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The IRS recently released official tax statistics by income group for the 2004 tax year, and the new data show that despite what some critics of recent tax policy have suggested, all income groups have witnessed their effective federal income tax rates fall, including lower- and middle-income taxpayers. (Table Omitted - Could Not Get HTML to behave) Several important stories emerge from this table. First, effective tax rates have fallen for every income group. Those in the bottom and middle income groups, as well as millionaires, have seen their tax rates fall. The percentage decrease in tax burden is greatest...

While researchers have long shown that tall people earn more than their shorter counterparts, it's not only social discrimination that accounts for this inequality -- tall people are just smarter than their height-challenged peers, a new study finds. "As early as age three -- before schooling has had a chance to play a role -- and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests," wrote Anne Case and Christina Paxson of Princeton University in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The findings were based primarily on two British studies that followed children born in...

By a narrow margin, South Dakotans don't believe former senator Tom Daschle should run for president. Forty-onepercent of voters in our KELOLAND-TV/Argus Leader poll say the former democratic leader should not run for the White House while39 percent think Daschle should run and20 percent aren't sure. There's a margin of error of plus/minus 3.5 percent. Daschle has said he'll make a decision by the end of the year. QUESTION: Do you feel former Senator Tom Daschle should or should not run for President in 2008? STATE MEN WOMEN DEMS REPS INDS SHOULD 39% 33% 45% 56% 23% 50% SHOULD NOT...

Ousted Bush foe mulls political comeback Sun Jul 2, 2006 10:41 AM ET By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's No. 1 Democrat until his ouster by voters two years ago, Tom Daschle is weighing a campaign comeback he hopes might propel him into the White House in 2008. The first Senate leader in half a century to be voted out of office, the South Dakotan hopes to turn the outspoken opposition to President George W. Bush that was his downfall in his home state into a plus with voters nationwide. "I'm ready for another challenge," Daschle, 58,...

Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, George McGovern, says he has encouraged Tom Daschle to run for president in 2008. McGovern lost to Republican Richard Nixon in the 1972 election. Eight years later he lost his bid for re-election to the Senate. McGovern expects up to a dozen people to run for the Democratic nomination for president, and he says Daschle has as good a chance as anyone. Daschle expects to make a decision by year's end on whether he'll run.

State lawmakers voted Friday to ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota and sent the measure to the governor, who said he is inclined to sign it. Under the legislation, doctors in South Dakota would face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. The bill directly targets Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. State lawmakers believe the nation's highest court is now more likely to reverse itself on the abortion issue because of the recent appointments of Justices John Roberts and Samuel...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Inspired by a reader who sent a list of once American corporations who's profits are no longer funneled to the hard-working American employee, I investigated the subject. The clip that landed on my desk was from "America is Selling Out," published in The American Conservative, December, 2005. As I digested, emotionally charged from the publication's Web site at www.economyincrisis.org, I agreed with some of the information, discarded the sensational propaganda and extrapolated my take on the issues' raw facts. From what I've experienced and witnessed first-hand, I consider the current state...

PIERRE, S.D. - Republican Sen. John Thune says his first year in office has been a good one. Thune, who defeated former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004, said he has learned a lot since he was sworn in last January. A former member of the House, Thune said he has found it easier effect change in the Senate. "It is nice to be one of 100 (senators) as opposed to one of 435 (House members)," said Thune. He said one of the biggest frustrations during has tenure has been the struggle to put the people's interests ahead of...

What’s the Matter With South Dakota? December 28th, 2005 On Tuesday the Washington Post ran a front-page story on the rarity of abortion in South Dakota. A good news story, right? No, not to the Post. Though liberals often say, a la Bill Clinton, that they prefer abortion “rare,” they usually treat its rarity as bad news and an alarm bell for renewed abortion activism. The subtext of the Post’s story, “South Dakota Makes Abortion Rare Though Laws and Stigma,” is: unless Roe v. Wade is shored up, even strengthened, the whole country may go the way of South Dakota,...

A fifth straight year of economic expansion in 2006 promises to mean new jobs, higher pay, and maybe even fatter investment portfolios for millions of Americans. Despite a backdrop of challenges - notably signs of climate change in the nation's sizzling real estate market and investor jitters over bond rates - this forecast represents a strong consensus among economists. There's no guarantee that the economy will actually match current expectations of 3.4 percent growth next year. But of more than 50 business economists surveyed by Blue Chip Economic Indicators, all but five see growth of 3 percent or higher. The...

December 28, 2005--Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans believe the National Security Agency (NSA) should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 23% disagree. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Americans say they are following the NSA story somewhat or very closely. Just 26% believe President Bush is the first to authorize a program like the one currently in the news. Forty-eight percent (48%) say he is not while 26% are not sure.

President Bush Job Approval Friday December 23, 2005--Fifty percent (50%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's up six points since the President's speech on Sunday night. It's also the first time since July that the President's Job Approval has reached the 50% mark. He earns approval from 81% of Republicans, 23% of Democrats, and 42% of those not affiliated with either major political party. Investor confidence has also jumped in recent days to the highest level in a year and a half. Consumer confidence reached the highest level in...

In the face of mounting questions about news stories saying that President Bush approved a program to wiretap American citizens without getting warrants, the White House argues that Congress granted it authority for such surveillance in the 2001 legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda. On Tuesday, Vice President Cheney said the president "was granted authority by the Congress to use all means necessary to take on the terrorists, and that's what we've done." As Senate majority leader at the time, I helped negotiate that law with the White House counsel's office over two harried days. I can...

Commission Votes to Save Ellsworth Base By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The base closing commission voted Friday to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota - rejecting the Pentagon's plan to close it - as the panel labored toward conclusion of a politically delicate task that has brought alternating sighs of relief and exasperation in communities across America. The surprise decision was a setback for Pentagon leaders, a blessing for South Dakotans who feared losing some 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians who lobbied vigorously to...

In July 207,000 jobs were created, above expectations, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0% Upward revisions for May and June as well.

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South Dakota Republican Senator-elect John Thune will be easy to find in his home district. That's because he's taking over the very office of the man he dethroned, former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Thune has assumed "ownership" of Daschle's longtime Rapid City office. In fact, he took down Daschle's sign and put up his own on New Year's Eve, ABC-TV affiliate KOTA is reporting.Sharing office space – in a sense – is an irony because during a hard-fought political campaign, Thune and Daschle shared very little, especially in terms of politics. Republicans drafted Thune, a former member of the...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Tom Daschle says he might consider writing, lecturing or teaching now that his Nov. 2 election loss has cost him his Senate seat and the job of Senate minority leader. "I do want to affiliate in some way professionally with public policy," Daschle said Saturday in a telephone interview from his Washington home, where he was helping baby-sit his two grandchildren. "I'm also looking at the investment world." The three-term senator, who led the Democratic caucus for 10 years, lost the nation's highest-profile Senate race last month by 4,500 votes to former Rep. John Thune...

Democrat Tom Daschle says he's loved his years in the US Senate and says the work there during his 26-year career was worth doing. While there have been challenges, Daschle says, "I'm grateful for every moment." Daschle made his comments in an emotion-filled farewell speech today on the floor of the US Senate. He lost the November second election to Republican John Thune. Daschle was the leader of the Senate Democrats for ten years. He says one of his hopes as he leaves is that Democrats and Republicans will never give up in the search for common ground.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. machine tool demand in September rose significantly from a year earlier and also from August, two industry trade groups said in a report released Sunday. The American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) said U.S. machine tool demand stood at $389.20 million in September, up 74.6 percent from $222.86 million in September 2003.