Booman Tribune

up, Up, UP!

by Steven D
Thu May 8th, 2008 at 08:32:25 AM EST

Crude oil prices

NEW YORK (AFP) — World oil prices surged to fresh record highs above 123 dollars per barrel Wednesday amid concerns about tight supplies and lingering unrest in oil-rich Nigeria, traders said.

Food prices

Collins cited World Bank statistics that global food prices have increased by 83 percent in the past three years. In the U.S., the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reports, a sampling of April 2008 prices shows the following one-year increases:

  *
   Wheat, up 95 percent.
  *
   Soybeans, up 83 percent.
  *
   Corn, up 66 percent.
  *
   Oats, up 47 percent.

Bankruptcies

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Business bankruptcy filings in the U.S. increased 49 percent in April from a year earlier, the biggest gain so far in 2008, as the slowing economy prompted more companies to shut down.

Foreclosures

Foreclosure filings rose 57 percent in March from a year earlier, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.

"Conditions in mortgage markets remain quite difficult, and mortgage delinquencies have climbed steeply," [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke said.

So what is John McCain's solution for our economic quagmire, brought on by 8 years of Republican rule bitter partisan fighting by Democrats (and only Democrats) in Congress? It's so simple I'm surprised you haven't thought of it already (then again, maybe you have).

MORE TAX CUTS!

(cont.)

Cut The Corporate Tax Rate From 35 To 25 Percent.

A lower corporate tax rate is essential to U.S. competitiveness. America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace, leaving us with the second-highest rate among the world’s advanced economies.[1]

Cutting the corporate tax will expand the U.S. economy, creating jobs and opportunities for prosperity. A recent analysis of tax policy options estimated that a cut less than half this size could increase long-term growth by 0.5 percent, or $100 billion in a single year.[2]

Lower corporate taxes leads to higher wages. Recent studies have shown that corporate taxes are in large part passed on to labor through lower wages. One study noted that a one percent hike in the corporate tax results in a 0.8 percent decrease in manufacturing wages.[3] Accordingly, cutting corporate taxes can increase wages for American workers.

Allow First-Year Deduction, Or “Expensing”, Of Equipment And Technology Investments.

Expensing of equipment and technology will provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting-edge technologies.

The additional investment stimulated by a change to expensing of equipment and technology will drive economic growth. A recent estimate of a modest expensing provision predicted a gain of 1.5 percent in long term economic growth.[4]

The complexity of our tax code needlessly burdens American businesses and families with $140 billion in compliance costs.[5] Allowing expensing will eliminate the need for complicated accounting for depreciation.

Establish Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D.

The R&D tax credit will simplify the tax code, reward activity in the United States, and make us more competitive with other countries.

A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

Because the Bush tax cuts just weren't enough juice for the economy, obviously. By the way, you might have noticed that no tax cuts are being proposed for regular people, real people, working class people, i.e., anyone who isn't already filthy rich or a corporation. I wonder why Saint Straight Shooter forgot to include us in his tax cut package? I guess we don't need anymore economic stimulating what with all the rising costs for gas, food, electricity, etc., combined with our incredible shrinking incomes, too much stimulus might be too much for us to stand. Better to give it all to the smart folks who run our giant mega-corporations. They clearly need it more than we do, and they're so smart I'm sure they'll know just what to do with it to get our economy running like a well tuned private corporate jet again. Then it will be champagne and caviar for everyone!*

By the way, wanna buy a bridge in Brooklyn? I can get it for you cheap.

* Everyone in the executive suite, that is. If you don't have a key or don't know where to find someone to marry who does, don't even think about crashing the party. But that doesn't mean you can't dumpster dive for leftovers. Fortune 500 Corporations aren't completely heartless, after all.



Display:
OK, an oldie, but a goodie:  It's even getting tough out there on the Rich.  So, the stockbroker comes home and tells his wife "Luvvy, it's tough out there and we're going to need to tighten our belts.  If you'd just learn to cook we could fire the chef."  To which she replies "Yes, and if you'd learn to make love, we could fire the pool boy."
by RollaMO on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 09:44:18 AM EST
Incredible shrinking incomes for cities too: Add to bankruptcy bin,  

Vallejo City, CA  Votes For Bankruptcy


After nearly five hours, the Vallejo City Council voted unanimously late Tuesday night to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

The city faces a $16 million deficit in the 2008-2009 budget starting July 1 and unsuccessfully negotiated with its police, firefighter and electrical workers unions for contract concessions through 2012. Public safety salaries comprise 74 percent of the city's general fund budget.

Most of Tuesday night's 30 speakers urged the council to file bankruptcy so the city can restructure its finances.

John Riley, president of the International Association of Firefighters, said he is disappointed by the 7-0 vote to file bankruptcy.

Contrary Hank Paulson; the credit crisis is NOT fading.

Just the tip of the debtberg.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 08:56:23 AM EST
Thanks for the good news, Steven.

Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin Survivor Left Blogistan
by boran2 (blogistan@yahoo.com) on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 09:08:50 AM EST
What?  You aren't a corporate exec-u-tive? This is great news!

Obama is a Patriot
by Steven D on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 09:16:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The US Economy is base on two bedrock principles:

1.Privatization of profits, socialization of risk.

2.Money in the hands of the poor causes moral hazards;money in the hands of the wealthy, makes them think of investments, which mysteriously trickle down and cause booms in places like Dubai,Abu Dhabi,Shanghai and Mumbai.

by KlatooBaradaNikto (easwar7@aol.com) on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 09:17:05 AM EST
As the income gap between the rich and the rest of us widens, we see a steady increase in the huge pile of social combustibles. McCain's tax program, the old Rethuglican mantra of save the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle classes, is right in the same vein.  Perhaps, the chant for the coming age will be Burn, Baby, Burn!

Well the Empire will not be much of a threat to the rest of the world if its own house is going up in smoke.

Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad.

All members of the frog pond are special.

by Ignod on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 09:46:59 AM EST
I think Obama needs to introduce the economically sound notion that tax cuts are like sugar or caffeine. They can help the economy pick up when it's at a slow point, but if left in place too long, they cause it to falter and collapse. To fix our economy, it needs a healthy diet, and that means increased taxes on the top 1%.

Kill because somebody was killed. Get killed because he killed. Do you think peace will ever come like that?
by Egarwaen on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 09:58:01 AM EST
when life is this bad, there is a clear need for escapism... McCain cannot support production of more Hollywood flicks can he? giving the rich a fair chance of a better lifestyle is the next best thing!!!
by tsst on Thu May 8th, 2008 at 03:07:35 PM EST


Display:
Go to: [ Booman Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]
Menu
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password





Proud member of

The Liberal Blog Network

a FeedBurner Network


Advertise in The Liberal Blog Network

Subscribe to this network

A-List Blogger

Find textbooks at Alibris!

NOTE: Overstock bests Amazon's prices and is "blue."

THE BOOKS WITH "BUZZ":
______________

Support the Wilsons and buy Val's book:

Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House
by Valerie Wilson

New from W. Patrick Lang:

The Butcher's Cleaver: A Tale of the Confederate Secret Services by W. Patrick Lang

ManEegee recommends:

The Devil's Highway: A True Story
by Luis Alberto Urrea

Some good history:

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
by Tim Weiner

What's going on in Iraq:

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
by Raji Chandrasekaran.

On BooMan’s shelf:

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End
by Peter W. Galbraith

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Crash" * Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards * Only $11.79 at Overstock * 2006 SAG Winner, Best Ensemble

Check out
Powell's new section:
NEW FAVORITES

Selected new arrivals at 30% off

Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos
by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.


SOTW-120x90
Download Sleeper Cell on iTunes (Better than "24") Download Weeds on iTunes (Hilarious 1/2-hour adult comedy starring Mary-Louise Parker) Download Late Nite with Conan O'Brien on iTunes
John Belushi - SNL
Download South Park on iTunes
Verve Vault

James Hunter - People Gonna Talk:
James Hunter - People Gonna Talk
icon


Great Deals
----- * ^ * -----

Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")



Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)


Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)


"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen


The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review


BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual

$79.95 * Sale: $59.95


Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)


The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!


The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan


Green Press Initiative
----- * ^ * -----


Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review


Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey


1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus



Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"


Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)


The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids

by Madeline Levine


Save 35-70% on
name brand clothing,
footwear, and outdoor gear
at SierraTradingPost.com

:





We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris. (Selection (MP3) excerpted from "The Skin.")

Alibris - Books You Thought You'd Never Find
Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:
www.Patagonia.com



Booman Tribune Homepage
admin@boomantribune.com
powered by Scoop

A-List Blogger

Blogarama - The Blog Directory

More blogs about Blogs at Technorati.

Headlines from the Progressive 

Blogosphere
Provided by First Sustainable
Add this box to your site
Add your feed to this box

Listed on BlogShares

© 2007 Booman Tribune