W2 Season, Get Ready for the Taxman

Well if you're like me you got your W2 form this week (that yearly reminder that the federal government gets its share of your earnings first), or you are expecting it any day now so you can submit your tax return or if you owe more, how long you can delay the agony.

The best video we found this week pays homage to none other than the overseer of all spending of tax moneys:  Barrack Obama.

Our apologies to The Beatles

The average American has a tax rate around 25%.  It's easy to see why some people are just counting down the days until they have worked off their annual burden.

But don't celebrate Tax Freedom Day just yet;  You may need to factor in state income tax, sales tax or local property taxes!  Then there's the federal tax on every gallon of gas you buy (18 cents per gallon), while we're looking at your car you probably shelled out enough to buy a nice dinner for two just so you can drive the car on public roads for a year.  Extra fees for fishing, taxes on hotel rooms for your business and vacation travel, the list goes on and on and on!

 

If it drives you to drink... well you know they taxed that too.  My state even tried taxing illegal drugs just to snag more revenue from people they caught, it worked for a couple of years.  And it wasn't the first time some drugs have been taxed.

We hope you enjoyed the video.  You can breathe easy now, there's no tax on air yet.


Now some insight into how Warren Buffet's talk about taxes still barely affects him, meanwhile his company doesn't seem to be taking the high road and paying it's taxes.

Solutions for Schools

Finishing up National School Choice Week:  Rebuilding Right in New Orleans

"We can't do this to kids. We are paying far too much money for a public education system that isn't working," says Vice President of National School Choice Week Andrew Campanella.

Empowering parents and students!

Be sure to "like" them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/schoolchoiceweek

Our second feature today is -
Learn Liberty and Professor Skoble on Social Cooperation: Why Thieves Hate Free Markets

Well this wraps up January of 2012, recapping the post popular posts this month:
The History of Austrian Economics

The Solution to the Debt Ceiling

Thanks for watching, thanks for the +1s and sharing the links with your friends and don't forget to Follow this blog

Freedom and Equality + Think Different

During the State of the Union address much was made of how some people have more economically and the Buffet Rule.  He also mentioned Steve Jobs, much more on that below.

So this week's choice comes from the Economic Freedom channel:

Next for a full length show we share biographer Walter Isaacson on Steve Jobs.  Jobs, mentioned by the president, was economically rewarded by bringing out the best quality in computers via the capitalist system.  Jobs might have been a better responder to the SOTU address than Mitch Daniels.  But we do know that Jobs spoke with the President and I think his influence was reflected in the Tuesday evening speech.

`When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative.
"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.
Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.`       ~ Steve Jobs to President Obama in 2010 *

So two of the key topics mentioned tonight by the president come from Job's mouth.

1. He has passed fewer regulations [on business] than the previous administration
2.  Teachers who don't perform should be cut.  That may cause a panic among some mediocre educators who feel safe with the union and tenure.

`...keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn.` ~ President Obama, January 24, 2012

Well that is all for this week.  This last link will make you Think Different, coincidentally this video announces the arrival of a technology game changer exactly 28 years ago this day, January 24th, 1984.

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO 'THINK DIFFERENT' ABOUT ECONOMIC POLICY AND GOVERNMENT!

* Read the whole article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/steve-jobs-biography-obama_n_1022786.html

The solution to the Debt Ceiling

Humor has a way of helping make a point.  I think we can share this one with our not so econ-nerd friends, the punchline really hits home.

Debt Limit, going UP. <ding>



And for the more serious study today we have four minutes on The Expenditure Categories of GDP which was just posted by Jodi at Economists Do It With Models.

This video outlines the expenditure categories of Gross Domestic Product and explains how they come together in order to form aggregate output or income.


If you like that video you can find more on the page above.






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The History of Austrian Economics

The latest from FEE.org; The History of Austrian Economics

140 years broken down into four periods:

• 1871 - 1914 (WW1) The Founding Period 
• 1914 - 1932  Period of Consolidation
• 1932 - 1974  Era of Mises and Hayek
• 1974 - recent

This is good but be prepared to watch, it's an hour long.  I recommend getting a snack and maybe a notepad for maximized viewing quality.