AFP - Saudi Arabia on Friday rebuffed Obama administration appeals for immediate Arab gestures toward normalizing ties with Israel the kingdom urged the Jewish state to show it was serious about peace.
I know the left loves to tell us all how the rich never pay their fair share, usually right before they tell us they plan to fleece them to increase government’s power and control of our lives under the guise of some do-good collectivist right or benefit, but the facts speak for themselves. The most popular leftists/statists line these days is how the rich, and especially that top 1%, don’t pay their fair share in taxes.
Newly released data from the IRS clearly debunks the conventional Beltway rhetoric that the “rich” are not paying their fair share of taxes. Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data available—the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1 percent paid 24.8 percent of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986 tax reform act.
Remarkably, the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined. In 2007, the bottom 95 percent paid 39.4 percent of the income tax burden. This is down from the 58 percent of the total income tax burden they paid twenty years ago. To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.
Some in Washington say the tax system is still not progressive enough. However, the recent IRS data bolsters the findings of an OECD study released last year showing that the U.S.—not France or Sweden—has the most progressive income tax system among OECD nations. We rely more heavily on the top 10 percent of taxpayers than does any nation and our poor people have the lowest tax burden of those in any nation. We are definitely overdue for some honesty in the debate over the progressivity of the nation’s tax burden before lawmakers enact any new taxes to pay for expanded health care.
| Read that line I bolded, and read it twice please progressives. And here is the graph in case you are too lazy to click the link: |  |
Yeah, the data ends in 2007 (who was president as this trend materialized BTW you libs), but my guess is that as the 2008 and 2009 numbers come out, the difference will be even bigger. There is a disproportionate tax burden here, but unlike what the progressives tell us every time they open their mouth to complain about evil America, capitalism, and Bush-Hitler, it isn’t the way they want us to think it goes. If the 95% lowest income people paid 39.5% of the taxes in 2007, that number is from the IRS itself BTW, that means that the remaining 5%, the evil rich the progressives blame for their lot and so long to soak even harder, already are paying 60% of the taxes collected by the IRS. My guess is progressives would not be happy until that number was around 95% though.
Cross posted at Wasting time with Alex
AP - An Army colonel's colorfully worded memo arguing for the U.S. to declare victory in Iraq and leave next summer suggests the possibility of an important shift in the debate about U.S. withdrawal plans.
AP - President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, senior officials and Cabinet members were gathering away from the White House this weekend to discuss administration progress at the six-month mark and plot a course ahead.
So Obama has his beer meeting with Officer Crowley and Professor Gates (and, in a very dangerous move, Joe Biden). I didn’t expect any racial problems to be solved, but looking over the reports I have to say: What. The. Hell.
The four drank out of beer mugs. Mr. Obama had a Bud Lite, Sergeant Crowley had Blue Moon, Professor Gates drank Sam Adams Light and Mr. Biden, who does not drink, had a Buckler nonalcoholic beer. (Mr. Biden put a lime slice in his beer. Sergeant Crowley, for his part, kept with Blue Moon tradition and had a slice of orange in his drink.)
I have to agree with Sullum. Crowley is the only one in the crowd with taste.
As for Obama’s selection of Bud Light, this has to rank as one of his worst decisions since taking office, somewhere between the stimulus package and the auto industry bailout. Regular Budweiser is bad enough. When you have a beer that already tastes like water, why would you add more water to it? And the less said about Biden and his Buckler, the better. In yet another example of the blatant misrepresentations for which the Times is notorious, Asimov erroneously reports that “Joe Biden, who joined the other three, enjoyed a nonalcoholic brew called Buckler.”
You will know a man by what he drinks. Our late-lamented Lee, for example, was a Jack Daniels man. ‘Nuf ‘ced.
Although I don’t drink very much, I tend to like a little bit of everything—I’m comfortable with Jack and I’m comfortable with Glenlivet; I can drink Guinness or I can drink Corona. I’m happy with a $10 bottle of Rosemont Shiraz and I’m happy with a $50 bottle of something French I can’t pronounce.
The one thing I won’t drink is lite beer. To quote Monty Python, I’d have sex in a canoe if I wanted something fucking close to water. Forget Marxist leanings or birther conspiracy theories. Do we really want one of “those”—lite-beer drinkers—in the White House?
This is a problem. Come on, Barack. I can respect your Veep for being a teetotaler (note to readers: this may be the last time I respect Joe Biden). I can ... understand ... the Bud Choice since it’s a harmless domestic choice that won’t offend anyone and is manufactured in a swing state.
But be a fucking man. What’s the worst that happens if you have a real beer? You pass out drunk, Biden takes over and gets us into a war with China, India and Russia at the same time. Is that worse than looking like a pussy on a national stage?
Anyway, an alcohol thread is a great way to kick off the weekend. Talk about any aspect of the blessed C2-H5-OH you want. But your first sentence should be what beer you would have with the President (remember the Secret Service will jump on you before you can throw it in his face). I personally would have had a Guinness, while I still have to scratch to afford beer.
And possibly a hip flask in case we got into policy.
