NEW YORK (AFP) — World oil prices surged to fresh record highs above 123 dollars per barrel Wednesday amid concerns about tight supplies and lingering unrest in oil-rich Nigeria, traders said.
Collins cited World Bank statistics that global food prices have increased by 83 percent in the past three years. In the U.S., the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reports, a sampling of April 2008 prices shows the following one-year increases:
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Wheat, up 95 percent.
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Soybeans, up 83 percent.
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Corn, up 66 percent.
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Oats, up 47 percent.
May 6 (Bloomberg) — Business bankruptcy filings in the U.S. increased 49 percent in April from a year earlier, the biggest gain so far in 2008, as the slowing economy prompted more companies to shut down.
Foreclosure filings rose 57 percent in March from a year earlier, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.
“Conditions in mortgage markets remain quite difficult, and mortgage delinquencies have climbed steeply,” [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke said.
So what is John McCain’s solution for our economic quagmire, brought on by 8 years of Republican rule bitter partisan fighting by Democrats (and only Democrats) in Congress? It’s so simple I’m surprised you haven’t thought of it already (then again, maybe you have).
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Cut The Corporate Tax Rate From 35 To 25 Percent.
A lower corporate tax rate is essential to U.S. competitiveness. America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace, leaving us with the second-highest rate among the world’s advanced economies.[1]
Cutting the corporate tax will expand the U.S. economy, creating jobs and opportunities for prosperity. A recent analysis of tax policy options estimated that a cut less than half this size could increase long-term growth by 0.5 percent, or $100 billion in a single year.[2]
Lower corporate taxes leads to higher wages. Recent studies have shown that corporate taxes are in large part passed on to labor through lower wages. One study noted that a one percent hike in the corporate tax results in a 0.8 percent decrease in manufacturing wages.[3] Accordingly, cutting corporate taxes can increase wages for American workers.
Allow First-Year Deduction, Or “Expensing”, Of Equipment And Technology Investments.
Expensing of equipment and technology will provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting-edge technologies.
The additional investment stimulated by a change to expensing of equipment and technology will drive economic growth. A recent estimate of a modest expensing provision predicted a gain of 1.5 percent in long term economic growth.[4]
The complexity of our tax code needlessly burdens American businesses and families with $140 billion in compliance costs.[5] Allowing expensing will eliminate the need for complicated accounting for depreciation.
Establish Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D.
The R&D tax credit will simplify the tax code, reward activity in the United States, and make us more competitive with other countries.
A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.
Because the Bush tax cuts just weren’t enough juice for the economy, obviously. By the way, you might have noticed that no tax cuts are being proposed for regular people, real people, working class people, i.e., anyone who isn’t already filthy rich or a corporation. I wonder why Saint Straight Shooter forgot to include us in his tax cut package? I guess we don’t need anymore economic stimulating what with all the rising costs for gas, food, electricity, etc., combined with our incredible shrinking incomes, too much stimulus might be too much for us to stand. Better to give it all to the smart folks who run our giant mega-corporations. They clearly need it more than we do, and they’re so smart I’m sure they’ll know just what to do with it to get our economy running like a well tuned private corporate jet again. Then it will be champagne and caviar for everyone!*
By the way, wanna buy a bridge in Brooklyn? I can get it for you cheap.
* Everyone in the executive suite, that is. If you don’t have a key or don’t know where to find someone to marry who does, don’t even think about crashing the party. But that doesn’t mean you can’t dumpster dive for leftovers. Fortune 500 Corporations aren’t completely heartless, after all.
