Chile

Bill Clinton Reveals Something Not Generally Known: Only Chile And Mexico Among OECD Nations Taxes Capital Gains Lower Than US!

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OECD, the Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, consists of 34 nations, that promote democracy and the market economy, and consists of nations in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Canada and Australia and New Zealand.

Their goal is to promote economic growth, and they hold regular meetings of delegations to accomplish that goal.

But former President Bill Clinton, arguing today at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, made the point in interviews, that wealthy people in America are indeed very privileged, and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also made that point in a speech.

The reason for both Clintons stating this is the statistic on Capital Gains on the wealthy, and the stunning reality that our 15 percent Capital Gains tax on investments in this nation, brought about by Republican action in Congress in the past decade, and helping to cause the budget crisis we face now, is the THIRD lowest of all the 34 nations in OECD, with only Chile and Mexico being lower!

So wealthy people are getting a real advantage on capital gains, as for instance Mitt Romney has had in the past decade, but also with income tax cuts for the wealthy in the past ten years, one could say that the wealthy are “making out like bandits”, as the saying goes, which is much too accurate!

Is It “Good” Politics And “Good” Diplomacy” For Mitt Romney To Be So Outspoken Publicly Overseas? NO!

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is making controversy and creating turmoil as he continues on his foreign policy trip to convince Americans and the world that he is ready for the Presidency.

After his flubs in Great Britain, antagonizing our closest ally, he has now gone “off the bridge” in his speeches and comments in Israel.

While trying to demonstrate his strong support of Israel, and hope to wean away many Jewish voters in America from Barack Obama, Romney has managed to make things worse by his actions.

Stating that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel by the United States, when both Republican and Democratic Presidents without fail from Lyndon B. Johnson to Barack Obama have felt it unwise to do so, creates a new problem for Middle East negotiations, which should not have been brought up at all.

It is not an issue of whether the US should recognize Jerusalem as the capital, but since both parties and all Presidents have steered clear of it up to now, for a total of 45 years, a campaign trip is the wrong place to bring it up.

Also, Romney compared Israeli and Jewish achievements to the failures of the Palestinians, which are indeed true, but should have been left unsaid, as all it does is antagonize the Arabs, which still have to be dealt with if there is to be any chance of Middle East peace at any point in the future.

And comparing israel and the Palestinians to the US and Mexico or Chile and Ecuador as examples also, unnecessarily, can make those nations angry, and serves no purpose!

Mitt Romney is demonstrating his recklessness in speech, so one wonders about his potential recklessness in action, were he to become President of the United States in 2013!

Chilean Miners And First Responders On September 11: A World Of Difference!

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A year after the Chilean Copper Mine disaster, leading to the ultimate miraculous recovery of 33 miners, we have known that the miners have suffered from physical and psychological harm, what is considered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

But now, the most wonderful possible event has occurred, as the government (meaning its taxpayers in effect), have decided that all of the miners should receive a pension for life, after what they went through, which will scar them for the rest of their lives! This is a wonderful gesture, making the lives of the miners a bit more pleasant and secure!

Why bring this up?

Because this is precisely the proper thing that our government at all levels should do, in response to the sacrifice of the First Responders on September 11 in New York City and Washington, DC!

Many have developed cancer, and many have other physical ills. Many have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as well. But the reaction has been to deny a connection between these physical and mental ills and September 11!

This is morally wrong, and despicable, as again the priorities are messed up! Those who protect us, defend us, sacrifice for us, are pushed aside as just “public servants”!

Meanwhile, others who have gotten away with low taxation on their profits and fortunes are made out to be untouchable, to have no sacrifice needed, as America faces massive economic problems caused to a great extent by the refusal of the Bush Administration to make taxpayers pay for two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only time in history that our taxes have not gone up in time of war! This is another long range impact of September 11.

And to top it off, the decision of the Bush Administration to LOWER taxes on the wealthy is truly IMMORAL to the extreme, and only promotes more selfishness and greed!

It is time that we honor those who sacrificed on September 11, and stop coddling wealthy people and corporations, who enriched themselves in many cases on September 11 and its aftermath!

Time to do for FIrst Responders, what Chile proudly has done for the copper miners who went through so much in the mine disaster a year ago!

The Copiapo Copper Mine Rescue In Chile: A Repudiation Of Rand Paul’s Libertarian, Anti Government Lunacy!

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The whole world is gripped by the rescue that has begun of the 33 copper miners who have been stranded underground for ten weeks in Chile, and the realization that Chile has no regulation of the conditions of its miners! This crisis is a call on Chile, an advanced country compared to most in Latin America and the world at large, to accept the responsibility of its government to change its attitude on this matter!

But it is also a repudiation of Tea Party favorite and Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul of Kentucky, with his assertion that the federal and state governments should not be meddling in the conditions of coal miners, whether in Kentucky, where they are not unionized, or elsewhere, where some mining operations are unionized. Paul is upset that, in all cases, there is federal oversight of mines!

We have seen so many accidents and tragedies in coal mining and other mining operations in the recent past, as well as in the long run of American history!

For someone running for the Senate to assert that federal oversight is unnecessary, and that unionization is interference with the free market, makes one wonder what kind of lunatic Rand Paul is!

A man with such anarchistic views, who does not give a damn about the lives and safety of coal miners and other miners, and wants to leave their condition in the hands of mine operators alone, should be denounced!

If Kentucky elects Rand Paul to the Senate in three weeks, with such outrageous views on his part, it can be said that the state will gain the reputation of being one of the most backward states of the Union! The proper reaction would be to say “Shame on you!” 🙁