The Next Four Years

[dai bread]

Cap & Trade is a licence to pollute. It's unfair to single out St. Algore as there are plenty of others in the business of extracting licence fees, often Governments who should be tackling emissions at source.

Yes, we are researching methane production in ruminants. It'll take a while to get results, but at least the research is being done. The Govt.'s also talking C & T though.

[piqaboo]

Oh Dai.
Now I have this unfading image of sheep with balloons attached.... I'd hate to be the balloon-harvester.

[Haggis@wk]

Remember those optimistic deficit estimates from the White House, and the slightly less rosy projections from the Congressional Budget Office? Get ready for a major recalculation. Tax revenues fell drastically in April, the AEIR reports, a month which usually brings the most money into government coffers:

Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.
When the economy slumps, so does tax revenue, and this recession has been no different, says Kerry Lynch, senior fellow at the AIER and author of the study. “It illustrates how severe the recession has been.”
For example, 6 million people lost jobs in the 12 months ended in April — and that means far fewer dollars from income taxes. Income tax revenue dropped 44% from a year ago. …
Big revenue losses mean that the U.S. budget deficit may be larger than predicted this year and in future years.

Time to break out the budget deficit projection chart again:



These projections were based on some very questionable assumptions, primarily that growth in 2009 would come it no lower than -1.2% of GDP. There isn’t a direct correlation between percentage of tax receipts and GDP growth, but a 34% drop indicates that the first part of the year has shown a lot of loss. The first quarter came in at an annualized GDP loss of -6%, which means that the next three quarters would have to show enough growth to get to that -1.2% GDP.

Theoretically, it could happen, but the enormous loss of revenue demonstrates its remote possibility.

We just learned that the graph is now a “best optimistic outcome” prediction.

[dai bread]

Oh Dai.
Now I have this unfading image of sheep with balloons attached.... I'd hate to be the balloon-harvester.

...and sheep floating through the air...

Actually the analysis of methane production is apparently done by using sulphur hexafluoride (SF6 tracer technique). See http://muir.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/730 if you want to know more, as one who works in biology.

[analog]

SF6 ?

hmm
Our EPA is making utilities get rid of their SF6 equipment. It has electrical properties that work well in high voltage circuit breakers.

i didn't know of its other uses till now... thanks, guys!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_hexafluoride

[Haggis@wk]

Pravda

“the American descent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed.”

I would suspect that Pravda knows a thing or two about Marxism. You know what I really appreciate about that statement? The word “descent"

[dai bread]

Life is full of ironies, isn't it, Haggis. Who would have thought that such a comment would ever come from Pravda?

[Haggis@wk]

From Rep. Scott Garrett's opening statement at today's Fannie/Freddie hearing:

The total bailout costs of Fannie and Freddie are expected to climb much higher. When the Housing and Economic Recovery Act was passed, an arm-twisted CBO scored the GSE titles of the bill at $25 billion and said there was less than a 50% chance that the bailout authority would ever be used and less than a 5% chance that the costs would ever run over $100 billion. The Chairman of the committee, Chairman Frank chastised Republicans on the floor who said that the costs would likely go well over the CBO estimate saying, “It is the most inflationary arithmetic I ever heard.” Of higher cost estimates being used by Republicans he stated, “these numbers that are being thrown around are simply inaccurate and misleading.”

Well, speaking of inaccurate and misleading, the CBO recently updated their scoring of those titles and the cost estimates increased by over 1,500%.

The GSEs have used $85 billion of the $400 billion in capital Treasury has made available, but the Treasury and Fed have put hundreds of billions more into buying up Fannie and Freddie's mortgage-backed securities — and their share of the mortgage market is growing, not shrinking. This bailout is just getting started.

[Haggis@wk]

Steve Ballmer, Obama supporter and CEO of Microsoft Ballmer provided substantial support for Obama’s presidential run, and also giving $100,000 to his inauguration, as did Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Now, however, Ballmer has balked at Obama’s tax positions and now says he’ll move Microsoft jobs overseas if necessary:

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer said the world’s largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits.

“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said in an interview. “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.”

Obama on May 4 proposed outlawing or restricting about $190 billion in tax breaks for offshore companies over the next decade. Such business groups as the National Foreign Trade Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable have denounced the proposed overhaul.

I said earlier Obama’s plan to “close loopholes” by taxing all income, even that already taxed by foreign nations, would create a flight of multinationals.

Companies with the wherewithal (ala Halliburton) will simply move overseas to take advantage of better tax environments, limiting their exposure to Obama’s tax-hiking fever and protecting their revenues. He can try to make this as painful as possible, but in the end businesses will act in their own interest. Obama seems to either not realize this or not care much whether companies flee the U.S.

For the companies that can’t relocate Obama’s high corporate tax rate will cause them to invest less in their own businesses, curtail employment, and in the end, the businesses won’t pay most of the tax anyway. They will do what all businesses do — pass their internal costs to their customers in the form of higher prices. Those higher prices will depress demand, as well as creating inflation on top of stagnation. This will not only cripple the American economy in a similar manner to what we saw in the 1970s, but it will also mean less revenue for the federal and state governments.

Elections have consequences, too bad Mr. Ballmer didn’t listen or believe Obama during the campaign, he won’t be the last in that non-exclusive club.

[dai bread]

I take it that companies forced to pay taxes on their total income, no matter where it is derived, are not to be given any credit for tax paid overseas?

[Shapley]

White House Blocks Access To Visitors List

Despite claims of 'greater transparancy', Mr. Obama has opted to continue another policy of the previous president. It's amazing what a different perspective one gets from the other side of the desk.

[Shapley]

Barbara Boxer Insists On Being Called 'Senator', Rather Than Ma'am

For his part, the Brigadier General referred to her as "Senator Ma'am"...

I have a different word for her, but I no longer wear the uniform, so I'm not so bound by protocol...

[Haggis@wk]

Barbara Boxer Insists On Being Called 'Senator', Rather Than Ma'am

For his part, the Brigadier General referred to her as "Senator Ma'am"...

I have a different word for her, but I no longer wear the uniform, so I'm not so bound by protocol...

That's a mighty fragile ego at work. "sir" and "ma'am" were the first two words I learned in basic.

[Shapley]

I generally find those deserving of respect don't have to insist on it...

[piqaboo]

We dont grow up w "ma'am" out here and a lot of folks dont really get that its a term of respect.

[Shapley]

We dont grow up w "ma'am" out here and a lot of folks dont really get that its a term of respect.

Perhaps, but I would expect a worldly person that has served in the Senate as long as Ms. Boxer to recognize the term as one of respect. This would be particularly so due to the level of contact she would have with military personnel.

[piqaboo]

I'm not apologizing, but it is culturally different. Somehow, I dont have a problem addressing a Senator as Senator. Nor as Ma'am, or Sir.
If he's smart enough to get to Brigadier he's smart enough to figure out a solution.

[analog]

sounds to me like a control freak wanting to demonstrate power; one-upmanship over all those medals.

Had it been a young pfc instead i'll wager she'd have insisted on "ma'am".

[Haggis@wk]

As a retired senior NCO, if one of my troops called me "Chief Master Sergeant", instead of "Chief" or "Sir", or If one of my troops called me "Chief Master Sergeant", without using my last name behind it or "Sir", I would know that he found me lacking. Calling me by my job title or rank is only done because it is the lowest requirement of respect.

The. Lowest. Requirement. Of. Respect.


BG Walsh was showing Barbara Boxer respect by calling her "Ma'am" instead of "Senator." Believe me, the title "Senator" does not really hold a whole lot of credibility in the US military. It's a job, and a Corporal leading a team in Baqubah has more honor than most of those holding that title.

Sir or Ma'am is showing Barbara Boxer respect that doesn't have to be shown to her. BG Walsh can call her Senator all day and night. Instead, the general called her "Ma'am" - a term in deference to her and to show respect for what she earned.

But if she wants to be associated with that den of corruption and incompetence, be my guest.

[BigJon@Work]

Could our CA readers please put some effort into seeing that this be removed from congress at the next election cycle? She's a blot on that body, if that is possible.