Author: Papa Giorgio

Real Jobs Loss

Published by Papa Giorgio

This is from HotAir:

As a follow-up to my earlier post on employment and stimulus, here’s a chart of what may be the most significant data on the topic. Barack Obama claims that the unemployment rate dropping from 9.7% to 9.5% shows that we’re moving in the right direction economically — but that data doesn’t include those who have left the workforce out of discouragement. They have no jobs and have given up looking for another due to economic conditions, according to the categorization by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This chart shows the direction in which our economic policies have taken the US…. These represent the gross numbers of able-bodied workers outside the workforce and no longer looking for jobs. The red star indicated when Barack Obama’s stimulus was passed [Remember, he said that if it passed, it the jobless rate wouldn’t reach double-digits and stay at about 8%] , and we can see the effects or lack thereof on the workforce afterward. Not only has the unemployment rate gone up and the number of jobs continued to drop since February 2009, Americans are increasingly leaving the workforce instead of joining it.

New Black Panther Chairman Malik Shabazz Praises Osama bin Laden

Published by Papa Giorgio

This is with a HotAir h/t, but the below is from EyeBlast:

EyeBlast.tv has uncovered another rare video of the New Black Panthers Chairman Malik Shabazz from a closed door meeting, this time the footage shows him praising Osama bin Laden just 6 months after the September 11 terrorist attacks on March 22, 2002.

Shabazz stated he has to “give his respect” because “he’s bringing reform to the world”. He also believes that the attacks were an inside job, saying he doesn’t know if he can trust that bin Laden was the mastermind, because the government “knows how to fix up the videos.” He has a long and storied history of blaming everything on Jewish people–claiming there was Jewish involvement in the attacks.

At one point, Shabazz told the audience to “give him a hand” and those in attendance began to clap and cheer. He also tells the other panthers that mathematically, bin Laden is their friend because he got Bush and Rumsfeld, “shakin and quakin.” He finishes by saying his name will go down in history because he won’t die a “punk” or a “sissy.”

I’m sure if Osama bin Laden knew Chairman Shabazz the feeling would be reciprocated.

You can find an 8-minute version of this video here. You can also find recently uncovered videos of the New Black Panther party within this link.

Miami Was The Easy Choice For LeBron James – Econ 101

Published by Papa Giorgio

For all the links out and more of the post, click story title:

Jilted Basketball Fans Should Blame the Income Tax, not LeBron James

by Dan Mitchell

Supporters of the Cleveland Cavaliers, especially the owner of the team, are upset that basketball superstar LeBron James has decided to sign with the Miami Heat. The anger is especially intense because the Cavaliers offered $4 million more over the next five years. But their anger is misplaced, because more money in Cleveland, Ohio, actually translates into about $1 million less disposable income when the burden of state and local income taxes is added to the equation. Rather than condemn James for making a rational choice, local basketball fans should tar and feather Ohio politicians.

This story from CNBC walks through the calculations.

…if you match up what James’ salary would be for the first five years in Cleveland and the five years in Miami, you find that the Cavaliers are only offering him $4 million more. That advantage gets erased — and actually gives the Heat the monetary edge over — when you consider the income tax difference. …Playing in Cleveland, LeBron would face a state income tax of 5.925 percent, plus a Cleveland city tax of two percent. Over the first five years of a new contract with Cleveland, James would give back $3,953,060 combined to the state and city for the 41 games each season he’d play at home. But James would have to pay none of that for home games in Miami since Florida doesn’t have an income tax. Athletes have to pay income taxes to states that they play in on the road, so the games he’ll play away from home — whether he played for Cleveland or Miami — are essentially a wash. But there are, on average, 11 away games per season where James would have to pay Ohio and Cleveland taxes. Why? Because he has to pay when he plays in the six areas – Florida, Texas, Washington D.C., Illinois, Toronto and Tennessee – that have no jock taxes. That’s another $1,061,128 he’ll have to pay in taxes that he wouldn’t have to pay in Miami.

New York basketball fans also should be angry. With some of the highest taxes in the nation, many of which target highly productive people as part of class-warfare policy, New York is bad news for professional athletes.

The New York Post, commenting on the probability that James would sign with the Miami Heat, identified the real villains.

…blame our dysfunctional lawmakers in Albany, who have saddled top-earning New Yorkers with the highest state and city income taxes in the nation, soon to be 12.85 percent on top of the IRS bite. There is no state income tax in Florida. On a five-year contract worth $96 million — what he’d get from the Knicks or the Heat — LeBron would pay $12.34 million in New York taxes. Quite a penalty for the privilege of working in Midtown.

Now let’s look at the big picture. The calculations that LeBron James made when deciding to sign with the Miami Heat are the same calculations that companies make when deciding whether to build factories and create jobs…

…(read more)…