Free Republic

What do cigarettes and capital gains have in common? Well, they both start with the same letter, so maybe the Cookie Monster could incorporate them into his favorite song, but I’m thinking about something else. Specifically, both cigarettes and capital gains tell us something important about tax policy, the Laffer Curve, and the limits of political bullying. In both cases, there are folks on the left who disapprove of these two “c” words and want to penalize them with high tax rates. But it turns out that both cigarettes and capital gains are moving targets, so the politicians are grossly...

SNIP As I reported a few weeks ago, some professors published a peer-reviewed article on the negative social costs to outright legalization. I noted that although overall traffic fatalities in Colorado have gone down since 2007, they went up by 100 percent for operators testing positive for marijuana—from 39 in 2007 to 78 in 2012. (Colorado legalized marijuana for medical usage in 2009, before legalizing marijuana for other uses in 2012.) Furthermore, in 2007, those pot-positive drivers represented only 7 percent of total fatalities in Colorado, but in 2012 they represented 16 percent of total Colorado fatalities. This new report...

Well now they have done it. They killed a priest. A high priest. A secular high priest. They killed a journalist I mean. “In the video released on Tuesday,” reports Asia News Channel, “an individual presumed to be [freelance journalist James] Foley - who was captured by militants in Syria in November 2012 - is seen on his knees in a desert landscape reading a statement asking his family to stop the US intervention in Iraq. A man standing next to him dressed in black with his face covered and holding a knife then says in a distinct British accent...

It appears Sen. Orin Hatch's comment that "everything from this ill-conceived tax's structure to its implementation has been a disaster," are coming true. As AP reports, an "Obamacare" tax on medical devices is falling short of its revenue target because thousands of companies aren't paying it, according to a government audit released Tuesday. An audit found the IRS received only 5,107 returns (against expectations of over 9,000) with a 24% shortfall in revenues. The tax is projected to generate $29 billion over the coming decade, so a 24 percent shortfall - if it were sustained - would be significant. As...

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 2014-- Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) today reported second quarter Adjusted earnings per share1 of $0.78, a decrease of 20.6 percent from $0.98 per share in 2013, and GAAP earnings per share of $0.37. In addition to operating results, second quarter GAAP earnings per share reflect: Net pre-tax data breach expenses of $111 million, or (11) cents per share2; Pre-tax early debt retirement losses of $285 million, or (27) cents per share2; Pre-tax impairment losses on undeveloped U.S. land of $16 million, or (1) cent per share, and; A (1)-cent impact related to the reduction of the beneficial interest...

California voters, who have always favored the Affordable Care Act by a large majority, now support it more strongly than ever, according to an opinion survey published Tuesday. A new Field Poll, conducted from late June to mid-July, shows that 56 percent of registered voters in the state favor the health reform law, also known as Obamacare, while 35 percent are opposed. The poll, sponsored by the California Wellness Foundation, was based on telephone interviews conducted from June 26 to July 19 – in seven languages – with 1,535 registered voters.

Ukraine's conflict with separatist rebels is draining the economy by the day and hampering efforts to implement reforms as required by an IMF bailout programme, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday. According to the terms of a $17 billion International Monetary Fund loan package, Ukraine must implement set reforms, but the country, which is virtually bankrupt and running wide external deficits, has had to divert substantial funds in its fight to contain the pro-Russia insurgency.

Voters in the city that launched President Barack Obama's political career are split over whether to put tax dollars into luring his presidential library to Chicago. Less than half of those surveyed in a Chicago Tribune poll — 47 percent — said they favored the idea of using tax money to attract or build the library, while 45 percent said they opposed it and 8 percent were undecided. There was a gap along racial lines: 61 percent of black voters polled were in support and 60 percent of white voters opposed. The survey was taken as the Barack Obama Foundation...

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is putting off thousands of tourists who had planned trips to Africa this year, especially Asians, including to destinations thousands of miles from the nearest infected community such as Kenya and South Africa. The bulk of the cancellations are from Asia, which has had its own share of health crises, but visitors from the United States, Brazil and Europe have also scrapped their plans or delayed trips, they said. Besides tourism, Ebola fears are also hitting business travel and investment events in Africa, threatening the continent's image as a rising economic star.

(CNSNews.com) – The average price for all types of ground beef per pound hit its all-time high -- $3.884 per pound -- in the United States in July, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That was up from $3.880 per pound in June. A year ago, in July 2013, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $3.459 per pound. Since then, the average price for a pound of ground beef has gone up 42.1 cents--or about 12 percent. Five years ago, in July 2009, the average price for a pound of...

A warmer, wetter climate with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would undoubtedly produce more plant growth and more food. However climate-cooling policies that claim to prevent global warming by throttling the use of carbon fuels will definitely reduce food supply and increase food prices. The promotion of ethanol for motor fuel is anti-food. This “food for fuel” program has absorbed significant quantities of corn, soy beans, sugar and palm oils. Consequently prices for ethanol crops are higher than they would otherwise be, encouraging farmers to convert land currently devoted to grazing animals and other food crops to growing more...

Target Corp. lowered its outlook for the year.... The big-box retailer, which also posted a 62% decline in earnings for its second quarter, has been trying to bounce back from the data breach over the holiday season. The company booked expenses tied to the fumble of $148 million in the latest quarter....

The government's latest survey of job openings and labor turnover implies that while the U.S. labor market has improved significantly since the recession, it is far from having recovered. The key determinant of labor market health is hiring, and hiring remains well below normal. The data-rich Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, which Fed chair Janet Yellen is said to follow closely, reports monthly hires and separations, with the separation defined as the termination of an employment relationship for any reason. The hiring and separation numbers reveal important but little-known facts about how the U.S. labor market operates....

Deep into a conflict that has sundered decades-old ties between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine is still selling military gear over the border to its neighbor, Ukrainian defense industry officials say. Kiev’s pleas for an end to trade ties have run into strong resistance from workers at companies like Motor Sich, here in Ukraine’s industrial heartland, where 27,000 employees build engines tailor-made for Russian military helicopters and planes. Most senior executives here grew up as part of the same Soviet military-industrial club as their Russian peers. “We have our own party, the party of Motor Sich,’’ company spokesman Anatoliy Malysh said.

In addition to reviewing the deportation system of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, the Obama administration is weighing executive actions to change the legal immigration system in ways that could benefit businesses, the Wall Street Journal reports. [Snip] Mr. Obama is reportedly weighing unilateral steps he could take to defer deportations for anywhere from 550,000 to 4.4 million immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, as well as providing some with work permits. The move is sure to draw harsh criticism from Republicans, who argued that they could not pass immigration reform in 2014 because the president cannot be trusted...

Cooking The Books: It's been 110 days since the last "monthly" report on ObamaCare enrollment, when the president bragged that 8 million had signed up. What are they hiding? Since then, the administration's claim that 8 million enrolled for health care through an ObamaCare exchange has looked increasingly dubious. A Government Accountability Office report found that the enrollment numbers were unreliable because they haven't been reconciled with industry data. Insurers say that as many as one in five of those who signed up didn't pay their first premiums...

Copenhagen (AFP) - Danish brewer Carlsberg cut its annual profit guidance on Wednesday and said economic uncertainty in Russia, its biggest market, could prompt it to close some breweries. Clouds over the outlook in some parts of eastern Europe had cut consumption of beer, the company said. "Due to the recent macro events the consumer sentiment and the outlook for some of the economies in eastern Europe are becoming increasingly challenging and uncertain," the company said in its quarterly earnings statement. "Consequently, we believe that the beer category will deteriorate further in the second half of the year," it added....

HARTFORD - A broad coalition of environmental, economic, regional and construction groups urged Connecticut's gubernatorial candidates Tuesday to conduct a debate focused on transportation issues, and to consider higher taxes and tolls to pay for the state's dire transportation needs. The activists put out a four-point program they said the state's next governor must consider, and expressed concern about the possibility that massive federal funding for highways and mass transit might dry up in the next few years. The coalition's key issues are: •Making certain that state revenue that is supposed to be devoted to transportation - such as gas...

Those little bundles of joy are going to cost you — big time. A child born in 2013 will drain an average of $245,340 from his or her middle-class parents over the kid’s first 18 years on Earth, a federal study revealed on Monday. And that doesn’t even include the cost of college. The figure is up $4,260, or almost 2 percent, from the year before, according to the report from the annual United States Department of Agriculture. Factoring in inflation, the total cost will turn out to be closer to $340,480 in actual greenbacks spent. The latest figures blow...

Imperial Presidency: Secret scheming between the White House and Big Business on immigration is all about political cover for unconstitutional executive action. Cheap labor now isn't worth socialism tomorrow. If high-tech giants such as Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and Accenture endorse President Obama's impending executive orders giving amnesty to multitudes of illegal aliens without congressional assent, America will in essence have become the corporatocracy the Saul Alinskys of the world have always claimed they fear. Politico reports that some of these firms and others are talking with high-ranking Obama aides, the White House's goal being these companies' public backing for...