Taxing Times

I think this is a good article by Thomas Sowell:

“People who do not own a single share of corporate stock can still lose big time when capital gains taxes are raised — not only because jobs can follow capital out of the country, but also because millions of working people’s pension plans own corporate stock, and those people’s retirement incomes will depend on the value of those stocks, which is reduced by capital-gains taxes.

One of the biggest taxes is one that is not even called a tax: inflation. When the government spends money that it creates, it is transferring part of the value of your money to themselves. It is quiet taxation but often heavy taxation, falling on everyone, no matter how low their incomes might be.”

Damian Kyle Biography

This is a great story. Damian Kyle from Calvary Chapel Modesto describes his childhood and how he came to be a pastor.

Download the audio and listen. It's about an hour long.

Comparing McCain's and Obama's Tax Plans

Here is one of the easiest to understand side-by-side comparisons I've seen.

Warren Buffett says: Buy American

Warren Buffett says he is buying American equities and you should too. I concur. Here's a snippet:

A little history here: During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.
Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

article o' the week - Ballmer says Yahoo deal still 'makes sense'

The article is here on MarketWatch.

Ballmer said that while Microsoft is not in discussions with Yahoo at this time, "I still think it [an acquisition] would make sense economically for their shareholders and ours." Ballmer said he didn't know at what price a deal could be done. Microsoft had offered Yahoo $33 a share earlier this year, but Yahoo turned down that amount as too low. Ballmer laughed when he said Yahoo's executives, "Probably still think it's worth at least as much today."

I'm interested in watching the battle between Microsoft and Google. It makes for a good story.

Crisis and Recovery - The Dow Jones Industrials

I thought this was really interesting. It's a graph that includes commentary on stock market panics through the last hundred years.

It puts the current economic issues in perspective.

Ireland's Low Corporate Tax Rate

I've wondered why Ireland has seen quite a bit of economic growth in recent years, especially in the information technology industry. I think I found out why. They're corporate tax rate is really low, 12.5%.

"The overall tax burden in Ireland is the lowest among all other EU member states. A focus of Ireland's strategy to attract investment is to create a favourable economic and fiscal environment which is supportive of industry. This is evidenced by various investment incentives which are in place, creating a unique business opportunity in Ireland."

This is Only a Test

I'm starting a new blog because the server changed for my previous blog, and I haven't been able to add new posts since the change.