Capital gains tax rates benefiting wealthy feed growing gap between rich and poor

The K Street office of Mark Bloomfield, president of the American Council for Capital Formation, is full of knickknacks collected in three decades of lobbying for cutting the capital gains tax.

The coffee table has campaign buttons that read “Capital Gains = Better Jobs.” One wall displays a blown-up cartoon retracing the steps that led President Jimmy Carter to reluctantly sign a cut in the capital gains tax rate. On a shelf sits a framed, handwritten note from President George W. Bush in December 2003 that says: “Dear Mark, I got your treatise on taxes — many thanks. I will look it over with keen interest. Merry Christmas.”

For the very richest Americans, low tax rates on capital gains are better than any Christmas gift. As a result of a pair of rate cuts, first under President Bill Clinton and then under Bush, most of the richest Americans pay lower overall tax rates than middle-class Americans do. And this is one reason the gap between the wealthy and the rest of the country is widening dramatically.

Read the rest here.

Asian Financial Markets Open Sharply Lower

TOKYO — Asian stock markets are sharply lower in early trading amid intensifying worries about Europe’s debt problems. Sentiment also soured after Wall Street sustained heavy losses before the weekend.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 2.1 percent to 8,550.45, hitting six-month intraday lows.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 3 percent to 19,264.68. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost almost 3 percent to 4,069.8.

Benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore also retreated.

Read the rest here.

9-11's Self Inflicted Wounds

On Dec. 8, 1951, the day after the 10th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the New York Times’ front page made a one-paragraph mention of commemorations the day before, when the paper’s page had not mentioned the anniversary. The Dec. 8 Washington Post’s front page noted no commemorations the previous day. On Dec. 7, the page had featured a familiar 10-year-old photograph of the burning battleships. It seems to have been published because a new process made possible printing it for the first time in color. At the bottom of the page, a six-paragraph story began: “Greater Washington today will mark the tenth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack by testing its air raid defenses.” The story explained that “the sirens are part of a ‘paper bombing’ of Washington” that would include “mock attacks by atom bombs and high explosives.”

The most interesting question is not how America in 2011 is unlike America in 2001 but how it is unlike what it was in 1951. The intensity of today’s focus on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 testifies to more than the multiplication of media ravenous for content, and to more than today’s unhistorical and self-dramatizing tendency to think that eruptions of evil are violations of a natural entitlement to happiness. It also represents the search for refuge from a decade defined by unsatisfactory responses to Sept. 11.

Read the rest here.

LORD SAVE THY PEOPLE (CHESNOKOV)

Memory Eternal

On this sad day we remember all those who perished in the attacks ten years ago as also those who have died in the defense of our country.  On a more personal note this morning I learned that Constantino Kiliveros reposed early today after an heroic battle with cancer.  In addition to being a good friend who would give you the shirt off his back if you were in need, he was a founding member of St. Mary Magdalene parish who gave selflessly to the church for decades.

Goodbye Gus.  You will be sorely missed.

Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to retire next year

Dr Rowan Williams is understood to have told friends he is ready to quit the highest office in the Church of England to pursue a life in academia.

The news will trigger intense plotting behind the scenes over who should succeed the 61-year-old archbishop, who is not required to retire until he is 70.

Bishops have privately been arguing for Dr Williams to stand down, with the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, telling clergy he should give someone else a chance after nearly ten years in the post.

Lambeth Palace would not be drawn into confirming or denying whether the archbishop will be leaving next year.

A spokesman would only say: "We would never comment on this matter."

Read the rest here.

Netherlands: All Doctors Must be Complicit in Euthanasia Killing

I have been fighting the international campaign to legalize and normalize doctor-prescribed/administered death since 1993, and this much I know: Once euthanasia is let in the door, ultimately, enough is never, ever enough.

Par exemple: Euthanasia activists often assure that no doctor will be forced to participate in medicalized killing. But I have been warning that this right of conscience is really an expedient, intended to give false assurance while the euthanasia consciousness gestates and matures.

And now the very pro euthanasia Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) has stated that all doctors have a professional duty to be complicit in euthanasia–either by killing legally qualified patients directly who ask, or if they don’t want to do the deed personally, by referring suicidal patients to a death doctor who they know will kill.

Read the rest here.

Disaster and my escape to California

Owego NY (My mom's hometown) on Thursday evening.  Click to enlarge.  I-86 used to run on the other side of the river below the bridge but it is gone now.

 

I made it back to California... barely.  With many roads and bridges closed or damaged from Tropical Storm Lee's flooding and I-86 (Rt 17) completely underwater in many areas, I had to go a little out of my way to get to Elmira from Endicott for my noon flight on Friday.  So I left the house at 6 AM.  Took Robinson Hill Rd to Oakdale Rd to Harry L Drive (the only dry part).  Got on 17 East at the mall (west was closed) and managed to get to 81 N towards Syracuse.  Got off at Whitney Point and got on state Rt 79 to Ithaca(!) which eventually took me to state Rt 13 South.  That ultimately took me down to Horseheads which was west of the flooding.  From there I was able to get back on 86 and it was a short hop to the airport.  Needless to say that was a lot of backroads and country driving.  Judging from some of the photos of the flooding I am not sure that I-86 still exists everywhere.  The river might have reclaimed parts of the highway.

As of this writing I have not heard a full report of the flooding at Mom's place out in Tioga Ctr.  Best guess based on neighbor's reports yesterday was that the basement was severely flooded  (6-8 feet) but it sounds like the first floor escaped water damage.  There was no power or functional plumbing.  The area was hit very hard by a flash flood early on Thursday morning   It could be a long time before all of the damage to the house is repaired.  Power will likely be out for days if not weeks.  Mom and my step-father were still at Dad's where we evacuated to on Wednesday last I heard and hope they remain there until the house is habitable.  As bad as that is a lot of people got hit much worse.  Our cousin Dean who has been helping out a lot with my stepfather Hal was completely flooded out.  I am guessing his home which was near a major tributary of the Susquehanna River is a total loss, if it even still exists.  

On a side note my cell phone was accidentally left in my friend's truck last night after he picked me up at the airport.  He is out of town until sometime tomorrow. (sigh).  So I am out of touch by phone for the next 24 hrs.

Rube Bloom & His Bayoo Boys - St. James Infirmary

For the lover of classic Jazz and good music

California: Municipal bankruptcy bill passes

Legislation designed to keep cities, counties, special districts and other public agencies from rushing into bankruptcy is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown after passing the Legislature Friday.

Assembly Bill 506 would bar local government agencies from filing for bankruptcy until they undergo mediation or hold a public hearing and declare a fiscal emergency threatening the health, safety or well-being of residents.

Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, a Fremont Democrat, proposed the measure with support from the California Labor Federation and other union groups whose labor contracts could be jeopardized by local government bankruptcies.

Read the rest here.

Egypt: Protestors storm Israeli embassy

CAIRO — Israel airlifted its ambassador home and sought U.S. intervention with Egypt to help secure its embassy here early Saturday, hours after thousands of Egyptian protesters besieged the building, with several managing to gain entry and fling Hebrew-language documents from a balcony.

Protesters knocked down a 12-foot concrete wall that had been built last week to protect the embassy, which is near the top floor of a 21-story residential building in the upscale Dokki area. At least two protesters scaled the front of the building to pull down the Israeli flag, hanging from the 20th floor. It was the second time in recent weeks that demonstrators had removed the flag.

Read the rest here.

I have been a frequent critic of Israel on this blog. But this is outrageous. Israel has every right to be furious. Egypt needs to get its act together if it expects to be treated as a modern country that respects international law.

Lefebvrians say they will never accept Vatican Council

“If their aim is still to force us to accept the second Vatican Council, the discussions have been clear enough in showing that we have no intention of doing any such thing.”

These were the decisive but prudent words of Bernard Fellay, who was adamant he would not agree to any compromise with the Vatican. On the 15 August, Fellay spoke openly about the talks between the Lefebvrians and the Holy See during the “summer University” of the Society of St. Pius X, fonde by Monsignor Lefebvre.

The transcription of the public interview with the Lefebvrian superior, held by the Society’s press agent, the abbot Alain Lorans, was published a few days ago, on the eve of the meeting in Rome between Fellay and Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which should encapsulate two years of “doctrinal talks” between Rome and the traditionalists.

The Lefebvrian superior’s judgement on the discussions was anything but friendly: “They are not beneficial right now because there is a clash of mentalities… In any case, we are certainly not in agreement. If there is one thing we agree on, that is that we do not agree on anything.”

Read the rest here.

Further evidence (if any were needed) that the SSPX is in fact schismatic.

Quote of the day

“The Cathedral itself is an Episcopal church and it stands to reason that our own clergy serve as Christian representatives,”

-Richard Weinberg, the National Cathedral’s director of communications explaining the absence of any Evangelical, Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox representation at an interfaith commemoration of the 9-11 attacks planned at the Cathedral.

HT: T-19

Personally I am relieved that no Orthodox clergy will be there.

Three cheers for Prince Alois

VADUZ, Liechtenstein—People in the tiny principality of Liechtenstein vote next week on whether to legalize abortion—but they know their voice may count for nothing.

The prince has already made up his mind.

Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, heir apparent to a billion-dollar banking dynasty and de facto ruler over 35,000 people, says he will exercise his veto if the people favor a referendum to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or if the child is severely disabled.

The announcement last month raised hackles in the Alpine nation. It comes as no revelation that the crown prince has inherited some of his father's strong Catholic views. But voters were surprised by the fact that Alois is prepared to overrule a popular vote if the outcome doesn't suit his taste.

"We think fewer people will vote because they'll ask themselves what's the point. It really is an attempt to actively influence the referendum," said Helen Konzett, who helped gather the 1,500 signatures necessary to call the vote, slated for Sept. 18.

In Liechtenstein, which is smaller than Washington, DC but has its own seat at the United Nations, interfering in a referendum is considered a criminal offense. Only not for the prince, who according to the constitution is immune from prosecution while in office.

Konzett, a mother of two, said efforts to bring Liechtenstein's laws in line with those of neighboring Austria would now likely fail.

Read the rest here.

HT: Dr. Tighe

"Any constitution strong enough to prevent a monarch from doing wrong is also strong enough to prevent a monarch from doing what is right."

-The Mad Monarchist

Bulgarian Orthodox Hymn To The Most Holy Theotokos

Scenes from the consecration of the Cathedral of Magadan

Wrapping Up

I am finishing (at last) my business on the right coast and will be returning to CA this weekend.  Limited blogging until then.  The blog has suffered a lot of neglect during this trip but I do expect to return to a more normal level of posting after I get back home.

WikiLeaks Leaves Names of Diplomatic Sources in Cables

WASHINGTON — In a shift of tactics that has alarmed American officials, the antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks has published on the Web nearly 134,000 leaked diplomatic cables in recent days, more than six times the total disclosed publicly since the posting of the leaked State Department documents began last November.

A sampling of the documents showed that the newly published cables included the names of some people who had spoken confidentially to American diplomats and whose identities were marked in the cables with the warning “strictly protect.”

State Department officials and human rights activists have been concerned that such diplomatic sources, including activists, journalists and academics in authoritarian countries, could face reprisals, including dismissal from their jobs, prosecution or violence.

Read the rest here.

Flooding Devastates Vermont and Catskills

CHESTER, Vt. — While most eyes warily watched the shoreline during Hurricane Irene’s grinding ride up the East Coast, it was inland — sometimes hundreds of miles inland — where the most serious damage actually occurred. And the major culprit was not wind, but water.

As blue skies and temperate breezes returned on Monday, a clearer picture of the storm’s devastation emerged, with the gravest consequences stemming from river flooding in Vermont and upstate New York.

Read the rest here.

Obama prepares jobs speech

The White House scrambled Monday to finalize a new jobs initiative as President Obama nominated the last member of the economic team that will be charged with carrying it out.

In tapping Alan Krueger, a Princeton University professor and noted labor expert, to be chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Obama turned to an economist who officials said was well suited to guide the White House through a jobs crisis.

Read the rest here