www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20588523
An argument for private roads if I ever heard one.
Author Archives: admin
IRS vs ex-pats
Fatca calls for foreign financial institutions to file an annual report to the I.R.S., either directly or through its own national tax authority, on each U.S. taxpayer for whom it holds more than $50,000 in assets at the end of the year.
This is why a friend in Singapore gave up his US citizenship. He couldn’t get any financial institution to do business with him. It’s also why some Swiss banks have dumped US clients.
The law also requires account holders to file an I.R.S. form themselves, 8938, detailing their foreign holdings, though American expatriates need file only if their financial assets exceed $200,000 at year’s end. To make sure account holders stay in touch, the agency levies a $10,000 penalty for failure to file a required 8938, and any underreported income will be subject to an additional 40 percent penalty. (Read more)
$200k — I aspire to have these problems. :)
JIDF watching Reddit after Palestinian statehood vote at UN
No Consequences for Lying About Rape After 9-year False Imprisonment
European Roma descended from Indian ‘untouchables’, genetic study shows
British Scouts plans to draft alternative oath without references to God
Amsterdam is to create “Scum villages” where nuisance neighbours and anti-social tenants will be exiled from the city
Segregation is much more civilized than imprisonment.
Holland’s capital already has a special hit squad of municipal officials to identify the worst offenders for a compulsory six month course in how to behave.
Social housing problem families or tenants who do not show an improvement or refuse to go to the special units face eviction and homelessness. (Read more)
Milton Friedman on Auto-Safety
1) The young ideologue in the video is NOT Michael Moore.
2) I love Friedman’s courage and logic. You can see why he became influential. Almost makes me forgive him for helping establish income tax withholding.
Trotsky Fan Lectures Former Soviet Citizen on Wonders of “Socialist Alternatives” to Capitalism
***
***
USA vs USSR
WWII, Holocaust, Autarky
***
Palestinian UN Bid fallout: New Construction, Taxes Withheld, Ambassadors Pulled
Following Palestinian UN bid, Israel okays construction of 3,000 new West Bank units
***
Israel halts Palestinian tax transfer Israel has halted the transfer of tax and tariff money it collects for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to their successful bid for UN non-member observer state status.
Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s finance minister, said on Sunday that the government would use the money it was to transfer to the Palestinians to pay down their debt to the Israel Electric Corporation and other Israeli bodies.
“I have no intention of transferring the taxes due to the Palestinian Authority this month,” Steinitz said.
“They will be used to pay the PA debts to the Israeli electricity company and other bodies.”
Without the transfer, the PA will not have the money to pay government salaries.
Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Ramallah, said 150,000 public service employees rely on the money.
The move is the second such act by Israel. On Friday, it announced it would press ahead with plans to build thousands of settler homes on illegally occupied territory.
Johnston said the new settlements would mean a 25km journey from Bethlehem to Ramallah would be more than quadrupled to 120km as Palestinians would be forced to circumvent the settlements.
***
US ‘shocked’ by new settlement plan New York Times says Israel gave United States only few hours’ notice of decision to pursue development that could prevent creation of viable, contiguous Palestinian state. ‘This is one of the most sensitive areas of territory,’ says former Ambassador Kurtzer . . . . The Americans were particularly angry at the decision to pursue “preliminary zoning and planning preparations” for a development on the segment connecting the town of Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem (known as area E1) that would separate Ramallah and Bethlehem from Jerusalem and could prevent the creation of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.
***
For first time, Britain, France may recall ambassadors to protest Israel’s settlement construction
As we approach financial Armageddon, economic ignorance dominates the press
That’s how things often work in America. Half-a-century of tax cuts focused on the wealthiest Americans leave us with third-rate public services, leading the wealthy to develop inefficient private workarounds. (Read more)
The latest propaganda meme seems to revolve around the 90% top income tax bracket of the 1950’s (which nobody paid b/c there were so many loop holes). Regardless, the true measure of how much money the gov’t is stealing is not taxes, but spending. What they don’t steal immediately, they’ll take from your children through debt, or stealthily through inflation.
***
STUDY: Every $1 Of Infrastructure Spending Boosts The Economy By $2
Read more: www.businessinsider.com/infrastructure-economic-multiplier-2012-11#ixzz2DqgS19ci
I say we spend a HUNDRED THOUSAND BAZILLION dollars on infrastructure! That way, we’ll make TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND BAZILLION dollars!
U.S. to spend up to $100 million in order to build the Israelis an Air Force complex near Tel Aviv
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is receiving bids to build a five-story complex for the Israeli Air Force, or IAF, near Tel Aviv.
The facility, mysteriously dubbed “site 911,” will be built under the auspices of the Foreign Military Sales program and is expected to cost the U.S. between $25 million and $100 million, according to a solicitation for bids posted on a U.S. government website.
. . . .
The architectural plans, drawn up by prominent Israeli firm Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects, pays close attention to the aesthetics of the design as well as the functional parameters outlined in the solicitation. For example, three picnic tables are planned for the exterior. (Read more)