The Rich Already Pay Their Fair of Taxes

1. The richest 1% of taxpayers paid 40% of the total income taxes in 2006.





2. We know that the largest percentage in the top 1% are new rich because of income mobility data.





3. Denmark : 38-59% The USA's minimum is 23% percentage points lower then Denmark's and 24% points below Denmark's maximum





Belgium: 25-50% The USA's minimum is 10% points lower then Denmark's, and 12% points below Belgium's maximum.



VAT means Value Added Tax.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (more commonly known as ATF) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice that prevents against terrorism, reduces violent crime, and protects the Nation as a whole. The ATF was created in 1972 after many additions to the program. The Constitution first stated that NO alcohol was allowed at all, but that amendment was soon ratified. In a few years they created restrictions on tobacco, and in 1942, the firearms portion was added.

Surprisingly, the ATF deals with Firearms, Explosives and Tobacco/Alcohol. Out of these, I think that regulating and searching for Explosives is the most important. The basic job of the people in this area is to search a community if there seems to be risky business going on. The explosives keep criminal activity and accidental detonations as under control as possible. They risk their lives in order to keep the public safe.

Cite: http://www.atf.treas.gov/

Picture From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/US-AlcoholTobaccoFirearmsAndExplosives-Seal.svg/200px-US-AlcoholTobaccoFirearmsAndExplosives-Seal.svg.png

Changing Their Tunes

In this article, it is being explained that artists are losing a great deal of money due to iTunes. Albums on iTunes are available for 10-15 dollars, while single songs will not be sold for more then 99 cents. Some artists feel as if they are being short handed, and that their unitary albums are being torn apart. Managers are taking a stand against the iTunes business by not allowing their client's work to be sold virtually. Kid Rock is an example of this. His newest album is not available on iTunes, but as it points out in the article, this may cause a great deal of illegal downloading, which in turn loses more money then if the songs were sold on iTunes. On the other hand, artist's whos songs are available as individuals on iTunes have made an extreme amount of sales.
My opinion is that artists are making enough money already. By making virtual music available, it makes it much easier to get a hold of. For example, we live in Hot Springs. Hot Springs is far enough away from a "music store" that we can't purchase a c.d. whenever we feel the urge. The internet makes it easy to get our favorite music efficiently. The artists may lose a few thousand dollars on one song, but they may also make that much money with another. In conclusion, the artists should be glad that we want to purchase their songs from iTunes in the first place, when we could just download it illegally.

Channel 1 News 9/30/2008

BAIL OUT FAILED. Wall street was amazed. Stock market went down 770.59.

Said the bill could have shut down the mortgage meltdown.

Voters were angered by the 700 Billion dollar bail out.
Scheduled to get back together on thursday.
WAKOVIA is NOT a failing bank.

Hugo wants to develop nuclear energy, and Vladamer agreed to help. Theyare starting to become much thicker allies.

Pirates hijacked Ukranian ship, and are asking 20 million dollars to give it back.

Due to the hurricanes, but there isn't any gas. The government is asknig for the people to be patient.

Anxiety Spreads

1. Marsha Asbury had to raise the price of her bagels because all of the ingredients she uses in them have increased 25%-35% in the past year. Then again a few weeks ago her suppliers had ANOTHER price increase, which brought the bagels to a whopping $1.14

2. The reason the housing costs have gone up 18% is because there are a large amount of workers from out of state that are working in the oil fields, so they need housing. There are so many people looking for housing that the vacancies are rare, and demand is high.

3. A consumer price index is the total price amount of products that are used by a consumer. If there is less product, but the same amount of money is being spent, this is a sign of inflation. Core inflation includes everything that raises in price except food products and energy. I definetly think that the consumer price index is the best way to keep track of the inflation rates. Mostly because if food is extremely high in our country, our inflation rate might be extremely low on other things, but i'd say food is a little more important. Right now the US is using the core inflation method, which I think isn't very smart.

Great Depression

1. There were quite a few factors that led to the actual depression. Some seemed like they would be less influential then others, but could still be considered very large factors. One of the less looked at factors is the season's condition. During the late twenties, there was a large amount of drought. Farmers and ranchers weren't making the money they usually did in order to pay for their houses, loans, mortgages and etc. Businesses in the U.S. began failing, so the government created a tax that would protect these businesses. They charged extremely high import taxes, which in turn led countries to raise their import taxes, making it difficult and expensive to trade. Banks were failing across the nation due to faulty loans... and the banks that hadn't yet closed were afraid to give out loans due to the economic situtation. Then on Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed, which is said to be the "straw that broke the camel's back." With the many banks failing, and the large stock market crash, people were afraid to purchase items. With no buying going on, there wasn't a large amount of cash flow to keep the economy strong.

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm

2. During the depression, many areas of the economy were hit pretty hard. Banks and factories were shut down, leaving many people jobless and unable to support their family's basic needs. They had to rely mostly on government in order to get food. Unemployment rates were the highest they had ever been previously, a rate of over 25%. People from other countries brought different rulers in to power in order to deal with the hardships. In Germany, Hitler was gaining a lot of power, people thought he would be able to run the country more profieciently. The Japanese people invaded China in order to develop industries and mines that they thought would help end the depression. Instead the Japanese and German action helped lead to World War II.

http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm


3. Hoover was the President when the Great Depression began. Many people believed he wasn't doing alot to save the economy, because the effects seem to worsen every month. Soon, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected. He had many ideas to pull the economy out of it's slump, and proposed the "New Deal." The new deal gave the government more power, and offered new jobs in different areas. The final thing that pulled us out of the Depression was World War II. With the production and distribution of ammunition and other war supplies, there was a good, solid amount of cash flow through the economy.

http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm