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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (79498)	10/21/2004 11:19:24 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793964

Cafe Hayek - Prescott on Tax Rates In today’s Wall Street Journal, Edward Prescott – co-winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Science – reports the findings of his research on marginal tax rates. He concludes his essay with this remark: The bottom line is that a thorough analysis of historical data in the U.S. and Europe indicates that, given similar incentives, people make similar choices about labor and leisure. Free European workers from their tax bondage and you will see an increase in gross domestic product…. The same holds/ true for Americans. So, the much-ballyhooed cultural differences allegedly separating Americans (or Anglo-Americans) from continental Europeans don’t really explain the observed differences in work patterns across these countries. In fact, the reason Americans work so much more in the market than do Europeans is that Americans’ taxes are lower at the margin. This finding is important, if not astonishing. More interesting is another of Prescott’s findings, namely, that people in at least some European countries work just as long and as hard as do Americans, but they do so outside of the commercial, taxable market. Here’s Prescott again: Further, a recent study has shown that Germans and Americans spend the same amount of time working, but the proportion of taxable market time vs. nontaxable home work time is different. In other words, Germans work just as much, but more of their work is not captured in the taxable market. I would add another data set for certain countries, especially Italy, and that is nontaxable market time or the underground economy. Many Italians, for example, aren't necessarily working any less than Americans -- they are simply not being taxed for some of their labor. Indeed, the Italian government increases its measured output by nearly 25% to capture the output of the underground sector. Change the tax laws and you will notice a change in behavior: These people won't start working more, they will simply engage in more taxable market labor, and will produce more per hour worked. Prescott’s WSJ essay offers several other superb insights. I urge you to read it.

To: LindyBill who wrote (79498)	10/21/2004 11:38:30 AM
From: SBHX	Respond to of 793964

Tora Bora is another item in JK's long list of opportunistic ploys : On Jan. 20, 2002, Kerry said on CNN's : "I do think some people have asked some questions about how that particular component of the mission sort of played out. But the fact is that it is a difficult place. He is elusive. I think they are doing the maximum amount right now possible to try to track him down." nationalreview.com --- Earlier in Dec14 2001, on LKL, JK said more good things about how smart the admin was in conducting the war btw, the line that stood out for me was the following when he was talking about the rangers : you've got to do your best and you give your best and everybody around you depends on you. And that brotherhood -- and now brotherhood and sisterhood -- is so strong. It is a compelling, extraordinary feature, which is why there is such a bond between people until the day they die. Politically Correct to the last detail, brotherhood and sisterhood? come on now, is that opportunistic pandering or is that just plain pandering? transcripts.cnn.com ---