11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
Tennessee Didn't Learn Its Lesson In 1925: Another Anti-Science Law Passed
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10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Disability Regulations Out of Control
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How can this happen? If you have no other reason to vote Obama out in November, these new ADA regulations are insane. Even most people with disabilities admit the ADA has lost their collective marbles. This is the face of progressive socialism.
New Disability Regulations
Source: Elizabeth Harrington, "New Disability Regs Limit Slope of Mini Golf Holes, Require Businesses to Admit Mini Horses as Guide Animals," CNS News, June 26, 201
Although the Justice Department has extended the deadline for America's hotels to comply with regulations regarding handicap access to swimming pools, new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines are already being applied at miniature golf courses, driving ranges, amusement parks, shooting ranges and saunas, says CNS News.
Many of these commercial establishments must simply make slight alterations or business decisions that will allow those in wheelchairs full use of their facility. This may mean wheelchair-accessible benches in saunas or disability-friendly machines in gyms. However, two of the newest regulations on behalf of the ADA are receiving increasing levels of attention.
The first is the incredible amount of regulation that is being thrown at golf establishments, which will find their course-constructing creativity severely hampered.
•The standards now require that at least 50 percent of golf holes on miniature golf courses be "accessible" -- with a ground space that is "48 inches minimum by 60 inches minimum with slopes not steeper than 1:48 at the start of play."
•Full golf courses, furthermore, must maintain "an accessible route to connect all accessible elements within the boundary."
•Additionally, that accessible route must also "connect golf car rental areas, bag drop areas, teeing grounds, putting greens and weather shelters."
Stranger than these strict rules for mini golf, however, are the new provisions for miniature service ponies, which are being increasingly employed by members of the disabled community.
•According to the new ruling, miniature horses "were suggested by some commenter's as viable alternatives to dogs for individuals with allergies, or for those whose religious beliefs preclude the use of dogs."
•A business owner can deny admission to a miniature horse that is not housebroken, whose handler does not have sufficient control of the animal, or if the horse's presence compromises "legitimate safety requirements."
•All public accommodations will be required to accommodate service ponies.
New Disability Regulations
Source: Elizabeth Harrington, "New Disability Regs Limit Slope of Mini Golf Holes, Require Businesses to Admit Mini Horses as Guide Animals," CNS News, June 26, 201
Although the Justice Department has extended the deadline for America's hotels to comply with regulations regarding handicap access to swimming pools, new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines are already being applied at miniature golf courses, driving ranges, amusement parks, shooting ranges and saunas, says CNS News.
Many of these commercial establishments must simply make slight alterations or business decisions that will allow those in wheelchairs full use of their facility. This may mean wheelchair-accessible benches in saunas or disability-friendly machines in gyms. However, two of the newest regulations on behalf of the ADA are receiving increasing levels of attention.
The first is the incredible amount of regulation that is being thrown at golf establishments, which will find their course-constructing creativity severely hampered.
•The standards now require that at least 50 percent of golf holes on miniature golf courses be "accessible" -- with a ground space that is "48 inches minimum by 60 inches minimum with slopes not steeper than 1:48 at the start of play."
•Full golf courses, furthermore, must maintain "an accessible route to connect all accessible elements within the boundary."
•Additionally, that accessible route must also "connect golf car rental areas, bag drop areas, teeing grounds, putting greens and weather shelters."
Stranger than these strict rules for mini golf, however, are the new provisions for miniature service ponies, which are being increasingly employed by members of the disabled community.
•According to the new ruling, miniature horses "were suggested by some commenter's as viable alternatives to dogs for individuals with allergies, or for those whose religious beliefs preclude the use of dogs."
•A business owner can deny admission to a miniature horse that is not housebroken, whose handler does not have sufficient control of the animal, or if the horse's presence compromises "legitimate safety requirements."
•All public accommodations will be required to accommodate service ponies.
Green Transportation : 100's Millions in Waste
To contact us Click HERE
Still more insanity from the 'green' eco fascists - it's really all about a few in power that will get rich and the rest of us pay the bill for decades to come. This is no different than the trains that will save millions and the planet - right - what will actually happen is no different that the street cars only 100's of times more expensive.
Check out what happened in Wisconsin with the trains for the state and trolleys in Milwaukee - 800 million from the feds but the ridership and maintenance cost were untenable. The trolleys, street cars, would cost millions in infrastructure changes and maintenance, again, millions more. Millions in design has already been wasted.
The Great Streetcar Conspiracy
Source: Randal O'Toole, "The Great Streetcar Conspiracy," Cato Institute, June 14, 2012.
Streetcars are the latest urban planning fad, stimulated partly by the Obama administration's preference for funding transportation projects that promote "livability" (meaning living without automobiles), rather than mobility or cost-effective transportation, says Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.
In anticipation of this change, numerous cities are preparing to apply for federal funds to build streetcar lines. However, the push for these expensive investments is more based on private interests and misleading arguments than sound public policy.
The real push for streetcars comes from engineering firms that stand to earn millions of dollars planning, designing and building streetcar lines. These companies and other streetcar advocates make two major arguments in favor of streetcar construction. The first argument is that streetcars promote economic development.
•In support of this claim, streetcar advocates cite the experience of Portland, Oregon, where installation of a $103 million, four mile streetcar line supposedly resulted in $3.5 billion worth of new construction.
•What they rarely mention, however, is that the city also gave developers hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives to build in the streetcar corridor.
•Almost no new development took place on portions of the streetcar route where developers received no additional subsidies.
The second argument is that streetcars are "quality transit," superior to buses in terms of capacities, potential to attract riders, operating costs and environmental quality.
•In fact, a typical bus has more seats than a streetcar, and a bus route can move up to five times as many people per hour, in greater comfort, than a streetcar line.
•Numerous private bus operators provide successful upscale bus service in both urban and intercity settings.
•Streetcars cost roughly twice as much to operate, per vehicle mile, as buses, and also cost far more to build and maintain.
•Streetcars are no more energy efficient than buses and, at least in regions that get most electricity from burning fossil fuels, the electricity powering streetcars produces as much or more greenhouse gases and other air emissions as buses.
Check out what happened in Wisconsin with the trains for the state and trolleys in Milwaukee - 800 million from the feds but the ridership and maintenance cost were untenable. The trolleys, street cars, would cost millions in infrastructure changes and maintenance, again, millions more. Millions in design has already been wasted.
The Great Streetcar Conspiracy
Source: Randal O'Toole, "The Great Streetcar Conspiracy," Cato Institute, June 14, 2012.
Streetcars are the latest urban planning fad, stimulated partly by the Obama administration's preference for funding transportation projects that promote "livability" (meaning living without automobiles), rather than mobility or cost-effective transportation, says Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.
In anticipation of this change, numerous cities are preparing to apply for federal funds to build streetcar lines. However, the push for these expensive investments is more based on private interests and misleading arguments than sound public policy.
The real push for streetcars comes from engineering firms that stand to earn millions of dollars planning, designing and building streetcar lines. These companies and other streetcar advocates make two major arguments in favor of streetcar construction. The first argument is that streetcars promote economic development.
•In support of this claim, streetcar advocates cite the experience of Portland, Oregon, where installation of a $103 million, four mile streetcar line supposedly resulted in $3.5 billion worth of new construction.
•What they rarely mention, however, is that the city also gave developers hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives to build in the streetcar corridor.
•Almost no new development took place on portions of the streetcar route where developers received no additional subsidies.
The second argument is that streetcars are "quality transit," superior to buses in terms of capacities, potential to attract riders, operating costs and environmental quality.
•In fact, a typical bus has more seats than a streetcar, and a bus route can move up to five times as many people per hour, in greater comfort, than a streetcar line.
•Numerous private bus operators provide successful upscale bus service in both urban and intercity settings.
•Streetcars cost roughly twice as much to operate, per vehicle mile, as buses, and also cost far more to build and maintain.
•Streetcars are no more energy efficient than buses and, at least in regions that get most electricity from burning fossil fuels, the electricity powering streetcars produces as much or more greenhouse gases and other air emissions as buses.
California's Green Mandates Are Financial Suicide
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This is just one more environmental demand on the state of California that will pound one the last nails in it's coffin. This state is so far in debt in so many ways and to demand this mandate be the law of the land is insane. Is it just ignorance or something far worse?
I have no idea who these people are and what they are using for common sense. They are headed over the financial cliff and what do they do, increase the speed. suicide
California's Electric Vehicle Fetish
Source: Kenneth P. Green, "California's EV Fetish," Environmental Trends, June 2012.
Despite a long history of failure for electric cars, regulators with dreams of an electric car future have never lost enthusiasm. Particularly in California, supporters of the technology oversaw the enactment of a mandated adoption of all-electric cars back in 1990. Named the "Zero-Emission Vehicle" (ZEV) mandate, the law essentially set benchmarks for auto manufacturers to mass produce electric vehicles, says Kenneth P. Green, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.
•Technically, ZEV merely set a performance standard for vehicles operating in the state by capping emissions at a specific level (zero).
•Thus, though the bill was sold as an environmental regulation limiting emissions, it was essentially a legal mandate for the creation of vehicles with no emissions (that is, electric vehicles).
•The mandate required that by 1998, 2 percent of the vehicles sold in the state by large automakers had to be zero-emission vehicles.
•That mandate was set to increase to 5 percent of vehicle sales by 2001, and 10 percent by 2003.
Notably, because the technology that would allow automakers to fulfill this requirement repeatedly failed to surface, standards were routinely relaxed and timetables extended. The final mandate looked far different from the original: at least 15.4 percent of all cars sold must be either fully electric, a plug-in hybrid or powered by a hydrogen fuel cell by 2025.
One of the reasons that electric car production has lagged is because the models are more expensive than their combustion-engine counterparts. Further, market demand has lagged behind state mandates, in large part because of the hefty price tag for the cars.
•Though originally billed at $30,000, the eventual cost of the Chevy Volt rose to nearly $40,000.
•The Nissan Leaf, with a limited range of about 73 miles per charge, sells for about $35,000.
•Furthermore, because they require more expensive parts and necessitate specialized repair work, electric vehicles typically demand a higher insurance premium.
•These additional charges dampen market demand, regardless of government interventions.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it remains up for debate whether electric vehicles offer any environmental benefit. Because the electricity necessary to power them comes from a variety of emissions-producing sources, including coal-fired power plants, electric vehicles may on the whole offer no advantage in terms of emissions.
I have no idea who these people are and what they are using for common sense. They are headed over the financial cliff and what do they do, increase the speed. suicide
California's Electric Vehicle Fetish
Source: Kenneth P. Green, "California's EV Fetish," Environmental Trends, June 2012.
Despite a long history of failure for electric cars, regulators with dreams of an electric car future have never lost enthusiasm. Particularly in California, supporters of the technology oversaw the enactment of a mandated adoption of all-electric cars back in 1990. Named the "Zero-Emission Vehicle" (ZEV) mandate, the law essentially set benchmarks for auto manufacturers to mass produce electric vehicles, says Kenneth P. Green, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.
•Technically, ZEV merely set a performance standard for vehicles operating in the state by capping emissions at a specific level (zero).
•Thus, though the bill was sold as an environmental regulation limiting emissions, it was essentially a legal mandate for the creation of vehicles with no emissions (that is, electric vehicles).
•The mandate required that by 1998, 2 percent of the vehicles sold in the state by large automakers had to be zero-emission vehicles.
•That mandate was set to increase to 5 percent of vehicle sales by 2001, and 10 percent by 2003.
Notably, because the technology that would allow automakers to fulfill this requirement repeatedly failed to surface, standards were routinely relaxed and timetables extended. The final mandate looked far different from the original: at least 15.4 percent of all cars sold must be either fully electric, a plug-in hybrid or powered by a hydrogen fuel cell by 2025.
One of the reasons that electric car production has lagged is because the models are more expensive than their combustion-engine counterparts. Further, market demand has lagged behind state mandates, in large part because of the hefty price tag for the cars.
•Though originally billed at $30,000, the eventual cost of the Chevy Volt rose to nearly $40,000.
•The Nissan Leaf, with a limited range of about 73 miles per charge, sells for about $35,000.
•Furthermore, because they require more expensive parts and necessitate specialized repair work, electric vehicles typically demand a higher insurance premium.
•These additional charges dampen market demand, regardless of government interventions.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it remains up for debate whether electric vehicles offer any environmental benefit. Because the electricity necessary to power them comes from a variety of emissions-producing sources, including coal-fired power plants, electric vehicles may on the whole offer no advantage in terms of emissions.
Millionaries : Here Today - Gone Tomorrow
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This is interesting in that millionaires are the source of all our problems according to Obama and his minions - all we have to do is tax these people out of existence and all will be well. Who knew it would be so easy to solve our collective financial problems?
Who Are America's Millionaires?
Source: Scott Hodge, "Who Are America's Millionaires?" Tax Foundation, June 15, 2012.
There is a serious ongoing political debate over the tax rates paid by millionaires. Some say the tax rates paid by wealthy Americans are not progressive enough, while others argue that the top rate should be lowered while overhauling the tax code. Neither side of this debate, however, has made any attempt to provide a basic profile of who these taxpayers are, says Scott A. Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation.
In response to this dearth of investigation, the Tax Foundation has used past tax returns to create a profile of America's millionaires: marital status, education, forms of income and other factors.
•While just 40 percent of the 140 million tax returns filed in 2009 represented married couples, the vast majority of millionaire tax returns (86 percent) were filed by married couples.
•Given that income tends to rise with age, it is not surprising that in 2009, 80 percent of millionaires were older than age 45, and 46 percent of all millionaires were older than age 55.
High-income earners are typically well-educated: among those making $200,000 or more in 2010, 78 percent had a bachelor's degree or more while only 9 percent had a high school degree or less.
Among the most interesting findings, however, are first, that millionaire status is fleeting, and second, that millionaires pay far more than a proportional share of the nation's taxes.
•During the nine-year period between 1997 and 2007, about 675,000 taxpayers earned over a $1 million for at least one year.
•Of these taxpayers, 50 percent (about 338,000 taxpayers) were millionaires for only one year, while another 15 percent were millionaires for only two years.
•By contrast, just 6 percent (38,000 taxpayers) remained a millionaire in all nine years.
As a group, millionaires have seen a considerable amount of volatility in their incomes over the past decade but have consistently borne a substantial share of the overall income tax burden relative to their incomes.
•Millionaires' share of total adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2001 was approximately 9 percent of total AGI, which grew to 16 percent in 2007 and fell to 10 percent by 2010.
•During that same period, the share of income taxes paid by millionaires was roughly twice their share of total AGI.
Who Are America's Millionaires?
Source: Scott Hodge, "Who Are America's Millionaires?" Tax Foundation, June 15, 2012.
There is a serious ongoing political debate over the tax rates paid by millionaires. Some say the tax rates paid by wealthy Americans are not progressive enough, while others argue that the top rate should be lowered while overhauling the tax code. Neither side of this debate, however, has made any attempt to provide a basic profile of who these taxpayers are, says Scott A. Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation.
In response to this dearth of investigation, the Tax Foundation has used past tax returns to create a profile of America's millionaires: marital status, education, forms of income and other factors.
•While just 40 percent of the 140 million tax returns filed in 2009 represented married couples, the vast majority of millionaire tax returns (86 percent) were filed by married couples.
•Given that income tends to rise with age, it is not surprising that in 2009, 80 percent of millionaires were older than age 45, and 46 percent of all millionaires were older than age 55.
High-income earners are typically well-educated: among those making $200,000 or more in 2010, 78 percent had a bachelor's degree or more while only 9 percent had a high school degree or less.
Among the most interesting findings, however, are first, that millionaire status is fleeting, and second, that millionaires pay far more than a proportional share of the nation's taxes.
•During the nine-year period between 1997 and 2007, about 675,000 taxpayers earned over a $1 million for at least one year.
•Of these taxpayers, 50 percent (about 338,000 taxpayers) were millionaires for only one year, while another 15 percent were millionaires for only two years.
•By contrast, just 6 percent (38,000 taxpayers) remained a millionaire in all nine years.
As a group, millionaires have seen a considerable amount of volatility in their incomes over the past decade but have consistently borne a substantial share of the overall income tax burden relative to their incomes.
•Millionaires' share of total adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2001 was approximately 9 percent of total AGI, which grew to 16 percent in 2007 and fell to 10 percent by 2010.
•During that same period, the share of income taxes paid by millionaires was roughly twice their share of total AGI.
Obama Promises Made : "Only Words"
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Promises, promises - that was the very foundation of the Obama campaign in 2008 but what has happen bears no resemblance to this nonsense. What's worse, the lies have not stopped since that time and the general public still believe. How can this be?
Obama's Green Jobs Fraud Exposed
Source: "Obama's Green-Jobs Fraud Exposed," Investor's Business Daily, June 21, 2012.
Section 1503 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("the stimulus") granted billions of dollars to the Department of Energy for the purpose of funding projects in renewable energy. This funding, President Obama then claimed, would result in hundreds of thousands of "green-collar" jobs that would serve as the foundation for economic recovery, says Investor's Business Daily.
Three years later, it seems that this money has been altogether wasted, and that the renewable energy revolution has failed to materialize. This is evidenced first by the shoddy performance of these billion-dollar grants in creating jobs.
•Through the broad stimulus package, the Obama administration awarded $9 billion to the Department of Energy for the creation of these green jobs.
•According to a report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a part of the U.S. Department of Energy, that funding created only 910 direct jobs between 2009 and 2011.
•Using this figure, American taxpayers paid approximately $9.8 million per job.
•If we allow for the broad classification of "indirect jobs," the figure increases to 5,510 jobs created at a cost of $1.63 million per job.
Near the end of this administration's first year in office, Vice President Joe Biden promised 722,000 green jobs would be generated by the stimulus. The results, it seems, have fallen far short of this promise.
Meanwhile, the current administration has done all it can to strangle job growth in the oil sector of the economy. By killing the Keystone XL pipeline to deliver oil to American refineries from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, President Obama demonstrated a severe bias against proven job growth, favoring instead the ineffective vehicles employed by his stimulus package.
•Mark Ayers, past head of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, told the Huffington Post last November that "the Keystone Pipeline represents the prospect for 20,000 immediate jobs."
•Further, these positions would be complemented by approximately 500,000 indirect jobs, made available by the economic multiplier effect of the project.
•Importantly, the Keystone pipeline required no government support (that is, no tax dollars lost).
While campaigning four years ago, then-Senator Obama promised that $150 billion in government spending on renewable energy projects would create 5 million green-collar jobs over 10 years. This seems altogether untrue.
Obama's Green Jobs Fraud Exposed
Source: "Obama's Green-Jobs Fraud Exposed," Investor's Business Daily, June 21, 2012.
Section 1503 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("the stimulus") granted billions of dollars to the Department of Energy for the purpose of funding projects in renewable energy. This funding, President Obama then claimed, would result in hundreds of thousands of "green-collar" jobs that would serve as the foundation for economic recovery, says Investor's Business Daily.
Three years later, it seems that this money has been altogether wasted, and that the renewable energy revolution has failed to materialize. This is evidenced first by the shoddy performance of these billion-dollar grants in creating jobs.
•Through the broad stimulus package, the Obama administration awarded $9 billion to the Department of Energy for the creation of these green jobs.
•According to a report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a part of the U.S. Department of Energy, that funding created only 910 direct jobs between 2009 and 2011.
•Using this figure, American taxpayers paid approximately $9.8 million per job.
•If we allow for the broad classification of "indirect jobs," the figure increases to 5,510 jobs created at a cost of $1.63 million per job.
Near the end of this administration's first year in office, Vice President Joe Biden promised 722,000 green jobs would be generated by the stimulus. The results, it seems, have fallen far short of this promise.
Meanwhile, the current administration has done all it can to strangle job growth in the oil sector of the economy. By killing the Keystone XL pipeline to deliver oil to American refineries from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, President Obama demonstrated a severe bias against proven job growth, favoring instead the ineffective vehicles employed by his stimulus package.
•Mark Ayers, past head of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, told the Huffington Post last November that "the Keystone Pipeline represents the prospect for 20,000 immediate jobs."
•Further, these positions would be complemented by approximately 500,000 indirect jobs, made available by the economic multiplier effect of the project.
•Importantly, the Keystone pipeline required no government support (that is, no tax dollars lost).
While campaigning four years ago, then-Senator Obama promised that $150 billion in government spending on renewable energy projects would create 5 million green-collar jobs over 10 years. This seems altogether untrue.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Stockton Calfornia Crushed by Liberalism
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Is anyone surprised that this happened in California? The entire state is a basket case due to decades of Democrat liberalism, progressivism driving the state over the cliff.
Is there a fix for this problem in California, not a chance!
What Happened in Stockton?
Source: Harris Kenny, "What Happened in Stockton?" Reason Foundation, June 27, 2012.
On June 26, the Stockton, California, City Council voted 6-1 to adopt a spending plan for operating under bankruptcy protection, and to file a motion with the courts to share information from the confidential mediation. With almost 300,000 residents, Stockton is the largest city to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history, which begs inquiry as to how the municipality reached this point, says Harris Kenny, a policy analyst at the Reason Foundation.
First, only modest investigation finds that the housing bust was particularly harmful in Stockton.
•Housing prices plunged from nearly $400,000 in median home prices in 2006, down to $110,000 in 2009 (where median prices were in 2000 before the bubble.)
•Meanwhile the city has the second highest rate of foreclosures in the country.
•As a consequence, property tax revenues plunged rapidly, and the subsequent recession caused sales taxes, utility user's taxes and housing permit fees to fall as well.
•The city quickly burned through emergency cash reserves in order to cover its deficits, along with implementing a hiring freeze in 2008 and various spending cuts, but to no avail.
Second, the city's policymakers appear to have mistaken the real estate bubble for real growth, which gave them excessive optimism about future finances.
•This reported optimism led to breakneck pace spending on various redevelopment initiatives.
•The city sold $129 million in bonds to fund rehabilitating the Philmathean building, the downtown marina and waterfront's development, and the Hotel Stockton.
•The city also renegotiated generous compensation for city employees, when employee services compose approximately three-fourths of the city's almost $200 million budget.
•This generosity resulted in lavish annual raises and excessive post-employment benefits; the latter has resulted in $800 million in unfunded liabilities.
Third, the city was unfortunate in initiating a bond offering that went sour.
•In 2007 the city sought to lower its pension costs, so policymakers undertook a bond offering to lower interest payments on roughly $125 million of its pension obligation.
•The proceeds of these pension obligation bonds were given to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to manage.
•Crucially, CalPERS was overexposed to the real estate and stock markets: the bond money is now worth under $100 million while the city owes $248 million.
•Increased debt payments, combined with multiple years of negative net annual activity, ultimately pushed Stockton over the edge.
Is there a fix for this problem in California, not a chance!
What Happened in Stockton?
Source: Harris Kenny, "What Happened in Stockton?" Reason Foundation, June 27, 2012.
On June 26, the Stockton, California, City Council voted 6-1 to adopt a spending plan for operating under bankruptcy protection, and to file a motion with the courts to share information from the confidential mediation. With almost 300,000 residents, Stockton is the largest city to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history, which begs inquiry as to how the municipality reached this point, says Harris Kenny, a policy analyst at the Reason Foundation.
First, only modest investigation finds that the housing bust was particularly harmful in Stockton.
•Housing prices plunged from nearly $400,000 in median home prices in 2006, down to $110,000 in 2009 (where median prices were in 2000 before the bubble.)
•Meanwhile the city has the second highest rate of foreclosures in the country.
•As a consequence, property tax revenues plunged rapidly, and the subsequent recession caused sales taxes, utility user's taxes and housing permit fees to fall as well.
•The city quickly burned through emergency cash reserves in order to cover its deficits, along with implementing a hiring freeze in 2008 and various spending cuts, but to no avail.
Second, the city's policymakers appear to have mistaken the real estate bubble for real growth, which gave them excessive optimism about future finances.
•This reported optimism led to breakneck pace spending on various redevelopment initiatives.
•The city sold $129 million in bonds to fund rehabilitating the Philmathean building, the downtown marina and waterfront's development, and the Hotel Stockton.
•The city also renegotiated generous compensation for city employees, when employee services compose approximately three-fourths of the city's almost $200 million budget.
•This generosity resulted in lavish annual raises and excessive post-employment benefits; the latter has resulted in $800 million in unfunded liabilities.
Third, the city was unfortunate in initiating a bond offering that went sour.
•In 2007 the city sought to lower its pension costs, so policymakers undertook a bond offering to lower interest payments on roughly $125 million of its pension obligation.
•The proceeds of these pension obligation bonds were given to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to manage.
•Crucially, CalPERS was overexposed to the real estate and stock markets: the bond money is now worth under $100 million while the city owes $248 million.
•Increased debt payments, combined with multiple years of negative net annual activity, ultimately pushed Stockton over the edge.
Green Transportation : 100's Millions in Waste
To contact us Click HERE
Still more insanity from the 'green' eco fascists - it's really all about a few in power that will get rich and the rest of us pay the bill for decades to come. This is no different than the trains that will save millions and the planet - right - what will actually happen is no different that the street cars only 100's of times more expensive.
Check out what happened in Wisconsin with the trains for the state and trolleys in Milwaukee - 800 million from the feds but the ridership and maintenance cost were untenable. The trolleys, street cars, would cost millions in infrastructure changes and maintenance, again, millions more. Millions in design has already been wasted.
The Great Streetcar Conspiracy
Source: Randal O'Toole, "The Great Streetcar Conspiracy," Cato Institute, June 14, 2012.
Streetcars are the latest urban planning fad, stimulated partly by the Obama administration's preference for funding transportation projects that promote "livability" (meaning living without automobiles), rather than mobility or cost-effective transportation, says Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.
In anticipation of this change, numerous cities are preparing to apply for federal funds to build streetcar lines. However, the push for these expensive investments is more based on private interests and misleading arguments than sound public policy.
The real push for streetcars comes from engineering firms that stand to earn millions of dollars planning, designing and building streetcar lines. These companies and other streetcar advocates make two major arguments in favor of streetcar construction. The first argument is that streetcars promote economic development.
•In support of this claim, streetcar advocates cite the experience of Portland, Oregon, where installation of a $103 million, four mile streetcar line supposedly resulted in $3.5 billion worth of new construction.
•What they rarely mention, however, is that the city also gave developers hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives to build in the streetcar corridor.
•Almost no new development took place on portions of the streetcar route where developers received no additional subsidies.
The second argument is that streetcars are "quality transit," superior to buses in terms of capacities, potential to attract riders, operating costs and environmental quality.
•In fact, a typical bus has more seats than a streetcar, and a bus route can move up to five times as many people per hour, in greater comfort, than a streetcar line.
•Numerous private bus operators provide successful upscale bus service in both urban and intercity settings.
•Streetcars cost roughly twice as much to operate, per vehicle mile, as buses, and also cost far more to build and maintain.
•Streetcars are no more energy efficient than buses and, at least in regions that get most electricity from burning fossil fuels, the electricity powering streetcars produces as much or more greenhouse gases and other air emissions as buses.
Check out what happened in Wisconsin with the trains for the state and trolleys in Milwaukee - 800 million from the feds but the ridership and maintenance cost were untenable. The trolleys, street cars, would cost millions in infrastructure changes and maintenance, again, millions more. Millions in design has already been wasted.
The Great Streetcar Conspiracy
Source: Randal O'Toole, "The Great Streetcar Conspiracy," Cato Institute, June 14, 2012.
Streetcars are the latest urban planning fad, stimulated partly by the Obama administration's preference for funding transportation projects that promote "livability" (meaning living without automobiles), rather than mobility or cost-effective transportation, says Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.
In anticipation of this change, numerous cities are preparing to apply for federal funds to build streetcar lines. However, the push for these expensive investments is more based on private interests and misleading arguments than sound public policy.
The real push for streetcars comes from engineering firms that stand to earn millions of dollars planning, designing and building streetcar lines. These companies and other streetcar advocates make two major arguments in favor of streetcar construction. The first argument is that streetcars promote economic development.
•In support of this claim, streetcar advocates cite the experience of Portland, Oregon, where installation of a $103 million, four mile streetcar line supposedly resulted in $3.5 billion worth of new construction.
•What they rarely mention, however, is that the city also gave developers hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives to build in the streetcar corridor.
•Almost no new development took place on portions of the streetcar route where developers received no additional subsidies.
The second argument is that streetcars are "quality transit," superior to buses in terms of capacities, potential to attract riders, operating costs and environmental quality.
•In fact, a typical bus has more seats than a streetcar, and a bus route can move up to five times as many people per hour, in greater comfort, than a streetcar line.
•Numerous private bus operators provide successful upscale bus service in both urban and intercity settings.
•Streetcars cost roughly twice as much to operate, per vehicle mile, as buses, and also cost far more to build and maintain.
•Streetcars are no more energy efficient than buses and, at least in regions that get most electricity from burning fossil fuels, the electricity powering streetcars produces as much or more greenhouse gases and other air emissions as buses.
Progressives Demand Higher Taxes to Slow Growth
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Welcome to the real world of the progressive - take from the productive and give to the unproductive. Worse, more then 40% of the population will never here this information about these tax increases and how it will destroy their way of life.
The majority media outlets will ignore this information as it reflects poorly on all liberal Democrats who support policy's that demand dependence.
When the reality sets in for so many seniors that will be forced live in poverty, and small businesses having to lay off workers as they close their collective doors, one has to wonder what excuse these millions of people will use to justify their new living or dieing conditions? Who will they blame?
There's a Triple Tax Increase in Your Future
Source: Merrill Matthews, "There's a Triple Tax Increase in Your Future," Investor's Business Daily, June 19, 2012.
The so-called Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year. That means that all of the current income tax rates will rise to pre-2001 levels overnight: the lowest rate will jump from 10 percent to 15 percent and the highest from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. Moreover, rhetoric from Congress suggests that Democrats will settle for nothing less than an expiration of those provisions benefitting the rich, says Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation.
One of the implications of this policy change that receives less attention than it should is the effect of these taxes on capital gains and dividend payouts. Effectively, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts will triple the taxes on these forms of income overnight.
•As a result of the Bush tax cuts, capital gains and dividends are taxed at a flat rate of 15 percent.
•When the cuts expire, however, these forms of income will be taxed as if they are regular income, meaning that gains for the wealthy will be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent.
•Also, the health care law imposes a new 3.8 percent tax on passive income, including dividends and interest.
•So the effective dividend tax rate for those at the upper end of the income scale would nearly triple, to 43.4 percent.
Democrats and the president justify this change in tax policy by arguing that it will only affect the wealthy, who are capable of giving more to government coffers. However, basic economic analysis allows us to see that many more parties than the wealthy will be harmed by this tax hike.
•A study by the accounting firm Ernst & Young found that the United States currently has the fourth-highest integrated dividend tax rate among the 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations.
•Higher dividend taxes will make stocks that pay dividends less attractive to investors.
•So those who currently hold dividend-paying stocks -- everyone from middle-class folks with 401(k)s to union pension funds to non-profit foundations -- would see the value of their investments decline substantially.
•Hiking taxes on dividends would also be disastrous for retirees: according to the IRS, more than half of dividend payments go to Americans over age 65.
The majority media outlets will ignore this information as it reflects poorly on all liberal Democrats who support policy's that demand dependence.
When the reality sets in for so many seniors that will be forced live in poverty, and small businesses having to lay off workers as they close their collective doors, one has to wonder what excuse these millions of people will use to justify their new living or dieing conditions? Who will they blame?
There's a Triple Tax Increase in Your Future
Source: Merrill Matthews, "There's a Triple Tax Increase in Your Future," Investor's Business Daily, June 19, 2012.
The so-called Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year. That means that all of the current income tax rates will rise to pre-2001 levels overnight: the lowest rate will jump from 10 percent to 15 percent and the highest from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. Moreover, rhetoric from Congress suggests that Democrats will settle for nothing less than an expiration of those provisions benefitting the rich, says Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation.
One of the implications of this policy change that receives less attention than it should is the effect of these taxes on capital gains and dividend payouts. Effectively, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts will triple the taxes on these forms of income overnight.
•As a result of the Bush tax cuts, capital gains and dividends are taxed at a flat rate of 15 percent.
•When the cuts expire, however, these forms of income will be taxed as if they are regular income, meaning that gains for the wealthy will be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent.
•Also, the health care law imposes a new 3.8 percent tax on passive income, including dividends and interest.
•So the effective dividend tax rate for those at the upper end of the income scale would nearly triple, to 43.4 percent.
Democrats and the president justify this change in tax policy by arguing that it will only affect the wealthy, who are capable of giving more to government coffers. However, basic economic analysis allows us to see that many more parties than the wealthy will be harmed by this tax hike.
•A study by the accounting firm Ernst & Young found that the United States currently has the fourth-highest integrated dividend tax rate among the 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations.
•Higher dividend taxes will make stocks that pay dividends less attractive to investors.
•So those who currently hold dividend-paying stocks -- everyone from middle-class folks with 401(k)s to union pension funds to non-profit foundations -- would see the value of their investments decline substantially.
•Hiking taxes on dividends would also be disastrous for retirees: according to the IRS, more than half of dividend payments go to Americans over age 65.
California's Green Mandates Are Financial Suicide
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This is just one more environmental demand on the state of California that will pound one the last nails in it's coffin. This state is so far in debt in so many ways and to demand this mandate be the law of the land is insane. Is it just ignorance or something far worse?
I have no idea who these people are and what they are using for common sense. They are headed over the financial cliff and what do they do, increase the speed. suicide
California's Electric Vehicle Fetish
Source: Kenneth P. Green, "California's EV Fetish," Environmental Trends, June 2012.
Despite a long history of failure for electric cars, regulators with dreams of an electric car future have never lost enthusiasm. Particularly in California, supporters of the technology oversaw the enactment of a mandated adoption of all-electric cars back in 1990. Named the "Zero-Emission Vehicle" (ZEV) mandate, the law essentially set benchmarks for auto manufacturers to mass produce electric vehicles, says Kenneth P. Green, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.
•Technically, ZEV merely set a performance standard for vehicles operating in the state by capping emissions at a specific level (zero).
•Thus, though the bill was sold as an environmental regulation limiting emissions, it was essentially a legal mandate for the creation of vehicles with no emissions (that is, electric vehicles).
•The mandate required that by 1998, 2 percent of the vehicles sold in the state by large automakers had to be zero-emission vehicles.
•That mandate was set to increase to 5 percent of vehicle sales by 2001, and 10 percent by 2003.
Notably, because the technology that would allow automakers to fulfill this requirement repeatedly failed to surface, standards were routinely relaxed and timetables extended. The final mandate looked far different from the original: at least 15.4 percent of all cars sold must be either fully electric, a plug-in hybrid or powered by a hydrogen fuel cell by 2025.
One of the reasons that electric car production has lagged is because the models are more expensive than their combustion-engine counterparts. Further, market demand has lagged behind state mandates, in large part because of the hefty price tag for the cars.
•Though originally billed at $30,000, the eventual cost of the Chevy Volt rose to nearly $40,000.
•The Nissan Leaf, with a limited range of about 73 miles per charge, sells for about $35,000.
•Furthermore, because they require more expensive parts and necessitate specialized repair work, electric vehicles typically demand a higher insurance premium.
•These additional charges dampen market demand, regardless of government interventions.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it remains up for debate whether electric vehicles offer any environmental benefit. Because the electricity necessary to power them comes from a variety of emissions-producing sources, including coal-fired power plants, electric vehicles may on the whole offer no advantage in terms of emissions.
I have no idea who these people are and what they are using for common sense. They are headed over the financial cliff and what do they do, increase the speed. suicide
California's Electric Vehicle Fetish
Source: Kenneth P. Green, "California's EV Fetish," Environmental Trends, June 2012.
Despite a long history of failure for electric cars, regulators with dreams of an electric car future have never lost enthusiasm. Particularly in California, supporters of the technology oversaw the enactment of a mandated adoption of all-electric cars back in 1990. Named the "Zero-Emission Vehicle" (ZEV) mandate, the law essentially set benchmarks for auto manufacturers to mass produce electric vehicles, says Kenneth P. Green, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.
•Technically, ZEV merely set a performance standard for vehicles operating in the state by capping emissions at a specific level (zero).
•Thus, though the bill was sold as an environmental regulation limiting emissions, it was essentially a legal mandate for the creation of vehicles with no emissions (that is, electric vehicles).
•The mandate required that by 1998, 2 percent of the vehicles sold in the state by large automakers had to be zero-emission vehicles.
•That mandate was set to increase to 5 percent of vehicle sales by 2001, and 10 percent by 2003.
Notably, because the technology that would allow automakers to fulfill this requirement repeatedly failed to surface, standards were routinely relaxed and timetables extended. The final mandate looked far different from the original: at least 15.4 percent of all cars sold must be either fully electric, a plug-in hybrid or powered by a hydrogen fuel cell by 2025.
One of the reasons that electric car production has lagged is because the models are more expensive than their combustion-engine counterparts. Further, market demand has lagged behind state mandates, in large part because of the hefty price tag for the cars.
•Though originally billed at $30,000, the eventual cost of the Chevy Volt rose to nearly $40,000.
•The Nissan Leaf, with a limited range of about 73 miles per charge, sells for about $35,000.
•Furthermore, because they require more expensive parts and necessitate specialized repair work, electric vehicles typically demand a higher insurance premium.
•These additional charges dampen market demand, regardless of government interventions.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it remains up for debate whether electric vehicles offer any environmental benefit. Because the electricity necessary to power them comes from a variety of emissions-producing sources, including coal-fired power plants, electric vehicles may on the whole offer no advantage in terms of emissions.
Get ready for the new year with January's Tax Due Date Reminders!
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The staff at Holdsworth & Co. joins you in saying goodbye to 2011 and ringing in a healthy and prosperous 2012!
Thanks for visiting our recently launched blogsite. As we begin the new year, we want to help keep you on course with a list of tax due date reminders for January. We're happy to answer any of your questions and are just a phone call away.
The staff at Holdsworth & Co. joins you in saying goodbye to 2011 and ringing in a healthy and prosperous 2012!
Thanks for visiting our recently launched blogsite. As we begin the new year, we want to help keep you on course with a list of tax due date reminders for January. We're happy to answer any of your questions and are just a phone call away.
| January 10 | Employees - who work for tips. If you received $20 or more in tips during December, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070, Employee's Report of Tips to Employer. |
| January 17 | Employers - Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2011.Individuals - Make a payment of your estimated tax for 2011 if you did not pay your income tax for the year through withholding (or did not pay in enough tax that way). Use Form 1040-ES. This is the final installment date for 2011 estimated tax. However, you do not have to make this payment if you file your 2011 return (Form 1040) and pay any tax due by January 31, 2012.Employers - Nonpayroll Withholding. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2011.Farmers and Fishermen - Pay your estimated tax for 2011 using Form 1040-ES. You have until April 17 to file your 2011 income tax return (Form 1040). If you do not pay your estimated tax by January 17, you must file your 2011 return and pay any tax due by March 1, 2012, to avoid an estimated tax penalty. |
| January 31 | Employers - Give your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2011 by January 31, 2012. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a website accessible to the employee and notify the employee of the posting by January 31.Businesses - Give annual information statements to recipients of 1099 payments made during 2011.Employers - Federal unemployment tax. File Form 940 for 2011. If your undeposited tax is $500 or less, you can either pay it with your return or deposit it. If it is more than $500, you must deposit it. However, if you already deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.Employers - Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of 2011. Deposit any undeposited tax. (If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return.) If you deposited the tax for the quarter in full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.Employers - Nonpayroll taxes. File Form 945 to report income tax withheld for 2011 on all nonpayroll items, including backup withholding and withholding on pensions, annuities, IRAs, gambling winnings, and payments of Indian gaming profits to tribal members. Deposit any undeposited tax. (If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return.) If you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.Individuals - who must make estimated tax payments. If you did not pay your last installment of estimated tax by January 17, you may choose (but are not required) to file your income tax return (Form 1040) for 2011. Filing your return and paying any tax due by January 31 prevents any penalty for late payment of last installment.Payers of Gambling Winnings - If you either paid reportable gambling winnings or withheld income tax from gambling winnings, give the winners their copies of Form W-2G.Certain Small Employers - File Form 944 to report Social Security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2011. Deposit or pay any undeposited tax under the accuracy of deposit rules. If your tax liability is $2,500 or more from 2011 but less than $2,500 for the fourth quarter, deposit any undeposited tax or pay it in full with a timely filed return. |
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
Regulation On Nonresident Aliens Very Costly
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And you thought this president was standing tall for the small guy, guess again. This is just one more screw up by the Obama team and believe there are many more that are already in place ready to bring down the country.
Hey Barack, your plan to "fundamentally" change the country is working. This is what we need more of so our future will be same as it is for the Sudanese.
The Costliest Regulation You've Never Heard Of
Source: Ike Brannon and Sam Batkins, "The Costliest Regulation You've Never Heard Of," The American, June 21, 2012.
One of the costliest regulations to come down the pike of late has nearly managed to escape detection. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department published its "Guidance on Reporting Interest Paid to Nonresident Aliens," which would require banks to report to the Internal Revenue Service the amount of interest they pay to nonresident aliens (NRAs) with a U.S. bank account, say Ike Brannon, director of economic policy, and Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy, at the American Action Forum.
In assessing the economic consequences of such a regulation, department officials suggested that they would be negligible, pointing out that the regulation requires only minutes of work per NRA.
However, Jay Cochran, an economist at George Mason University, found in 2002 that NRAs respond to such reporting requirements by withdrawing deposits from American banks. Regulators failed to account for this phenomenon, and consequently underestimated the cost of their regulation.
•According to a 2011 Bureau of Economic Analysis report, over $3.7 trillion of the money invested in American banks is deposited by NRAs.
•When Cochran arrived at his conclusion, the bill under consideration would have imposed additional reporting requirements much less stringent than those being considered today.
•Nevertheless, he estimated that the new rules would result in capital flight of $100 billion.
•Given that the new requirements are significantly more pervasive than those in the original study, estimates of $200 billion to $300 billion in capital flight are realistic.
That NRAs would withdraw these enormous sums from American banks would eat directly into their profits by reducing the total loanable funds that they have at their disposal.
•Our fractional-reserve banking system means that one dollar of deposits supports multiple loans throughout the economy.
•So the withdrawal of $200 billion to $300 billion in deposits would result in a diminution of total loans in the economy of somewhere in the ballpark of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.
•This loss in loan activity would result in bank losses between $10 billion and $15 billion.
•Furthermore, these losses would be concentrated among a relatively small number of banks, particularly those in states with large populations of immigrants.
Hey Barack, your plan to "fundamentally" change the country is working. This is what we need more of so our future will be same as it is for the Sudanese.
The Costliest Regulation You've Never Heard Of
Source: Ike Brannon and Sam Batkins, "The Costliest Regulation You've Never Heard Of," The American, June 21, 2012.
One of the costliest regulations to come down the pike of late has nearly managed to escape detection. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department published its "Guidance on Reporting Interest Paid to Nonresident Aliens," which would require banks to report to the Internal Revenue Service the amount of interest they pay to nonresident aliens (NRAs) with a U.S. bank account, say Ike Brannon, director of economic policy, and Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy, at the American Action Forum.
In assessing the economic consequences of such a regulation, department officials suggested that they would be negligible, pointing out that the regulation requires only minutes of work per NRA.
However, Jay Cochran, an economist at George Mason University, found in 2002 that NRAs respond to such reporting requirements by withdrawing deposits from American banks. Regulators failed to account for this phenomenon, and consequently underestimated the cost of their regulation.
•According to a 2011 Bureau of Economic Analysis report, over $3.7 trillion of the money invested in American banks is deposited by NRAs.
•When Cochran arrived at his conclusion, the bill under consideration would have imposed additional reporting requirements much less stringent than those being considered today.
•Nevertheless, he estimated that the new rules would result in capital flight of $100 billion.
•Given that the new requirements are significantly more pervasive than those in the original study, estimates of $200 billion to $300 billion in capital flight are realistic.
That NRAs would withdraw these enormous sums from American banks would eat directly into their profits by reducing the total loanable funds that they have at their disposal.
•Our fractional-reserve banking system means that one dollar of deposits supports multiple loans throughout the economy.
•So the withdrawal of $200 billion to $300 billion in deposits would result in a diminution of total loans in the economy of somewhere in the ballpark of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.
•This loss in loan activity would result in bank losses between $10 billion and $15 billion.
•Furthermore, these losses would be concentrated among a relatively small number of banks, particularly those in states with large populations of immigrants.
Environmentalists Treathened by Genetic Engineering
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Interesting detail here is why the environmentalist and antiglobalizationist want to stop these new plant varieties? Maybe they see this as a threat to their ability to control populations that are no longer starving.
The Use and Abuse of Science in Policymaking
Source: Henry Miller, "The Use and Abuse of Science in Policymaking," Regulation Magazine, Summer 2012.
The modern techniques of genetic engineering offer plant breeders the tools to make old crop plants do spectacular new things. In the United States and two dozen other countries, farmers are using genetically engineered crop varieties to produce higher yields with lower inputs and reduced environmental impact, says Henry I. Miller, the Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at the Hoover Institution.
However, environmental and anti-globalization organizations around the world are rallying to ensure that genetically modified crops remain mired in regulations that will prevent their public consumption. This campaign persists despite the protests of the entire scientific community, which has banded together to trumpet the lack of danger posed by genetically engineers organisms.
•Central to the argument of the scientific community is that genetic engineering is not a new process: classic methods have existed for hundreds of years.
•Even the more modern modes of gene splicing have existed for decades, and no persistent malevolent outcomes have been measured that are inherent to the process.
•Moving forward, then, various research arms of the scientific community have urged detractors to judge crops based on their characteristics and not based on their methods of creation.
In 1989, the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, commissioned academic experts to perform an extensive analysis of potential harms of the crops. They arrived at the following conclusions:
•No conceptual distinction exists between genetic modification of plants and microorganisms by classical methods or by molecular techniques that modify DNA and transfer genes.
•Crops modified by molecular and cellular methods should pose risks no different from those modified by classical genetic methods for similar traits.
•If anything, because the molecular methods are more specific, users of these methods will be more certain about the traits they introduce into the plants.
Further, this lack of harm is accompanied by the potential to do enormous good for the world's malnourished population. Golden Rice, so named because of its comparatively yellowish color, is among those crops that would offer incredible health benefits: it has been genetically engineered to bring large amounts of vitamin A to the millions who die every year for lack of it.
The Use and Abuse of Science in Policymaking
Source: Henry Miller, "The Use and Abuse of Science in Policymaking," Regulation Magazine, Summer 2012.
The modern techniques of genetic engineering offer plant breeders the tools to make old crop plants do spectacular new things. In the United States and two dozen other countries, farmers are using genetically engineered crop varieties to produce higher yields with lower inputs and reduced environmental impact, says Henry I. Miller, the Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at the Hoover Institution.
However, environmental and anti-globalization organizations around the world are rallying to ensure that genetically modified crops remain mired in regulations that will prevent their public consumption. This campaign persists despite the protests of the entire scientific community, which has banded together to trumpet the lack of danger posed by genetically engineers organisms.
•Central to the argument of the scientific community is that genetic engineering is not a new process: classic methods have existed for hundreds of years.
•Even the more modern modes of gene splicing have existed for decades, and no persistent malevolent outcomes have been measured that are inherent to the process.
•Moving forward, then, various research arms of the scientific community have urged detractors to judge crops based on their characteristics and not based on their methods of creation.
In 1989, the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, commissioned academic experts to perform an extensive analysis of potential harms of the crops. They arrived at the following conclusions:
•No conceptual distinction exists between genetic modification of plants and microorganisms by classical methods or by molecular techniques that modify DNA and transfer genes.
•Crops modified by molecular and cellular methods should pose risks no different from those modified by classical genetic methods for similar traits.
•If anything, because the molecular methods are more specific, users of these methods will be more certain about the traits they introduce into the plants.
Further, this lack of harm is accompanied by the potential to do enormous good for the world's malnourished population. Golden Rice, so named because of its comparatively yellowish color, is among those crops that would offer incredible health benefits: it has been genetically engineered to bring large amounts of vitamin A to the millions who die every year for lack of it.
Tennessee Didn't Learn Its Lesson In 1925: Another Anti-Science Law Passed
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On March 19, the Tennessee state legislature passed HB 368 (SB 893). While these bills acknowledge that "an important purpose of science education is to inform students about scientific evidence and to help students develop critical thinking skills necessary to becoming intelligent, productive, and scientifically informed citizens," it authorizes the state board of education, school boards, and school administrators to "assist" elementary and high school teachers in finding ways to address scientific controversies. Teachers can help students "understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories."
You may know that in 1925, Tennessee enacted a statute that made it illegal for a public school teacher "to teach any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man descended from a lower order of animals." Soon thereafter, John Scopes was arrested and indicted. The trial, known at the time as The Monkey Trial, held the nation's interest, especially when Clarence Darrow, Scope's attorney, questioned the state's prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, although the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the conviction on a technicality. What the trial did accomplish was it was a significant setback for anti-science forces.
Creationists had another court room defeat in 2005 when their thinly veiled religious doctrine "Intelligent Design" was prohibited from being taught in Dover, Pennsylvania.
The issues today in Tennessee are evolution and climate change. Today I'll address climate change. Let's review some of the data.
IT"S GETTING WARMER! And it's anthropogenic - a fancy word for caused by people. There's no controversy about this; that is, unless you deny the science.
What's different about this crisis from the creationist attempts to dumb down our children is that there are global consequences. It won't be a pretty world if we don't do something.
For more information. I recommend 350.org and the International Panel on Climate Change.
Organizations opposing this bill include the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Nashville Tennessean, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the National Earth Science Teachers Association, the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, and all eight Tennessee members of the National Academy of Sciences, including one Nobel Prize winner.
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| From funnymonkeysite.com |
You may know that in 1925, Tennessee enacted a statute that made it illegal for a public school teacher "to teach any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man descended from a lower order of animals." Soon thereafter, John Scopes was arrested and indicted. The trial, known at the time as The Monkey Trial, held the nation's interest, especially when Clarence Darrow, Scope's attorney, questioned the state's prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, although the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the conviction on a technicality. What the trial did accomplish was it was a significant setback for anti-science forces.
Creationists had another court room defeat in 2005 when their thinly veiled religious doctrine "Intelligent Design" was prohibited from being taught in Dover, Pennsylvania.
The issues today in Tennessee are evolution and climate change. Today I'll address climate change. Let's review some of the data.
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| Global temperature increase since 1973. |
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| Global temperatures from 1880. |
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| Correlation of atmospheric CO2 (dark blue) and global temperature (light blue) over the last 600,000 years. The red line is projected CO2 levels. |
IT"S GETTING WARMER! And it's anthropogenic - a fancy word for caused by people. There's no controversy about this; that is, unless you deny the science.
What's different about this crisis from the creationist attempts to dumb down our children is that there are global consequences. It won't be a pretty world if we don't do something.
For more information. I recommend 350.org and the International Panel on Climate Change.
Organizations opposing this bill include the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Nashville Tennessean, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the National Earth Science Teachers Association, the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, and all eight Tennessee members of the National Academy of Sciences, including one Nobel Prize winner.
Growing Pains' Kirk Cameron Learns Bananas Are Intelligently Designed
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In preparation for watching this video, lie on the floor. It will be much easier to ROFL.
I doubt that a banana could cause an atheist, much less any reasonable person, to have a nightmare, but Roy Comfort and Kirk Cameron could certainly precipitate a gut-busting fit of laughter.
The banana we eat, the Cavendish, is the result of artificial selection. Seventh graders understand that species can change from three different forms of selection: natural, sexual, and artificial. Being a primate after all, I'll go out on a limb and say that nearly all the food we eat is the direct result of breeding - the intentional result of selecting for certain traits by humans.
Have you ever had to worry about banana seeds? Look at the wild fruit. Was this banana designed for human consumption?
Corn is also pretty handy for human dining. Was it designed to be easy to grasp? A lovely yellow for the eyes, and plenty of fiber for your intestine?
Modern corn is the descendent of teosinte, a grass found in Central America.
I can't help but think that Jason and Maggie Seaver feel like failed parents.
In preparation for watching this video, lie on the floor. It will be much easier to ROFL.
I doubt that a banana could cause an atheist, much less any reasonable person, to have a nightmare, but Roy Comfort and Kirk Cameron could certainly precipitate a gut-busting fit of laughter.
The banana we eat, the Cavendish, is the result of artificial selection. Seventh graders understand that species can change from three different forms of selection: natural, sexual, and artificial. Being a primate after all, I'll go out on a limb and say that nearly all the food we eat is the direct result of breeding - the intentional result of selecting for certain traits by humans.Have you ever had to worry about banana seeds? Look at the wild fruit. Was this banana designed for human consumption?
Corn is also pretty handy for human dining. Was it designed to be easy to grasp? A lovely yellow for the eyes, and plenty of fiber for your intestine?
Modern corn is the descendent of teosinte, a grass found in Central America.
I can't help but think that Jason and Maggie Seaver feel like failed parents.It's not the Higgs Boson, but it's still cool.
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Physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have announced the discovery of a new particle, the excited state of the the neutral Xi_b. This particle consists of up, strange, and bottom quarks and was predicted to exist from quantum chromodynamics, one of the most successful theories ever developed.
If you are so inclined, the paper submitted to Physical Review Letters can be found here.
Physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have announced the discovery of a new particle, the excited state of the the neutral Xi_b. This particle consists of up, strange, and bottom quarks and was predicted to exist from quantum chromodynamics, one of the most successful theories ever developed.If you are so inclined, the paper submitted to Physical Review Letters can be found here.
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| Decay Mode of the neutral Xi*_b (from Symmetry Breaking) |
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| Mass Data for the neutral Xi*_b (from original paper) |
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
Texas Politicians Oppose Critical Thinking
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From the 2102 Republican Party of Texas - Report of the Platform Committee:
Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (valuesclarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-BasedEducation (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challengingthe student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.They oppose critical thinking skills? Really?
People Who Lack Critical Thinking Skills
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In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare, there were some who were so disgusted by the court's judgement that they tweeted. [Credit to BuzzFeed.]
A little education about Canada.
A little education about Canada.Canada's national health insurance program, often referred to as "Medicare", is designed to ensure that all residents have reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services, on a prepaid basis. Instead of having a single national plan, we have a national program that is composed of 13 interlocking provincial and territorial health insurance plans, all of which share certain common features and basic standards of coverage. Framed by the Canada Health Act, the principles governing our health care system are symbols of the underlying Canadian values of equity and solidarity.
... the system provides access to universal, comprehensive coverage for medically necessary hospital and physician services.
The federal government provides funding to the provinces and territories for health care services through fiscal transfers.
July 4 is Higgsdependence Day
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Very early this morning, CERN*, the Organisation Européenne pour la Recherché Nucléaire (European Organization for Nuclear Research), announced a major discovery. A major piece of the universal puzzle is now in place. Scientists have observed an elementary particle that is consistent with predictions made by the Standard Model. That elementary particle has been named the Higgs boson after Peter Higgs,** one of the theoretical physicists who predicted its existence.
What is the Higgs boson, and why is it important?
Every interaction (force) in nature is mediated by a gauge boson. Here's an analogy: Suppose you want to interact with a friend, but you're both blindfolded and gagged. You both have a large bag of Nerf® balls, so you both start throwing. You will know where your friend is when you get hit.
There are only four fundamental interactions: electromagnetic, gravitational, weak, and strong. The photon is the EM boson; the graviton is the gravitational boson; W-, W+, and Z0 are the weak bosons, and the gluons are the strong ones. Where does the Higgs fit in?
The Standard Model, the theory behind the interactions excluding gravity, has been very successful at explaining most of nature. It lacks the physics of dark matter, dark energy, and gravity, but physicists everywhere are working on expanding it through efforts such as string theory, superstring theory, and M-brane theory. The model does predict the existence of the Higgs boson that causes all the other particles to have mass.
How does this happen? Here's another analogy: Imagine a large cocktail party of physicists.† I walk into the room, and since I'm not well known, I can get through the room and to the bar rather quickly. Then Peter Higgs walks in. Being quite the celebrity, he attracts a large crowd of admirers. The interaction works similarly. When an electron moves through the Higgs field§, it attracts some Higgs bosons, but when a up quark moves through the field, it attracts many more, and hence, has more mass.
Some additional notes:In 1993, Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman and science writer Dick Teresi wrote the book "The God Particle: If The Universe Is The Answer, What Is The Question?" Lederman joked that "the publisher wouldn't let us call [the Higgs Boson] the Goddamn Particle, though that might be a more appropriate title, given its villainous nature and the expense it is causing."
CERN and its American counterpart Fermi Lab can be thought as as time machines; that is, when experiments are being done, scientists are in effect recreating the conditions of the early universe. Observing the Higgs boson brings us back to within a picosecond or so after the Big Bang. [A picosecond is 10–12 seconds or one billionth of a second.]
Peter Higgs once suggested that the Higgs boson be named the ABEGHHK’tH "all the people who discovered it or rediscovered it," those being Phil Anderson, Robert Brout, Francois Englert, Gerald Guralnik, Dick Hagen, Peter Higgs, Tom Kibble, and Gerard ‘t Hooft.
Enjoy your 4th!
If you want to read more, some other discussions you might enjoy are The Higgs Boson, What Can We Do With The Higgs Boson? (courtesy of Matt Koutroulis), Physicists Have Found The Higgs Boson (courtesy of Frank Ybarra), Higgs Found (courtesy of my niece Kate Higgs), and Brian Greene Reacts To Today's CERN Announcement.
*You might be wondering why there is a C in the acronym for the lab. In 1952, a committee was formed whose charge was to establish a physics research center. The committee's name was Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. When the institution officially came into being in 1954, the name was changed, but the acronym was not. Another bit of trivia - the World Wide Web was invented at CERN.
**There is a persistent rumor in my family that the boson is named after my brother-in-law Gene Higgs.
†I've adapted an analogy that I've seen and heard used by several sources, but with no attribution.
§My brother-in-law Gene also has a Higgs field next to his house.
Very early this morning, CERN*, the Organisation Européenne pour la Recherché Nucléaire (European Organization for Nuclear Research), announced a major discovery. A major piece of the universal puzzle is now in place. Scientists have observed an elementary particle that is consistent with predictions made by the Standard Model. That elementary particle has been named the Higgs boson after Peter Higgs,** one of the theoretical physicists who predicted its existence.What is the Higgs boson, and why is it important?
Every interaction (force) in nature is mediated by a gauge boson. Here's an analogy: Suppose you want to interact with a friend, but you're both blindfolded and gagged. You both have a large bag of Nerf® balls, so you both start throwing. You will know where your friend is when you get hit.
There are only four fundamental interactions: electromagnetic, gravitational, weak, and strong. The photon is the EM boson; the graviton is the gravitational boson; W-, W+, and Z0 are the weak bosons, and the gluons are the strong ones. Where does the Higgs fit in?
The Standard Model, the theory behind the interactions excluding gravity, has been very successful at explaining most of nature. It lacks the physics of dark matter, dark energy, and gravity, but physicists everywhere are working on expanding it through efforts such as string theory, superstring theory, and M-brane theory. The model does predict the existence of the Higgs boson that causes all the other particles to have mass.
How does this happen? Here's another analogy: Imagine a large cocktail party of physicists.† I walk into the room, and since I'm not well known, I can get through the room and to the bar rather quickly. Then Peter Higgs walks in. Being quite the celebrity, he attracts a large crowd of admirers. The interaction works similarly. When an electron moves through the Higgs field§, it attracts some Higgs bosons, but when a up quark moves through the field, it attracts many more, and hence, has more mass.
Some additional notes:In 1993, Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman and science writer Dick Teresi wrote the book "The God Particle: If The Universe Is The Answer, What Is The Question?" Lederman joked that "the publisher wouldn't let us call [the Higgs Boson] the Goddamn Particle, though that might be a more appropriate title, given its villainous nature and the expense it is causing."
CERN and its American counterpart Fermi Lab can be thought as as time machines; that is, when experiments are being done, scientists are in effect recreating the conditions of the early universe. Observing the Higgs boson brings us back to within a picosecond or so after the Big Bang. [A picosecond is 10–12 seconds or one billionth of a second.]
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| Peter Higgs and the equation describing the Higgs boson |
Enjoy your 4th!
If you want to read more, some other discussions you might enjoy are The Higgs Boson, What Can We Do With The Higgs Boson? (courtesy of Matt Koutroulis), Physicists Have Found The Higgs Boson (courtesy of Frank Ybarra), Higgs Found (courtesy of my niece Kate Higgs), and Brian Greene Reacts To Today's CERN Announcement.
*You might be wondering why there is a C in the acronym for the lab. In 1952, a committee was formed whose charge was to establish a physics research center. The committee's name was Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. When the institution officially came into being in 1954, the name was changed, but the acronym was not. Another bit of trivia - the World Wide Web was invented at CERN.
**There is a persistent rumor in my family that the boson is named after my brother-in-law Gene Higgs.
†I've adapted an analogy that I've seen and heard used by several sources, but with no attribution.
§My brother-in-law Gene also has a Higgs field next to his house.
Get ready for the new year with January's Tax Due Date Reminders!
To contact us Click HERE
The staff at Holdsworth & Co. joins you in saying goodbye to 2011 and ringing in a healthy and prosperous 2012!
Thanks for visiting our recently launched blogsite. As we begin the new year, we want to help keep you on course with a list of tax due date reminders for January. We're happy to answer any of your questions and are just a phone call away.
The staff at Holdsworth & Co. joins you in saying goodbye to 2011 and ringing in a healthy and prosperous 2012!
Thanks for visiting our recently launched blogsite. As we begin the new year, we want to help keep you on course with a list of tax due date reminders for January. We're happy to answer any of your questions and are just a phone call away.
| January 10 | Employees - who work for tips. If you received $20 or more in tips during December, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070, Employee's Report of Tips to Employer. |
| January 17 | Employers - Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2011.Individuals - Make a payment of your estimated tax for 2011 if you did not pay your income tax for the year through withholding (or did not pay in enough tax that way). Use Form 1040-ES. This is the final installment date for 2011 estimated tax. However, you do not have to make this payment if you file your 2011 return (Form 1040) and pay any tax due by January 31, 2012.Employers - Nonpayroll Withholding. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2011.Farmers and Fishermen - Pay your estimated tax for 2011 using Form 1040-ES. You have until April 17 to file your 2011 income tax return (Form 1040). If you do not pay your estimated tax by January 17, you must file your 2011 return and pay any tax due by March 1, 2012, to avoid an estimated tax penalty. |
| January 31 | Employers - Give your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2011 by January 31, 2012. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a website accessible to the employee and notify the employee of the posting by January 31.Businesses - Give annual information statements to recipients of 1099 payments made during 2011.Employers - Federal unemployment tax. File Form 940 for 2011. If your undeposited tax is $500 or less, you can either pay it with your return or deposit it. If it is more than $500, you must deposit it. However, if you already deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.Employers - Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of 2011. Deposit any undeposited tax. (If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return.) If you deposited the tax for the quarter in full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.Employers - Nonpayroll taxes. File Form 945 to report income tax withheld for 2011 on all nonpayroll items, including backup withholding and withholding on pensions, annuities, IRAs, gambling winnings, and payments of Indian gaming profits to tribal members. Deposit any undeposited tax. (If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return.) If you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.Individuals - who must make estimated tax payments. If you did not pay your last installment of estimated tax by January 17, you may choose (but are not required) to file your income tax return (Form 1040) for 2011. Filing your return and paying any tax due by January 31 prevents any penalty for late payment of last installment.Payers of Gambling Winnings - If you either paid reportable gambling winnings or withheld income tax from gambling winnings, give the winners their copies of Form W-2G.Certain Small Employers - File Form 944 to report Social Security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2011. Deposit or pay any undeposited tax under the accuracy of deposit rules. If your tax liability is $2,500 or more from 2011 but less than $2,500 for the fourth quarter, deposit any undeposited tax or pay it in full with a timely filed return. |
ALERT: Recent Phishing Scam
To contact us Click HERE
Be aware of this recently received phishing scam email. You may receive an email that looks like this actual sample. These and other similar phishing emails claim to be from the IRS and request personal or financial information. DON'T reply or click on the link. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email or any other social media tools requesting personal or financial information.
For additional information information on phishing click on this IRS link. Let us know if you if you've received similar phishing scam emails so we can all be aware and protect ourselves from fraud.
 |
| ACTUAL PHISHING EMAIL |
For additional information information on phishing click on this IRS link. Let us know if you if you've received similar phishing scam emails so we can all be aware and protect ourselves from fraud.
4 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
2011 Business Income Tax Return Update: 1099 Reporting Requirements
To contact us Click HERE
With the release of the 2011 Income Tax Return forms, we discovered new questions regarding 1099 reporting requirements that the IRS has slipped onto the Tax Returns for businesses (including Partnerships, S-Corporations, Corporations, and Schedule C). You now must answer “Yes” or “No” to the following questions:
While 1099 reporting obligations for businesses have existed for many years, these new questions tighten the vice considerably by forcing businesses to confirm their obligation and sign regarding compliance.
The most common types of payments made in the course of a trade or business that must be reported on Form 1099-MISC include: rents, services, and attorney fees in excess of $600 to an individual or business not operating as a corporation. Attorney fees must be reported even if paid to a corporation. The Form 1099-INT is used to report interest payments in excess of $10 to an individual or business not operating as a corporation.
If you have made such payments in 2011 and have not yet filed 1099 forms, they must be filed before February 29, 2012 to avoid a late filing penalty. For more information on 1099 reporting requirements you can visit the Internal Revenue Service website (www.irs.gov) or call our office and we can help you determine if you are in compliance with the reporting requirements. If you are required to file 1099 forms and have not, our staff can assist with this as well.
To maintain 1099 compliance in future years it is good practice to obtain a W-9 forms from new vendors prior to payment. This form can be found on the Internal Revenue Service website or provided by our office.
If we can assist you in 1099 processing or if you have further questions, feel free to contact our knowledgeable CPAs and staff.
- “Did you make any payments in 2011 that would require you to file Form(s) 1099?”
- “If ‘Yes’ did you or will you file all required forms?”
While 1099 reporting obligations for businesses have existed for many years, these new questions tighten the vice considerably by forcing businesses to confirm their obligation and sign regarding compliance.
The most common types of payments made in the course of a trade or business that must be reported on Form 1099-MISC include: rents, services, and attorney fees in excess of $600 to an individual or business not operating as a corporation. Attorney fees must be reported even if paid to a corporation. The Form 1099-INT is used to report interest payments in excess of $10 to an individual or business not operating as a corporation.
If you have made such payments in 2011 and have not yet filed 1099 forms, they must be filed before February 29, 2012 to avoid a late filing penalty. For more information on 1099 reporting requirements you can visit the Internal Revenue Service website (www.irs.gov) or call our office and we can help you determine if you are in compliance with the reporting requirements. If you are required to file 1099 forms and have not, our staff can assist with this as well.
To maintain 1099 compliance in future years it is good practice to obtain a W-9 forms from new vendors prior to payment. This form can be found on the Internal Revenue Service website or provided by our office.
If we can assist you in 1099 processing or if you have further questions, feel free to contact our knowledgeable CPAs and staff.
ALERT: Recent Phishing Scam
To contact us Click HERE
Be aware of this recently received phishing scam email. You may receive an email that looks like this actual sample. These and other similar phishing emails claim to be from the IRS and request personal or financial information. DON'T reply or click on the link. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email or any other social media tools requesting personal or financial information.
For additional information information on phishing click on this IRS link. Let us know if you if you've received similar phishing scam emails so we can all be aware and protect ourselves from fraud.
|
| ACTUAL PHISHING EMAIL |
For additional information information on phishing click on this IRS link. Let us know if you if you've received similar phishing scam emails so we can all be aware and protect ourselves from fraud.
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