Hardheaded Socialism Makes Canada Richer Than U.S. On July 1, Canada Day, Canadians awoke to a startling, if pleasant, piece of news: For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American. According to data from Environics Analytics WealthScapes published in the Globe and Mail, the net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, while the average American household’s net worth was $319,970.
A few days later, Canada and the U.S. both released the latest job figures. Canada’s unemployment rate fell, again, to 7.2 percent, and America’s was a stagnant 8.2 percent. Canada continues to thrive while the U.S. struggles to find its way out of an intractable economic crisis and a political sine curve of hope and despair. The difference grows starker by the month: The Canadian system is working; the American system is not. And it’s not just Canadians who are noticing. Canadian Luck Good politics do not account entirely for recent economic triumphs. The truth is that both sides are right. FBI launches JPMorgan probe, shareholders back Dimon. Gay Marriage Could Give The Economy A Much-Needed Boost. David Peters, right, and Luke Whited, a gay couple who are joined in a civil union in Illinois, pose for the camera prior to being interviewed about Obama's statement of support of gay marriage on Wednesday If President Obama's endorsement of gay marriage does convince more states to follow suit with full-fledged legislation, it could free up a lot of cash along the way.
That's because gay marriage would be a shot in the arm to the economy, writes Matt Yglesias at Slate. "Weddings are expensive," Yglesias writes, "so a sudden change in the legal framework would be a shock to economy-wide aggregate spending as a whole bunch of long-standing committed same sex couples rushed to celebrate with friends and family. " As HuffPost's Mark Gongloff points out, gay marriage is also deficit-friendly: No government spending, just a whole bunch of people getting married. All those legally sanctioned gay weddings would theoretically mean gay couples would spend more money getting married. Eric Cantor on Raising Taxes on the Poor: 'You've Got to Discuss That' - Derek Thompson - Business. Should we raise taxes on richer Americans?
Eric Cantor has a clear answer. Absolutely, 100% no. Should we raise taxes on poorer Americans? Eric Cantor has a different answer: "You've got to discuss that issue. " Here's the fuller quote, via Tim Noah: Cantor: We also know that over 45 percent of the people in this country don't pay income taxes at all, and we have to question whether that's fair. Q.: Just wondering, what do you do about that? Cantor: I'm saying that, just in a macro way of looking at it, you've got to discuss that issue. It's true that more than 45% of Americans don't pay net positive federal income taxes. What would it take to force these lucky duckies to pay positive income taxes? A lot of what Eric Cantor is saying I agree with. It is a matter of economic dogma that taxes discourage behavior. The High Cost of Looking Low Class.
Yesterday I posted a link to $525 paint-splattered shoes — you, too, can look like a manual laborer. But this was also a call for submissions: what is the most expensive apparel you can buy to make yourself look poor? Here are some of the most egregious items you sent in. From Maison Michel, we have this "paint-splashed" hat for $755. Or as Gawker reader Ryan B. calls it, an "$800 bird shit hat": "For 800 dollars you can look like a bird SHARTED all over your head. " As long as you're willing to buy pre-owned — and hey, that just adds an extra level of poor person authenticity — you can snag these "destroyed and painted jeans" from eBay for $895.
Unless, of course, the bid goes higher. It's actually a steal if you consider that the jeans were originally purchased for $1,300 at a vintage shop in Tokyo. But since we're approaching summer, perhaps you'd prefer paint-splattered shorts, a much more reasonable buy at $285. Fishnet prints, waves of crochet, and silks the color of seafoam! In Weak Job Market, One In Two College Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed. WASHINGTON — The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work. A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.
Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs – waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example – and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans. An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor's degrees. Opportunities for college graduates vary widely. While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.
Also on HuffPost: Investment, Mutual Funds, ETFs & Stocks. Fix income inequality with $10 million loans for everyone! So why not let everyone participate? Under my plan, each American household could borrow $10 million from the Fed at zero interest. The more conservative among us can take that money and buy 10-year Treasury bonds. At the current 2 percent annual interest rate, we can pocket a nice $200,000 a year to live on. The more adventuresome can buy 10-year Greek debt at 21 percent, for an annual income of $2.1 million. Or if Greece is a little too risky for you, go with Portugal, at about 12 percent, or $1.2 million dollars a year. Think of what we can do with all that money. Of course, we will have to persuade Congress to pass a law authorizing all this Fed lending, but that shouldn’t be hard. And while that deal blew bigger holes in the deficit, my proposal won’t cost taxpayers anything because the Fed is just going to print the money.
Because we will be making money in basically the same way as hedge fund managers, we should have to pay only 15 percent in taxes, just like they do. Super Rich Still Have Little To Fear From IRS. 401K/Flickr In 2009, IRS commissioner Doug Shulman said in a speech that the IRS had formed a new group of auditors who were going to be directing their attention at a special group of taxpayers: the super rich. Dubbing them "global high wealth individuals," Shulman promised that his agency would be taking a hard look at people who had tens of millions of dollars worth of assets and income tied up in complicated financial dealings that often involved overseas banking and aggressive tax avoidance strategies. The IRS, he said, wanted to make sure that hard-working, tax-paying Americans could be sure that everyone is paying her own fair share.
It's certainly a ripe area for the government to turn up more revenue. In fiscal 2011, audits of people making more than $1 million identified $5 billion in underreported income tax, and that's just for the roughly 15 percent of millionaires the IRS audited. Companies Buying Stocks, Not Employees. 20 Tax Changes You Need To Know About. 233 Ways to Make Money. Many of our customers are entrepreneurs. In this post, I thought I’d try to light the entrepreneurial fire under some of our other readers by publishing the world’s longest list of ways to make money.
I aimed to include as many ways to make money that don’t require special training as possible (and I’ll add to the list over time so bookmark it now). Without further ado, the list… Update (April 20, 2011): We’ve grown considerably over the last few months and, accordingly, it’s time to scale our transcription team. If you’re interested in working as a transcriptionist for AudioTranscription.Org, please visit our transcription jobs page.
Update (December 2, 2010): If you’re interested in this list of ways to make money, you might also be interested in our list of 277 ways to save money. Moneyland | Financial Insights from Your Wallet to Wall Street. Topics Advertising Ask the Expert Careers & Workplace Economy Small Business Why Is Facebook Taking Down Marijuana Dispensary Pages? Volkswagen’s Former CEO ‘Knew About Defeat Device in Early 2014’ This is How Much Boeing Thinks the Southeast Asian Market is Worth By Geoffrey Smith / Fortune | Feb. 15, 2016 By Claire Zillman / Fortune | Feb. 15, 2016 Japan’s Economy Contracts in Latest Setback for Abe Recovery By Elaine Kurtenbach / AP | Feb. 14, 2016 HSBC Has Decided to Keep Its Headquarters in London By Associated Press | Feb. 14, 2016 Etch A Sketch Has a New Canadian Owner By Associated Press | Feb. 12, 2016 Ikea Accused of Dodging Over €1 Billion in Taxes By Lucinda Shen / Fortune | Feb. 12, 2016 Victoria’s Secret CEO Unexpectedly Resigns By Phil Wahba / Fortune | Feb. 12, 2016 AT&T Plans to Test 5G Wireless Connectivity in 2016 By Don Reisinger / Fortune | Feb. 12, 2016 Why ‘Twitter’s Final Days’ Has the Ring of Truth By Victor Luckerson | Feb. 12, 2016 Your browser is out of date.
X. Taxes That Surprisingly Most Americans Support. If ever there was a truism, it’s that everybody hates taxes—this week especially. Or do they? In at least a handful of situations, a surprisingly large portion of Americans favor introducing new taxes or jacking up the rates on existing ones. Here are five possible new taxes that, at least in theory, get plenty of support: Soda Tax Taxing sugary soft drinks has been proposed as a way to discourage people—kids especially—from drinking high-calorie beverages, which would hopefully lower obesity rates. The idea has been endorsed by the New England Journal of Medicine because it would also raise significant revenues for health care. It’s been estimated that a 1¢ per ounce tax would pull in $14.9 billion in the first year alone. Admittedly, in this instance—and many others, surely—California is not necessarily representative of the country as a whole. (MORE: Are High Gas Prices Boosting Online Shopping?)
(MORE: The Jobless Generation) (MORE: A Real Recovery? Facebook Increasingly Becomes a Helpful Tool for Employers in Job Interviews. Privacy advocates say that, for now, it is legal for a prospective employer, during a job interview, to insist that you log into your Facebook page and then click through your “friends only” posts, photos and messages. The ACLU put a stop to companies demanding that applicants turn over their login and password credentials, but “shoulder surfing,” as it’s been dubbed, is legal for the time being. Aleecia M. McDonald, a privacy researcher and resident Fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, says high unemployment makes it hard to stamp out this practice. “When you have a job market where there are more job seekers than hirers, you’re going to see things like demanding to see your Facebook wall because if you say no, someone else is waiting for that interview.”
Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, doubts that opening up one’s Facebook page to a potential employer is ever voluntary.