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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (22773)	8/19/2010 9:17:37 AM
From: Eric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86356

NOAA: Second Warmest July and Warmest Year-to-Date Global Temperature on Record August 13, 2010 The combined global land and ocean surface temperature made this July the second warmest on record, behind 1998, and the warmest averaged January-July on record. The global average land surface temperature for July and January–July was warmest on record. The global ocean surface temperature for July was the fifth warmest, and for January–July 2010 was the second warmest on record, behind 1998. The monthly analysis from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, which is based on records going back to 1880, is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides government, business and community leaders so they can make informed decisions. Global Temperature Highlights noaanews.noaa.gov High resolution (Credit: NOAA) •The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for July 2010 was the second warmest on record at 61.6°F (16.5°C), which is 1.19°F (0.66°C) above the 20th century average of 60.4°F (15.8°C). The averaged temperature for July 1998 was 61.7°F (16.5°C). •The July worldwide land surface temperature was 1.85°F (1.03°C) above the 20th century average of 57.8°F (14.3°C) — the warmest July on record. Warmer-than-average conditions dominated land areas of the globe. The most prominent warmth was in Europe, western Russia and eastern Asia. Cooler-than-average regions included central Russia, Alaska and southern South America. ?According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland set a new all-time maximum temperature on July 29 when temperatures soared to 99.0°F (37.2°C), surpassing the previous record set in July 1914 by 2.3°F (1.3°C). ?Western Russia was engulfed by a severe heat wave during much of July. On July 30, Moscow set a new all-time temperature record when temperatures reached 102°F (39°C), exceeding the previous record of 99.0°F (37.2°C) set four days earlier. Before 2010, the highest maximum temperature recorded in Moscow was 98.2°F (36.8°C), set nine decades ago. ?According to the Beijing Climate Center, the July 2010 average temperature across China was 73.0°F (22.8°C), which is 2.5°F (1.4°C) above the 1971-2000 average and the warmest July since 1961. •The worldwide ocean surface temperature was 0.97°F (0.54°C) above the 20th century average of 61.5°F (16.4°C) and the fifth warmest July on record. The warmth was most pronounced in the Atlantic Ocean. •La Niña conditions developed during July 2010, as sea surface temperatures (SST) continued to drop across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, La Niña is expected to strengthen and last through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2010-2011. •For the year-to-date, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature of 58.1°F (14.5°C) was the warmest January-July period on record. This value is 1.22°F (0.68°C) above the 20th century average. noaanews.noaa.gov High resolution (Credit: NOAA) Polar Sea Ice and Precipitation Highlights •Arctic sea ice covered an average of 3.2 million square miles (8.4 million square kilometers) during July. This is 16.9 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent and the second lowest July extent since records began in 1979. The record low July was set in 2007. This was the 14th consecutive July with below-average Arctic sea ice extent. July 1996 was the last year that had above-average sea ice extent. •Antarctic sea ice extent in July was above average, 4.8 percent above the 1979-2000 average—resulting in the largest July sea ice extent on record. •According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, the continent received an average of 34.4 mm (1.35 inches) of precipitation during July 2010—this is 55 percent above the 1961-1990 average and the highest value since 1998. Scientists, researchers and leaders in government and industry use NOAA’s monthly reports to help track trends and other changes in the world's climate. This climate service has a wide range of practical uses, from helping farmers know what and when to plant, to guiding resource managers with critical decisions about water, energy and other vital assets. Additional Information July 2010 Global State of the Climate – Supplemental Figures & Information NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the oceans to surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. noaanews.noaa.gov

To: Road Walker who wrote (22773)	8/19/2010 11:39:08 AM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Respond to of 86356

I support low rates for investment income for purely practical reasons. Capital is more mobile and flexible than labor. Tax it highly and you suppress it more, distort it more, and chase it off more. Also capital investment helps increase the productivity of labor, reduce it, distort it or chase it away and labor does worse, both in terms of compensation, and in terms of prices they pay for goods and to a lesser degree services (unless these goods and services are imported, in which case the higher taxes are creating a competitive disadvantage for US industry, and while perhaps not raising prices, hurting labor even more in terms of job security and compensation). In addition to that, the revenue generated by increasing tax rates, starts reaching diminishing returns, and eventually turning negative, at lower levels than ordinary income. Note that above I saw "low", not "lower". I'd prefer both forms of income get the same rate, but only by having ordinary income taxed also at a low rate. If you absolutely have to have something with a high rate, higher taxes on ordinary income are less damaging. Edit - Also to the extent that the investment income taxation is on taxes on returns from investment in profitable corporations that realize these profits in the US, then the money has already been taxed so its not really facing a lower rate. (And to the extent the profits are not realized in the US the tax structure the US imposes has something to do with that fact.) In fact the actual distortion here is that its being taxed at a total rate that's higher than the normal ordinary income rate. (for corporations with $75k of income or more its being taxed with a corporate rate of at least 34% and as high as 39%, plus the 15% rate, so the total is 49% to 54%). You could eliminate the individual investment tax rates to make up for this, but then capital gains on other types of investments would be higher than investment in profitable corporations which doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps it would be better to eliminate the corporate income tax, and then tax all income from any source at the same rate, preferably a lower rate than today's rate, but the timing on that in terms of debt and deficits is rather lousy.