jack Lew: Latest Nominee for JOTY

From the LA Times:
Calling for "a new sense of economic patriotism," a top Obama administration official urged Congress to take immediate action to stop U.S. companies from reorganizing as foreign firms to avoid paying taxes.
The maneuver, known as tax inversion, serves "to hollow out the U.S. corporate income tax base," Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew wrote in a letter Tuesday to congressional leaders that was obtained by the Times.
"What we need as a nation is a new sense of economic patriotism, where we all rise or fall together," Lew wrote to the top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional tax-writing committees.
"We should not be providing support for corporations that seek to shift their profits overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes," he said.
This is really all about politics: the Democrats are trying to gin up their dubious fall campaign prospects by trying to rally their support among female voters on Hobby Lobby (remember, the issue here was an ObamaCare mandate forcing for-profit businesses to subsidize certain forms of birth control, including abortifacients; the existing RFRA required accommodation which the Administration granted to some nonprofits/religious groups, but not for closely-held corporations whose principal owners/managers held similar religious objections; SCOTUS did not decide that a female employee could not buy said drugs using their own resources; it simply said the boss didn't have to share in the expense) and yet another spin of anti-corporate populism.

The issue deals with this Administration's parasitic view that it is entitled to steal more corporate income than almost every other developed, including socialist France... This blog has been pushing for a territorial tax system:
In fact, while the U.S. has stood still on reform, a growing number of developed economies are transitioning to the modern international tax system (i.e. “Territorial Taxation”). Now, 28 of the 34 OECD nations (and all other G8 member countries), employ some form of territoriality, which is up from 17 just a decade ago.
One of the targets of the Parasite's ire is Mylan, a generic drug concern in the metro Pittsburgh area, which after a recent transaction is comtemplating inverting its corporate structure to be classified as a Netherlands corporation. Does the Netherland embrace territoriality? Yup.

Would Mylan continue to pay taxes on the profits of its American operations according to American tax rules? Yes. Than what is Lew stewing about? Because he wants a US government cut on profits from foreign operations, although the American government provides no services commensurate with that income. Say, if another country's tax rate is 14%, he wants a surtax up to 35% of the US tax equivalent (not including state income taxes, etc.); think the US credits the difference if another country taxes 40%?

Obama and his minions want to tap into what they see as their spending entitlements on money earned elsewhere; they have refused to acknowledge the uncompetitive nature of business taxes. The government wants to steal from corporations and its shareholders, including pensioners, their profits earned elsewhere. They ignore that taxes and regulations are business costs, and these costs deter companies from opening or expanding domestic facilities. If Obama and Lew want to engage in substantive economic patriotism, lower the tax and regulatory regime and implement a territorial tax system.

Facebook Corner

(Reason). Why do millennials like Hillary Clinton?
I'm not in the target demographics, so I can't speak directly for them. But keep in mind (1) Hillary Clinton is someone whom has been in the public eye for most of their lives, (2) they sense, just like the election of Obama, there would be a chance to make history by electing the first female President, and (3) Clinton's views are very consistent with the "progressive" groupthink perspective in popular culture, academia, and the mainstream media.

 I think these numbers will significantly change by 2016. If I'm an opponent, I would try to tie her to the failed policies of Bush and Obama, argue that she's been part of the gridlock over the past generation. I would make a major issue that they are inheriting unsustainable debts and liabilities, and there are hundreds of billions wasted in failed programs where the only winners are the bureaucrats. I would try to tap into young people's skepticism with authority and challenge them to take charge of their own future, their own retirement, etc. Make this a genuine change election of ideas, not "progressive" promises. I would deemphasize cultural issues as primarily state/local issues and point out economic growth is key to their financial future--and gross federal overspending and manic Federal Reserve policies have done little to restore growth to historic averages. It's time for government to stop competing with the real economy for investment dollars, which correlate with growth and jobs.

(Reason). Let's be clear, someone who simply doesn't want America drawn into foreign conflicts is not an isolationist.
Even a pacifist or isolationist will speak out against human rights abuses anywhere in the world. Some libertarians are SILENT in the face of atrocities being committed around the world.
Oh, yeah. I guess some non-libertarians don't get that Non-Aggression Principle or what entity has a monopoly on the use of force.
Your non interventionist argument seems to come down to "if we are nice, they will be nice". ISIS wishes to resume the Islamist expansion of the Islamist past for ideological reasons. Do not send troops everywhere, but do not think that the 2 oceans will protect us. Islamist expansion tried going into France but were stopped at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Islamist also expanded into eastern Europe and were stopped at Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683
The Statist must always engage in irrational fearmongering to justify expansion in the military-industrial complex. Never mind we lost over 8000 men and thousands more casualities trying to rebuild two Gulf Region countries with known sectarian or tribal issues.
The world is ruled by the aggressive use of force. Somebody is going to be the policeman. You can choose who you want. It doesn't make a fuck how you feel or what your opinion is. Its called reality. get acquainted
This is the same garbage which Statists use to centralize authority. We make for 3% of the world's population and a fraction of its resources, but we think we have the resources to be the world's policeman? This is hubris and a state of denial; all we do is set us up as a target, and we engage in morally hazardous policy by not letting local regional leadership to quiesce troublespots. Think of the invisible hand of a decentralized economy, the spontaneous order, applied in a global context.

Political Humor

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is in Iowa campaigning at a big cookout because this is what you do if you want to be president. He's out there all day telling people the hotdog line is closed for a traffic study. - David Letterman

In his race for the White House, Christie admitted that he can barely make it down the block, never mind Washington DC.

Speaking of Obama, yesterday Congressman Raul Labrador said that impeaching President Obama isn't a good idea, because, quote, "no one wants President Joe Biden." And that's when Biden realized why Obama picked him as a running mate. - Jimmy Fallon

All this time Biden thought he was Obama's warm-up act.

More Marriage Proposals

She should have kicked his ass over this proposal; I'm sure that's not how she pictured the moment growing up...









Political Cartoons
Courtesy of the original artist via IPI

Courtesy of Bob Gorrell and Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Anne Murray, "Blessed Are the Believers"

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