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U.S.
Reid Orders Computer Review to Defend Senate Committee in Rift With the C.I.A.
Senator Harry Reid said he had ordered a forensic examination of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s computer equipment to answer what he called “absurd” C.I.A. claims.
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Business Day
Wind Industry’s New Technologies Are Helping It Compete on Price
With new technology, the industry has been able to produce more power at lower cost by capturing the faster winds that blow at higher elevations.
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Opinion
What to Do About California’s Drought
Readers discuss climate change, farmers’ use of water, desalination plants and fracking.
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Arts
Limits on Ivory Sales, Meant to Protect Elephants, Set Off Wide Concerns
Several industries say they are frustrated and confused by new regulations that strictly limit the sale of elephant ivory.
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World
Diplomat From India Is Indicted Again Over Housekeeper
Devyani Khobragade faced the new charges of visa fraud, two days after a judge accepted her claim of diplomatic immunity and dismissed earlier charges.
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World
Chhattisgarh Tests a Green Toilet for Its Poor
The government has seen some success in introducing biodigester toilets in the central Indian state, where three-fourths of the population have no access to latrines.
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Sports
Bayern Munich President Accepts Jail Term for Tax Evasion
Uli Hoeness, a revered figure in German soccer, said that he would resign as team president and that he would not appeal his sentence of three and a half years in prison.
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U.S.
Group Suggests New Rules for Further Cuts in Carbon Pollution
The Natural Resources Defense Council, which has had a strong voice in efforts to shape President Obama’s climate change agenda, sent a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Arts
Norwegian Museum to Return Matisse Looted From French Art Dealer by the Nazis
A Norwegian museum has agreed to return a painting by Matisse that had been looted by the Nazis from a well-known Parisian art dealer during World War II.
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U.S.
Democrats Plan Big Ad Campaign in Challenge to Koch Brothers
The Senate Majority PAC is buying ads in five states in an attempt to counter the big spending of a powerful pair of Republican donors.Favoring Wealth Over Work
In my last post I tried to document the
extent to which modern Republican rhetoric has already adopted the
values of “patrimonial capitalism”, even though America’s top one
percent still owes its high incomes largely to compensation rather than
wealth. On reflection, I thought I should also document the extent to
which the GOP has put its money — or, actually, taxpayers’ money — where
its mouth is, with concrete policies that favor wealth over work.
Consider, as Exhibit A, the Bush tax cuts.
Bush did cut the top tax rate on earned income from 39.6 to 35 percent, a
12 percent reduction. But he cut the rate on capital gains from 21 to
15, a 28 percent reduction; he cut the rate on dividends from 39.6
(because dividends were previously taxed as ordinary income) to 15, a
reduction of more than 60 percent. And he put the estate tax on a path
toward zero — a 100 percent reduction.
The estate tax made a partial comeback thanks
to the awkward fact that a Democrat was in the White House, and there
have been some tax hikes on capital income. The point, however, was that
Bush tried to give people living off wealth, inherited wealth in
particular, much bigger tax cuts than he gave high earners.
And the efforts go on. I know that Paul Ryan likes to lecture the poor about the dignity of work; but his famous initial “roadmap”
called for the complete elimination of taxes on interest, capital
gains, and dividends, plus elimination of the estate tax. In other
words, he proposed eliminating all taxes on income derived from wealth.
Now, Ryan casts this as policy that favors
saving. But the truth is that it would mainly favor people born on third
base or beyond. Even now, 6 of the 10 wealthiest Americans are heirs rather than self-made entrepreneurs
— the Koch brothers plus a bunch of Waltons. There’s every reason to
believe that the role of inheritance will only grow over time.
And if it does, half our political system
will be cheering it on and offering the ever-more-empowered heirs as
much assistance as possible."
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World
Israel Announces Discovery of a Tunnel Stretching From Gaza
A spokesman described the tunnel, presumably dug by Hamas and reaching hundreds of yards into Israel, as recently worked on and relatively elaborate.
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Opinion
Craven Statehouse Behavior
In state after state, the gun lobby continues to find reliable allies for dangerous laws.
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Multimedia/Photos
Video: Pope hosts Argentina's Kirchner
A limping Cristina Kirchner meets with Pope Francis for lunch at the Vatican. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).He was the Archbishop of Argentina while she was president.
She is still president.
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U.S.
School Data Finds Pattern of Inequality Along Racial Lines
Racial minorities are more likely than white students to be suspended from school and be taught by lower-paid teachers with less experience, according data released by the Department of Education.
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Business Day
German Energy Push Runs Into Problems
Berlin's ambition to use renewable power sources without harming its industrial might has gained urgency with new uncertainties about Russian gas.
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U.S.
Border Security’s Turn Toward the High-Tech
Past efforts to secure the crossing with Mexico centered on fences and officers, but current thinking is informed by advances in things like drones.
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World
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