Does anyone out there have any idea how much it costs to do the accounting necessary to complete a corporate return? That is, not the cost of preparing the return per se, but the costs of collecting and maintaining all of the needed data. Does having a corporate income tax impose additional costs on running a corporation that wouldn’t exist in its absence (that is, are some data tracked that the corporation wouldn’t care about in the absence of the need to file a return)? Also, how much do things like depreciation schedules skew capital purchase decisions?
Figuring Out Who The Rubes Were
Barack Obama’s reelect numbers are down to 42% among Jews.
[Update a while later]
Is the US still an ally of Israel?
The hard Left’s multiculturalist furor at Israel has made enormous inroads into the Democratic party, as we see with the current “reset” policy of the Obama administration, while the old blue-blood, country-club Republicans who tsk-tsked Israel have almost vanished. Over the last 20 years the Left has reconstructed Israel from a bastion of the traditional liberal Jewish tradition into a Western, capitalist hegemonic oppressor, all of which shows the power of campus multculturalism when a tiny democratic country of 7 million can be reconfigured into a colonial power.
And that hard Left is running the country now. At least until January.
[Update a few minutes later]
Why Barack Obama is making Rashid Khalidi happy. Funny thing, the LA Times never has released the video of the birthday party. I wonder if it even exists any more?
Progressives
If only it were only a hundred dollars.
Obama’s Culture Of Dependence
…versus the Tea Partiers’ culture of independence. It’s not (just) about the taxes. It’s about the spending, and the perverse incentives built into the system. And as Michael Barone points out, the Susan Roesgens of the world don’t understand that.
Want A VAT?
Sure thing. Right after you repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. I personally consider that a necessary, but not necessarily sufficient condition.
More Space Access Conference Coverage
I didn’t notice Doug Isbell there, but apparently he was, because he has a report on the conference at Space News. And I haven’t seen much from Leonard David, who I know was there.
Time To Get Serious
It’s really the end of the Shuttle program, Florida. You’ve had six years to prepare. Deal with it.
Thoughts On Oklahoma City
And the vile demagoguery of the Democrats in the wake of it, from Glenn Reynolds:
Lies and smears aimed at their fellow Americans, for short-term political gain. This is who they are, and this is what they do. It worked better, however, when there were fewer alternative channels of communication, and when their character was less well-known.
And as he notes, they’re busy going after imaginary “right wing” “terrorists,” while pretending that the real ones, who really do want to destroy our civilization, don’t exist. And they are being ignored to the point that we can’t even describe their motivations. In fact, they were doing it then — the White House and Janet Reno’s justice department shut down any investigation that might have led to the revelation of offshore help for McVeigh. Once they had their white “right-wing” “Christian” (he was an agnostic) terrorist, no need to confuse the American people with John Doe Number Two. Besides, if (say) Iraq had been shown to be involved, they might have had to do something about it.
Are Libertarians Anti-Government?
Short answer: no. David Boaz has a longer one.
“We’ve Been There”
While in general I think that the new space policy is a vast improvement over the previous one, it is marred by the disdain that the administration displays toward the moon as a useful goal. Paul Spudis (who else) defends the moon against the foolish arguments opposed to it. There may be good reasons not to go back to the moon, but I haven’t heard any, and “we’ve been there” certainly isn’t one. I know for sure that that I haven’t been there.
Paul also asks, why wait for heavy lift?
This new document indicates that work will proceed on development of a heavy lift launch vehicle, with a decision on what vehicle to build coming in 2015 (note well: not building a vehicle, but making a decision on what vehicle to build). How will our decision on heavy lift be more informed in five years than it is now?
If there’s anyone who doesn’t speak for this administration, it’s me, but my answer is: if we start doing the necessary tech demos for autonomous docking/mating, propellant storage and transfer, we may be informed enough to finally convince everyone except the die-hard Apollo cargo cultists and giant penis enviasts that we don’t need a heavy lift vehicle, at least any larger than natural growth versions of what currently exists.