Thank God somebody said it

Mittens is above all this poor-people talk.

While Mitt Romney is probably one of the more unlikable public figures to ever be unliked, it's important to note that he hasn't gotten a fair shake on taxes.

The reason centers around the fact that most of his income (along with Warren Buffet, who has been patently misleading the public on the topic) is derived from capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at the corporate level before being passed through to the individual. In essence, it is a type of double taxation which occurs pretty directly - your money doesn't just get taxed when you get it, but it gets taxed while the check is still in the mail as well. This makes his actual tax rate much higher.

The more orthodox case of double taxation also applies to Mitt, and it's even more important. Imagine you are a doctor who has an extra $10k to spend after a year of budgeting. You have narrowed down your purchase decision to two options: a pair of new jet-skis, or an investment in a local restaurant. From the jet-skis you get a return of glorious fun with perhaps a special someone, and from the restaurant investment you get a return of equity and the capital gains that come from dividend payouts.

Obviously, the returns from the jet-ski option are not taxed by the government besides sales tax and licensing (you can't tax fun!), but the returns from investing in the restaurant - the option that provides a real return to the community - well, those are subject to an unhealthy dose of both corporate and personal taxes. This means that our tax code is biased against productive spending, and for that reason we try to keep the percentage rate as low as we can (hence lower tax rates on dividends and capital gains).

Mitt Romney has made piles of money, so I understand some of the punches thrown over his tax rate. Spraying venom at a policy that keeps money employed in useful ventures instead of extravagant luxuries, however, is not a reasonable attack. Let's hope people remember that after the political dust has settled.

Pay or You Hate France!

What a complete asshole.

I love seeing French attitudes towards wealth. Bernard Arnault, a rich guy French guy, is leaving the country after President Hollande announced he planned to tax his type at 75% percent:

A day after French President Hollande made his case for new taxes, the public responded angrily to a report that its richest man, Bernard Arnault, was trying to avoid taxes by heading to Belgium.

Story here. Interestingly enough, there seems to have been a lack of outrage from French citizens when the Rolling Stones moved there as tax exiles from England.

I'm fascinated by the tax situation in France right now. I've seen a few stories pop up about how wealthy people were going to be fleeing the country, but it seemed pretty fluffy and was being pushed by conservative bloggers. I wasn't sure if individuals would really take the plunge. Turns out at least one did.

The Real Crisis in Europe (in pictures)

This is getting weird.

Spiegel is running an interesting story about the incredible challenges faced by a certain profession during the Euro debt crisis. Politicians? Bankers? Accountants? Of course not. This drawn out downspiral has most drastically affected photographers:

Stratenschulte is a photographer with the German news agency DPA. He has been photographing euro coins from various angles for the past three years. He tries to convey the complex crisis in images. The problem is that the crisis won't end, which means Stratenschulte has to keep coming up with fresh ideas. 

His colleagues have resorted to using children's toys, arranging a plastic shark to look like it's eating a Lego man holding a Greek flag. They have photographed coins in a free fall. Rumor has it that one photographer poured gasoline on coins to try to make them glow with heat.

The problem is capturing in photographs something which cannot be photographed - purely abstract economic occurrences. I personally prefer the pictures of Merkel and other important people looking angry or friendly while sitting in rooms full of fine wood furniture. It captures the actual events that are happening, but it does of course leave out the immense ramifications of those events. A burning Euro coin does help bring home (at least for Europeans) how critical the shifts are, but to foreign viewers it is a picture of a piece of metal on fire. I never found it very moving.

Be sure to flip through the slideshow and read the humorous captions.

Competing with Apple in More Ways...

Samsung is apparently going to crack down on its manufacturing partners for possible labor violations. This surprises me, as I wouldn't imagine there being much money in being nice to poor people. Perhaps, though, Samsung will be offering the trendy youth something Apple has not: guilt-free conscience.

From the Reuters article:

"If supplier companies are found to be in violation of our policies and corrective actions not taken, Samsung will terminate its contract with those supplier companies," Samsung said.

It needs more Bernanke!

You are boring the Ben Bernank.

For the millionth and a half time, the NYT reports:

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, delivered a detailed and forceful argument on Friday for new steps to stimulate the economy, reinforcing earlier indications that the Fed is on the verge of action.

I'm uncertain if viewing this situation with proper perspective is particularly flattering to the Federal Reserve at this point. I at least hope we can start draining some excess reserves instead of just throwing more money at the system mindlessly.

Also, an interesting note I didn't know about:

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has said such action would be counterproductive, and has pledged to replace Mr. Bernanke at the earliest opportunity.

Way to make friends, Mitt!