Ruminations on biblical studies, technology, economics, and sports from Jason A. Staples
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has charted the income data of various religions in the USA, showing which religious traditions tend to be more affluent and which tend to be poorer (see the writeup in the NYT here). As you can see from the chart, Reform Jews come out on top, closely [...] Read more »
Frank Aquila makes an excellent suggestion in the San Francisco Times for a legitimate private-sector stimulus: dropping the current 35% tax barriers for repatriation of a company’s foreign-source income (at least for a tax holiday, if not permanently). The USA is a rarity in that it taxes revenue made outside its borders—but it only taxes [...] Read more »
Thomas Friedman has managed to publish a good op-ed in the NYTimes, one in which he looks at America’s shrinking status as a superpower and persistent educational failings (building off two other recent pieces, this one by Michael Hirsh and this one by Robert Samuelson) and ultimately concludes that the real problem has been a [...] Read more »
Michael Snyder’s recent Yahoo! Finance article points out quite a few disturbing trends that signal the disappearance of the middle class in the United States, as the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” continues to increase: • 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people. • 61 [...] Read more »
A few financial/economic links to check out: The Dollar Adrift (WSJ): The dollar is getting killed, thanks to the Fed keeping the money spigot on full blast to “fight deflation” during this recession. So instead of dealing with a mere downturn, we’re setting ourselves up for a full-scale currency crisis as the rest of the [...] Read more »
