WASHINGTON — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Sunday that House Republicans would oppose President Barack Obama’s payroll tax cuts for both employers and employees, arguing that the policy had already failed to provide a sufficient boost to the economy. “It hasn’t worked,” Ryan said, suggesting the current temporary tax cut should be allowed to expire, which will amount to a 50 percent tax hike on workers making less than $106,000 per year. He also said he opposes the president’s proposal to require millionaires to pay the same tax rate as the middle class, known as the Buffett plan. “Class warfare might make for good politics, but it makes for rotten economics,” Ryan said. As chairman of the House Budget Committee and the author of a long-term plan that radically alters Medicare and slashes tax rates for the wealthy as well as social spending, Ryan serves as something of an economic spokesman for House Republicans. GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who followed Ryan on “Fox News Sunday,” seconded his opposition to the tax on millionaires as well as the payroll tax cut extensions. “It’s too little, too late,” said Cain. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), appearing later on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” said he too would oppose taxing millionaires at a higher rate, citing Obama’s own comments from 2010, when the president argued that taxes shouldn’t be raised during rough economic times. “I think what he said then still applies,” McConnell said, insisting that small businesses would be hurt by such a tax plan. As for the namesake of the Buffett plan, McConnell said that if billionaire investor Warren Buffett feels like he’s not paying his fair share, “he should send us a check.” “If Warren Buffett would like to give up some of his benefits, we’d be happy to talk about that,” McConnell said, suggesting his benefits be means-tested. Ryan, while backing a payroll tax hike, nevertheless said that tax hikes cannot be part of the deficit-cutting proposal that the super committee comes up with. As part of his explanation, Ryan made it clear that he sees no difference between raising taxes proactively and allowing tax breaks to expire. “You already have a $1.5 trillion tax increase coming in 2013,” he said, referring to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts that were extended by President Obama for two years. Ryan’s reference to the expiration as an “increase” gives greater weight to his willingness to let tax cuts for the middle class expire. Because of the looming Bush tax cut expiration, said Ryan, the super committee should eschew tax hikes. “Why on earth would we go with that, especially when the problem is spending?” he said. “You’re basically saying there’s going to be no bargain, no compromise,” host Chris Wallace pointed out. “Clearly, Democrats could work with us” and get $1.5 trillion in spending cuts with no additional revenue, Ryan said. “That shouldn’t be that tough.” As for the budgetary woes outside Washington, Ryan said, “We just don’t think we should be bailing out state governments.” He added, “That’s the constitutional responsibility of state governments, not federal governments.” Former President Bill Clinton, appearing on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” backed Obama’s tax hike on millionaires, but suggested that the singular focus should be on job creation, with tax increases on the wealthy coming once the economy improves. “I don’t have any objection to talking about it now,” said Clinton. “Whether it’s good politics or not, it’s an honorable thing to do.” Clinton urged passage of the payroll tax cut extension and the creation of an infrastructure bank to fund investments. He also hit at the major drag on the economy. “I don’t believe America can return to the full employment days of the ’90s until we can clear this bank debt from the mortgage crisis,” he said. WATCH highlights from this week’s Sunday shows:
Continue reading …Buttressing Buffett: For 10 Years, the Liberal Media Championed Billionaire’s Tax Increase Agenda
September 20, 2011 No Comment
President Barack Obama's nicknaming his new tax increases on the wealthy the “Warren Buffett rule” is fitting since the billionaire has spent a decade campaigning for a tax hike, a campaign his friends in the liberal media have been more than willing to join. For over 10 years the media promoted Buffett's complaint that the wealthy in America don't pay enough in taxes, spurred on by a Buffett's anecdote that he pays less in taxes than his receptionist.
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The Samsung Epic 4G Touch is a triumph of engineering, jamming oh-so-very-much into an oh-so-little frame. What better way to celebrate its wonderous design, than to tear it all down to its constituent parts, and then reassemble it? Thank the guys at iFixit , because they’ve already done it — again . Interesting points include just a single EMI shield — unlike some competitors — which is great news for those looking to emulate a tear-down of their own Sprint-specific GSII . It could still prove to be a challenge, with both the glass panel and LCD apparently fused to the middle of the phone, meaning a replacement for that sumptuous 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen could prove costly. Click below for a pictorial blow-by-blow of the teardown, let’s keep the drooling to a minimum, shall we? Samsung Epic 4G Touch gets torn down, confirms its epic crendentials originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The international community is hammering out a deal that would spare the US from having to veto Palestine’s move for statehood . There are several ideas floating about, but all revolve around the premise that Mahmoud Abbas would deliver a letter to the Security Council requesting statehood, but would not actually…
Continue reading …Women felt so frustrated in the early months of the Obama administration, that they eventually complained to the president himself, prompting a November 2009 dinner in which Obama listened to their grievances and vowed to improve things, the Washington Post reports. Female staffers’ discontent is a major point in Ron…
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Say hello to the new Godzilla-sized, to-heck-with-your-diet Wendy’s burger. It’s the same as the old one, save for the thicker, “never-frozen” half-pound beef patty, crinkle-cut pickles, red onions, extra cheese, buttered and toasted bun, and no-more-mustard.” You can get your hands on one starting today. If that sounds a bit like an ad, we suppose
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• Click here for all tonight’s latest scores • Email simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk • Hit F5 or turn on autorefresh for updates 26 mins: Fabio is booked, and then commits another foul moments later but without further sanction. And then Diouf is booked for fouling White. 24 mins: Paul Taylor has fairly accurately pointed out that the photo currently at the top of this page looks quite a bit like the alien landing in Close Encounters of the Third Kind . If you’re reading this MBM later, after I’ve changed the picture, don’t worry – aliens haven’t landed in Leeds (though questions have been asked about Ken Bates). 22 mins: Clayton hammers a 25-yard shot at goal, but it’s straight into Amos’s arms. It already looks like LUFC are most likely to score from a set-piece, but it’s a fairly bright opening from them, goal excepted. 20 mins: “What about my home town team FC Groningen in The Netherlands,” ponders Machiel Akkerman, taking the discussion away from the League Cup and towards knockout tie comebacks in general, but let’s go with it. “Last year we were challenging for a place in the Europa League in two legged play-off vs ADO den Haag. The first leg was away and we lost 5-1. The return seemed to be a foregone conclusion but we beat them 5-1 as well, only to loose in the penalty-shoot. Are there more agonising defeats out there?” Probably not, though if you ask me it’s better than losing both legs 5-1. 18 mins: Unpromisingly for LUFC, Leigh Bromby was having a real, genuinely angry go at Snodgrass after the goal. GOAL! Leeds United 0 Manchester United 1! (Owen, 15 mins) Michael Owen breaks the deadlock with a scuffed shot after a very fine MUFC move. Park played the ball to Berbatov in midfield and then got on his bike, Berbatov returned it to the Korean – now totally unmarked – and he squared to Owen, who shifted the ball onto his left foot and then produced a shot which bobbled into the corner. 11 mins: 10 minutes and 31 seconds. For the record, that’s how long it took for a commentator to mention Eric Cantona. 10 mins: Michael Owen goes down on the edge of the penalty area, but the referee is unimpressed. Ben Amos is in goal for MUFC. It’s three years this week since he made his debut for the club in this competition, and this is the third match he’s played for them since. 7 mins: Down to the other end, where Dimitar Berbatov passes to Federico Macheda in the penalty area, but he dallies long enough for Leeds to regroup and crowd him out. 6 mins: Goal-line scramble/melee/clearance! LUFC win a corner, and the header beats the goalkeeper and is heading in only for Dimitar Berbatov to get a foot to it. Two further shots are blocked before the ball is finally cleared. 5 mins: Diouf scoots from the centre of the pitch into the left side of LUFC’s penalty area, lines up a left-footed shot and then … totally misses his kick and falls over. 4 mins: “Hardly a ‘heroic’ comeback,” pooh-poohs Ian Williams of Aston Villa v Tranmere circa 1994. “We (Tranmere) hit the inside of the angle in the final minute, and Mark Bosnich (who starred in the subsequent penalty shootout) should have been sent off. Everyone knows that!” More dissent from Joseph Harden. “Surely, if you’re talking about great league cup games & tranmere, the 4-3 game against Southampton is a better example – 0-3 at half time, 4-3 at the end, Paul Rideout, John Aldridge going crazy … good times.” 2 mins: Fryers gets the third touch of the game, Michael Owen passing it straight to him. He’s bouncing around like an overexcited lamb. Bless. 1 min: Peeeeep! And they’re off! I’m hoping to avoid furious emails tonight, and will therefore refer to the teams as LUFC and MUFC, and won’t call either of them simply “United”, unless by accident. 7.41pm: The teams are out, kick off is moments away. Gird those loins, folks… 7.37pm: Elliot Carr-Barnsley proposes Aston Villa’s 1994 semi-final, second leg fightback against Tranmere as the all-time League Cup greatest match ever. Only vague recollections at this end I’m afraid… 7.26pm: Manchester United’s official website profile of Ezekiel “Zeki” Fryers describes him as “a tall and athletic left-sided full-back”. So he should have no problem making his first-team debut at centre-half alongside Michael Carrick, then. 7.25pm: Here are some proper teams, with substitutes and everything: Leeds United: Lonergan, Lees, Bromby, O’Dea, White, Snodgrass, Howson, Clayton, McCormack, Keogh, Becchio. Subs: Rachubka, O’Brien, Vayrynen, Brown, Forssell, Nunez, Tayor. Manchester United: Amos, Da Silva, Valencia, Diouf, Fryars, Carrick, Park, Giggs, Owen, Berbatov, Macheda. Subs: D’Gea, Wellbeck, Brown, Keane, Thorpe, Pogba, Cole. Referee: M Jones. 7.22pm: “I’m a Leeds fan, on my way in to Manchester town centre to watch the game alone in a pub, just so I can go to a gig afterwards as well,” writes Matthew Briton. “The worst part? I’m at the bottom of my overdraft and only have £6.47 to drink the pain away after the inevitable loss.” Don’t do your team a disservice, M, defeat isn’t inevitable. Likely, sure, but not inevitable. Particularly with United lining up with a flat front five. 7.19pm: “Has Fergie been reading Jonathan Wilson’s column today and the comments below the line?” ponders David Wall. “Surely setting out that formation as 4-4-2 is a ruse and he’s really going to play 2-3-5 just to show that it can still be done, with Fryers and Fabio at the back, Carrick, Giggs, and Park in midfield, and five forwards in Valencia, Macheda, Diouf, Owen, and Berbatov. Takes being bloody-minded to an extreme…” 7.10pm: And Leeds’s line-up looks like this: Lonergan; Lees, O’Dea, Bromby, White; Snodgrass, Clayton, Howson; Keogh, McCormack, Becchio. 7.09pm: Manchester United’s team is in! And it looks like this: Amos; Valencia, Fryers, Carrick, Fabio; Giggs, Park, Macheda, Diouf; Owen, Berbatov. Er, so that’s Michael Carrick at centre-back, then? And Valencia at right-back? Are you sure ? 7.04pm: Hello world! Well, while excitement builds at Elland Road I welcome you with two very special treats of varying relevance to the game in hand. Item 1: some early team news. This, you’ll probably agree, is pretty relevant. Anyway, United include Fabio, Michael Owen, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov and Ezekiel Fryers are in United’s squad. Nope, I’m not sure who that Fryers chap is either. Leeds will name as good a team as they’ve got. “Man U could run all over us,” says Simon Grayson, unpromisingly. “This is an opportunity for our players and it’s a game where we have nothing to lose at all.” Item 2: Highlights of the single most ridiculous and memorable Carling Cup (or whatever it was then) fixture I have ever seen or probably ever will, a match so energising and enthralling that, having watched my side ship six at home, I came out absolutely buzzing . First-minute goals, missed penalties, unbelievably good performances by Jürgen Klinsmann, it had the lot. I did, on the negative side, emerge from that night with a hatred of Ian Walker that remained with me for the rest of his career. Did you know that he’s now managing Bishop’s Stortford? They’re currently 21st in the Blue Square Bet North, so he’s got a way to go before he’s emulating his dad. Anyway, if you know of any games that beat this I’d like to hear about them. Simon will be here from 7pm. In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from Rob Bagchi’s preview on why the festering rivalry between these two clubs should guarantee that this match is an experience to remember … Manchester United return to Elland Road in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night for the first time in eight years to renew a rivalry that remains among the fiercest in Europe. Following Leeds United’s relegation in 2004, the two sides have met only once, in an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford in January 2010 when the visitors, then of League One, incongruously registered their first away victory against Manchester United since 1981, at the 18th attempt. Before that match, Sir Alex Ferguson spoke wistfully about the long absence of Leeds from his side’s fixture list. “I don’t have to spell out what Leeds have meant to Manchester United over the years,” he said. “It would be a fantastic, feisty occasion every time we met. It always carried a degree of hostility. I used to enjoy the games. The atmosphere was always electric.” You can read the full article here . Carling Cup 2011-12 Carling Cup Leeds United Manchester United Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …“Dancing with the Stars” kicked off its 13th season last night with a cast of hopefuls filling the show’s brand new digs that come complete with moveable stairs, three levels of seating, and a skybox for Brooke Burke-Charvet to loiter in endlessly. One thing this show does extremely well is craft a cast that can generate
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UBS chief Oswald Grübel understood to be seeking vote of confidence after trader Kweku Adoboli charged with fraud Oswald Grübel, head of the Swiss bank at the centre of a £1.45bn alleged rogue trading scandal, will ask directors to back him or sack him at a UBS board meeting in Singapore on Wednesday and Thursday. The 67-year-old German, who was brought in as chief executive by UBS in 2009, is understood to be seeking a vote of confidence following losses which came to light in the City last week. Directors will also look at the future of Carsten Kengeter, head of UBS’s investment banking operations, which lie at the heart of the scandal that has rocked the Swiss establishment. English boarding school-educated Kweku Adoboli, a 31-year-old derivatives trader, was charged with fraud and false accounting when he appeared before London magistrates on Friday. He faces allegations of misdemeanours that go back as far as 2008, and was remanded in custody. Adoboli worked in the bank’s so-called delta-one trading section which invests in exchange traded funds, allowing speculators to bet on price rises in a range of commodities and stock market indices. The UBS board meeting, arranged prior to disclosure of the trading scandal, is being held in Singapore, home of the bank’s biggest shareholder, GIC, a sovereign wealth fund that acquired a 6.4% stake three years ago. In a rare public statement, GIC expressed regret at the failure of the bank’s risk management controls to detect the losses, and urged UBS “to take firm action to restore confidence in the bank”. UBS’s top brass will also decide over the whether to accelerate plans that could lead to a contraction of UBS’s investment bank, which employs several thousand staff in London. The fixed income desk, which is smaller than most of the bank’s international rivals’, is viewed as particularly vulnerable, but other activities, such as equities trading, could also be reined in following the scandal. Another option is for the bank to outlaw proprietary trading, where an institution makes financial bets by using its own money. The bank is anxious to protect the reputation of its core business: the wealth management division that looks after the financial interests of the global rich. Grübel was quoted by Swiss newspapers as saying he would “bear the consequences” of the scandal, although he didn’t want to quit. During the financial crisis, it emerged UBS had lost billions by investing in sub-prime mortgages. At the same time it was the target of a lengthy US investigation into claims it helped American clients avoid taxes. Grübel, who had restored the fortunes of Credit Suisse, was recruited to do the same at UBS, founded in 1854. City sources said the magnitude of the rogue trading scandal had been concealed by elaborate hedging of the bank’s exposure that led to delays in winding down huge positions in equity futures. UBS has set up an independent committee under David Sidwell, the bank’s senior non-executive director, to conduct a review of the affair, but critics say Sidwell cannot be viewed as independent. UBS Kweku Adoboli Banking European banks Switzerland Richard Wachman guardian.co.uk
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Ministers consider penalising property firms who fail to build as they aim to take coalition lead on providing stimulus Senior Liberal Democrat economic ministers desperate to inject a stimulus into Britain’s stalling economy are looking at boosting housebuilding by penalising property firms that fail to build on land that has long-term planning permission. They also want the Bank of England to undertake further quantitative easing within weeks by buying the debt of small businesses. They say it is for the Bank to work through the scale and precise timing, but argue the need to act is growing ever more urgent, and a public debate is needed. Ministers are aware that the Bank must retain its constitutional independence in setting interest rates, but believe the use of quantitative easing as a means of stimulating the economy has broken down the distinctions between it and government. The ministers recognise that the government cannot be seen to be straying openly from the deficit reduction strategy, and if it did so it would only lead to a self-defeating reaction in the bond markets. “We cannot be seen to do anything dodgy or use bogus Labour schemes like the private finance initiative,” one said. But they are starting to argue in private that it may be possible to bring forward capital spending from the timetable set out in the initial spending review in 2010, or that the overall level of capital spending could be increased by a couple of billion to keep the economy from sliding back into recession and unemployment rising. Explaining the government’s dilemma, Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary, said: “We have built up a lot of credibility in international markets. We don’t want to lose that position. “There is flexibility built into our fiscal plans, we have that. There are other ways of maintaining stimulus to the economy. There is monetary policy and we can use imaginative infrastructure development to push the economy forward domestically.” Accused by some of depressing confidence by sounding gloomy, Cable added that the IMF downgraded forecast was an “objective independent assessment” which sounded “broadly plausible”. “It is very difficult to get our own economy growing again – financial markets, recession problems. Getting that going is difficult and is even more so when our main markets in Europe in North America are seizing up.” Ministers have already set out proposals to speed up the process of gaining housebuilding planning permission, a move backed by both wings of the coalition, but they now say that land banks and hoarding by housebuilders need to be addressed. A housebuilding programme is seen as central. The National Trust has estimated the total land bank with planning permission at around 330,000 plots. That figure is based on research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) which found that the biggest developers last year held land with planning permission for 281,993 homes. Companies have added tens of thousands more plots to their stocks over the course of this year. Bovis, one of the biggest developers, said this month it had bought 1,571 “consented plots”, and was acquiring another 2,500. Ministers say England needs 230,000 extra homes a year to meet demand. They are looking at fining companies that hoard land with planning permission. More broadly, Lib Dem strategists are pleased they have been seen to be taking the lead in a more activist fiscal and monetary stance, even if this was partly because their conference came first in the season of party gatherings. Lib Dems have been happy to juxtapose their stimulus stance with the deregulatory supply-side reforms pushed by Conservatives. Lib Dems do not oppose supply-side reforms, but say urgency requires action on the demand side. In practice the differences between the two parties on economic policy has some substance, but is also one of tone. Liberal Democrat ministers believe the chancellor, George Osborne, is taking a pragmatic approach, and the positions are similar, although David Cameron is said to be more worried by anything that smacks of a stimulus. Lib Dem ministers are nervous of institutional restructuring, and believe the £3bn Green Investment Bank can lever in a further £15bn of private investment over the parliament. They admit that locating shovel-ready infrastructure projects is painfully slow inside Whitehall. Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Vince Cable Economic growth (GDP) Economics Economic policy Construction industry Housing market Housing Rural affairs Bank of England Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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