Political Category
Wealth Distribution Around the World
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Dec 24 2009 | 1 Comment
This map basically means that the lighter color, the more equally the wealth in the country is distributed. You can tell where the most people suffer due to the darker shades of green seen throughout the map.
The countries with the biggest gap between poverty and wealth are the South American nations and some central to southern African nations.
Canada, Australia, much of Europe, and even some African countries all have fairly good wealth distribution throughout.
The United States falls into the same category as Russia, India, Italy, England, Portugal, and Uzbekistan to name a few.
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Tags: southern african nations, african countries, UNITE
Taxes in some states have become so bad due to deficits. Is there an end in sight?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Dec 23 2009 | 2 Comments
Most of the states across the country have come to a conclusion: They have to raise taxes to help with the budget deficits.
The five states hit hardest by new taxes as written by SmartMoney are:
1) California – This state has a HUGE deficit. It has gotten so bad in California that they the state is starting to pay for things with IOUs. The state deficit estimate for 2010 is almost $25 billion with the state and local tax burden being 10.5%. Voters in the state voted against sales and income tax increases, and with unemployment there nearing 12% and the worst housing market in the country, anyone could understand their unwillingness to vote FOR higher taxes. One of the things on the table now for the state to start raising some extra tax money? Legalize marijuana…
2) New York – With a state deficit estimate for 2010 at $17.6 billion and the state and local tax burden of 11.7%, this state ranks number two in SmartMoney’s poll. The governor of New York, David Paterson has unsuccessfully tried to pass an 18% tax on soft drinks, however he was able to raise taxes on cigarettes and wine. New Yorkers have the second highest tax burden due to the income tax rate of 7.85% for those earning more than $200K a year.
3) Florida – Florida’s deficit estimate for 2010 is $6 billion and the state and local tax burden is 7.4%. In May, Florida passed next year’s budget and included a $1 per pack increase on cigarettes as well as new and higher fees to renew a driver’s license or register a vehicle. While Florida does have the third lowest tax burden in the nation, the state has been hit hard by decreasing home values and huge budget deficit as a result. The deficit could mean more taxes in the future.
4) Massachusetts – Massachusetts has a state deficit estimate for 2010 of $3 billion and a state and local tax burden of 9.5%. While right now, it is middle of the road when it comes to it’s tax burden ranking (23rd in the nation), it is getting ready for some hefty tax increases. When the budget was passed last week, it included new taxes including a 1.25% increase in the sales tax from 5% to 6.25%. Satellite television subscribers will also be tinged with a 5% tax on satellite services.
5) Nevada – With a deficit of $1.2 billion and a state and local tax burden of 6.6%, it doesn’t seem like Nevada is doing that badly, but it had the same major problem that California did: rapidly decreasing property values. It also had a history of low taxes, there was no personal income tax and it imposed some of the lowest taxes on businesses in the country. It once got the majority of its revenue from tourism, so it wouldn’t have to tax residents as heavily. In Nevada, the sales tax is going up along with hotel taxes. It also has the highest deficit to budget ratio of 32%.
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Tags: tax burden, income tax rate, tax money
Not again:: A lesson in recession
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Dec 11 2009 | 0 Comments
It looks like the Obama administration is taking some steps in the right direction to ensure financial fiascoes like the one we’re finally emerging from never happens again. It looks as though financial regulations proposed by the president could mean simpler and smaller banks and financial institutions. In the new system, small banks wouldn’t carry the weight of the financial system and if it failed, the only way it could be saved is if it could find help from another bank or investor.
I’m glad to hear that the government is taking steps to keep something like this from happening again, because we all know how popular bailouts were when the government started handing out tens of billions of dollars to failing banks (sarcasm doesn’t always come out the best over written word, but I think many of you know that’s what I was going for).
To avoid having to do that again, President Obama’s regulatory plan is calling for large financial companies to “pay a heavy price for the system-wide risk they pose.” Under the plan, large companies like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, etc would face much stricter scrutiny and would be required to have more liquid assets as a buffer against a recession or another financial disaster like we have seen in the last year. Also, the banks would be required to anticipate and prepare for their own failure and would be required to draft very detailed descriptions of how to pick the company apart quickly without causing any harm to the overall financial system.
“Without banning them we’re providing some pretty heavy penalties for entering” the top group of institutions that could pose a risk to the entire financial system, said Diana Farrell, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council. “The regulator might say to a large institution, ‘Make sure there is very good reason to allow yourself to get that big, or that interconnected, or that complex because the penalties will wipe out any advantages, such as lower cost of capital, you might have.’”
There will be companies that have to just accept the new regulations and deal with them because to compete in the global capital market, some firms have to be large. I would guess that most would limit their size, however.
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Tags: goldman sachs, financial disaster, national economic council
Can advertisers get a “journalist” off the air?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Dec 02 2009 | 1 Comment
If it is possible for advertisers to get yellow journalist (you could call him an entertainer as there is no journalistic ethic in his broadcast) Glenn Beck off the air, it will happen soon. It all started when he uttered the following sentence on his show:
“This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people … this guy is, I believe, a racist.”
And that was that. The website ColorofChange.org decided to launch an assault against the television personality directed directly at the show’s wallet. The organization began going after the show’s advertisers and so far it has successfully gotten 20 advertisers to stop advertising on the show after the comment was made. The most recent in the list of advertisers to quit the show are Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CVS, Travelocity, Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank, Broadview Security, and Re-Bath.
A move like this could bring production of a show like this to a stand still. Cable news programs (as well as all programs) depend heavily on advertisers to keep the lights on, and without the big advertisers Fox News may end up canceling the show or replacing it with some other personality.
The companies that have pulled out of the program are some of the companies that have the biggest marketing budgets in the business and this program will really hurt unless it can, somehow, make it up to everyone. However, I don’t see anything Glenn Beck doing to either help the situation or any of the boycotters out there planning on letting up anytime soon.
While people like Glenn Beck are allowed a right to what they say, he needs to realize that every word that he says has a consequence and sometimes you have to apologize for saying things that are hurtful…If we all went around saying exactly what we thought all the time then half the population would be hiding under a rock crying.
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Tags: advertisers, journalist, fox news
The Fed says that banks need to get customer consent before imposing overdraft fees
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Nov 12 2009 | 1 Comment
After all the uproar that banks have started regarding overdraft fees for ATM and debit card transactions, the Federal Reserve has put a new rule in place that requires banks to get their customers’ consent before they are able to charge fees due to an overdraft. The rule is to go into effect on July 1st.
The rule came after consumer groups kept getting complaints from customers and members of Congress even said that the overdraft fees were unfair.
Many people believe that if their debit card is cleared for the charges, then there isn’t a problem with the amount of money in the bank.
I have always found it odd that overdraft fees always come from the smallest of charges and it is often something like a cup of coffee. I can only remember getting an overdraft fee once and it was for a soda from a convenience store. The only problem I had was the bank, which I had just visited and checked my balance, said I had more than $25 in my account.
It turns out some banks participate in a strange accounting practice that allows for small transactions to go through while deposits get put off.
I am really happy that the Fed got involved and decided to put this rule into effect. I wish it would have been put into place a bit earlier than July 1st of next year, but I suppose better late than never. Now if only some people were able to recover some of the overdraft fees that have been collected over the years for the “funny” accounting rules I was talking about earlier.
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Tags: accounting practice, debit card transactions, overdraft fee
