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28 Dec 09

Editorial - An Estate Tax Mess - NYTimes.com

  • For much of the last eight years, the majority Republicans pushed through tax break after tax break that mostly benefited the wealthy. Now in the majority, Democratic lawmakers have failed to stop yet another tax benefit for the richest of the rich from taking effect in 2010.
  • There was a giant catch, as well. In 2010, the one-year repeal of the estate tax is coupled with a new tax that will hit smaller estates. That tax could affect up to an estimated 70,000 estates next year, compared with the current estate tax law, which applies to about 5,500 estates annually. If that sounds wacky, it is. It would also be harmful to many small family businesses, precisely the group that estate-tax cutters say they want to help.
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10 Dec 09

Americans' Net Worth Increases - WSJ.com

  • The rise in wealth should help consumers--a key growth engine for the U.S. economy--to rebuild their finances and to start spending again. Still, household wealth remains well below the $65 trillion peak hit two years ago, before the recession began and before stock markets hit their high.
29 Nov 09

The Safety Net - Food Stamp Use Soars Across U.S., and Stigma Fades - Series - NYTimes.com

  • With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.
27 Nov 09

Thomas Frank: A Liberal Thanksgiving - WSJ.com

  • According to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report, the percentage of households that are "food insecure," to use the preferred term, rose to its highest level since 1995, when the current technique for measuring hunger came into use. (Among households with children, the percentage who are "food insecure" is a stunning 21%.)
  • On the other hand, Wall Street banks are on track to hand out record bonuses to their employees.
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21 Nov 09

Public pay is bloated. But don't forget the virus source | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian

  • The Equality and Human Rights Commission is looking for a new chief executive. Its chairman, Trevor Phillips, called in Hayes Consulting to establish what the salary should be. It suggested a staggering £200,000 – more than the prime minister. Why so much?
  • Like Lake Wobegon, everyone wants to be above average, no one wants to be below par, and so remuneration consultants inflate the pay scales. The unjustifiable is justified because everyone does it – as with MPs' expenses, when no one stepped back and said enough is enough. Now the person in charge of MPs' salaries and expenses is paid more than they are.
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The Betrayal - Timothy Egan Blog - NYTimes.com

  • There was once a political party that came out against concentration of wealth. They called for regulation of food, drugs, and big corporations. Called for “square deal” for the average American. And their robust spokesman, the leader of their party, said this of his countrymen:


    “There is not in the world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American, insensitive to every duty, regardless of principle, bent only on amassing a fortune.”


    That party was the Republicans, a bit more than century ago, led by Teddy Roosevelt.

Editorial - Oh, That Account - NYTimes.com

  • There is some good news for law-abiding taxpayers and the United State Treasury. The Obama administration is smoking wealthy tax cheats out of their offshore hiding places. More than 7,500 Americans rushed to take advantage of a voluntary disclosure program that ended last Thursday, telling the I.R.S. about offshore accounts with up to $100 million in undeclared funds.
  • Every year the government loses billions in tax revenues this way. And it is far past time to reintroduce some fairness — and credibility — into a system that is great at taxing the little guy but too often lets the rich, and their sophisticated financial advisers, off the hook.
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21 Oct 09

At Ethics Debate, Goldman Exec Defends Bonuses - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

  • Bumper payouts to bankers should be seen as part of a longer-term investment in London’s economy, the vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Brian Griffiths, told a debate on ethics at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on Tuesday.
  • Mr. Griffiths said that if bonuses were capped the industry’s highest fliers would leave London’s financial services sector for other countries.
20 Oct 09

Op-Ed Columnist - Safety Nets for the Rich - NYTimes.com

  • Enough! Goldman Sachs is thriving while the combined rates of unemployment and underemployment are creeping toward a mind-boggling 20 percent. Two-thirds of all the income gains from the years 2002 to 2007 — two-thirds! — went to the top 1 percent of Americans.
19 Oct 09

Harvard Signs On to a New Line of Upscale Clothing - NYTimes.com

  • So more than a few brainy Cambridge brows began to furrow last month after word trickled out that Harvard had entered into a 10-year licensing agreement for a line of preppy clothing modeled after the type that Mr. Fitzsimmons encountered four decades ago.
  • Mr. Kinsley wrote in an e-mail message, referring to the 30 percent drop in the university’s endowment.
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