India’s stock market collapsed this week in a panic free fall after the return of the Congress Party in last week’s elections. The investor freak-out increased when it seemed that Congress would have to include India’s Communist Party of Marxism-Leninism in its ruling coalition.

Then came Sonia Gandhi’s masterstroke.

Anti-reform hardliners in China's Communist Party have become seriously alarmed by the sharp slow-down in economic growth, creating a "task-force" to crank up production.

China's Caixin Magazine reports that there is a growing "sense of crisis" not felt since the depths of the global banking crash in 2008-2009.

The State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) has assembled a team to "protect economic growth" and pressure state companies to boost jobs at all costs.

SASAC is the bastion of vested interests and controller of 115 state behemoths with assets above $6 trillion and a lock on much of the economy.

The move comes amid further signs that growth is faltering across all fronts. HSBC's gauge of Chinese services fell three points to 51.1 in April, the lowest in almost two years.

What would you think of a secretary of the Treasury who failed to do serious cost-benefit analysis about regulations that could cost millions of Americans their jobs and cause innocent people to be subject to political abuse or worse, and yet have almost no benefit to the United States?

Over the past several years, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was warned by many private economists and members of Congress of the adverse consequences of a proposed rule that would force U.S. banks to be uncompensated tax collectors for foreign governments. On April 18, Mr. Geithner issued the rule anyway.

It only gets worse. The Treasury/IRS has finalized another rule set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013, called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

This is the funniest email I have received in years. I thought about putting it in the Humor File because you’ll collapse laughing so hard when you read it. But it’s not a gag - the guy is serious! He’s from Switzerland - a place we all thought had some respect for freedom and dissent. This email displays just how far Europe has sunk into Terminal Weeniedom. It is also a cold shower reminder that the totalitarian ideologies of Communism, Fascism, and Naziism originated in Europe - and how Europeans are once again trashing their own freedoms. This letter is hilarious - but it’s also a sobering reminder of just how unique and precious our American freedom is. The letter is in full, with my comments in italicized brackets ---JW


From: Kurt Brülisauer
To: info@tothepointnews.com
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 11:50 AM
Subject: Some comments concerning the content of your web site

Sir,

Looking for comments on the Iraq prisoner abuse issue, I found your site. With growing disgust I've read some of your articles that are freely accessible. The first one I read, "Why can't she take it like a man?", shows a dumb macho behavior but your attitude concerning the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal is not uncommon in right circles. Having read other comments of so called "patriot" sites I was not very surprised about your putting the blame on a single person, but you are the only one who insults at the same time the officer in charge just because she is a woman. A new quality of baseness.

Nevertheless I find your article about what you call the Pogo Press worse. Like the Nazis during the Weimar Republic you abuse the freedom of press and of speech just to fight the free press. Unfortunately there is a swamp of fascist American sites on the internet that do the same thing every day without being sanctioned.

[Note carefully: Any criticism of the liberal press is Nazi, fascist, and must be “sanctioned,” i.e., made illegal. This is truly Orwellian.]

As information about the apparent Israeli strikes on targets inside Syria continues to pour in, it's easy to lose sight of the central fact: the two reported Israeli attacks are part of an ongoing war, the big war against the West.

While the attacks were in Syria, the mission was primarily a major strike against Iran and Russia, two key components of the global alliance arrayed against us. Both are desperately trying to shore up the Assad regime in Damascus.

The fall of Assad would be a devastating blow to Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei's tyranny in Tehran, would gravely weaken Russia's strategic position in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and would threaten the strength (and even the survival) of Hezbollah, the world's most dangerous terrorist organization and the creation of Iran's founding tyrant, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The attacks apparently did great damage to Iranian missiles, and the vaunted Russian antiaircraft system provided to both Syria and Iran was unable to do anything to prevent them. Both have been humiliated.

Mr. Obama's insistence on high business taxes drives away opportunity.  How can he not know this?

The United States already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.  Yet this is not good enough for the Obama administration, which is now proposing to make the U.S. even less competitive internationally by reducing the corporate tax deferral on income made abroad.

Somehow, Mr. Obama fails to understand that companies can charter themselves anywhere in the world, and their tax rate depends largely on where they are chartered. They do have to pay local tax rates where they conduct business, but that is only on the business done in tha particular state.

Companies increasingly have been moving out of the United States for tax reasons, and of greater concern is that many new businesses are deciding to choose a home other than the U.S. This is not good for future U.S. employment and economic growth.  Again, how is it possible for Mr.Obama to not know this?

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - known as “Lula” - is functionally illiterate. He won’t read anything, any studies, reports, books et al. His aides have learned to give him only one-page bulleted summaries of any issue, then explain it to him verbally. He has no education and knows nothing of economics or business. Yet he has a photographic memory for events and what is said to him. He is incredibly articulate and persuasive in speech. Thus he is the perfect populist demagogue to rouse the poor Brazilian masses.

After such an enjoyable week watching GOP all-stars slap Zero around like a hockey puck, I'm outta here - for I'm sure not sticking around to spend a minute watching Democrat fascisti indulge in lies, rage, and racism in Charlotte.

Next week I'll be in Bangladesh - for real.  Then I'm spending the rest of September, ah, somewhere in Asia. It's a place I can't write about - I'll have to explain when I get back.

Meanwhile, the HFR will be in good hands with Jack Kelly.  Thanks, Jack!

Tampa.  Let's start with Clint last night (8/30).  The media moonbats erupted with scorn and mockery. They can't stand it when Zero is made fun of - any more than Zero can.  The first time I watched Clint's skit, I was taken aback.  By the second and third time, I realized I was watching comedic genius.  Now think about the context...

The RNC was all about the presidency, but what about the Senate?   Let's discuss the prospects.  Here's the HFR 2012 Labor Day Senate Sitrep.

Do you think it is more important to have a tax policy that raises the most revenue at the least cost, in order to maximize job growth and economic opportunity -  or to have a tax policy like the Buffett rule, which falsely claims it would make all millionaires pay a higher tax rate than their secretaries? 

President Obama released his tax return last week, showing he had an effective rate of a little more than 20 percent of his income, even though he is rich by his own definition. One of major ways the Obamas were able to reduce their tax rate was by giving away 22 percent of their income to charity, which I applaud. But their actions raise several interesting points.

When we donate money to a charity, church or some other worthy cause, we are allowed a tax deduction, which means the government gets less of our money. The president and many in his party keep telling us that the government needs more money, but if they believe this, why are they taking charitable deductions? Why didn't they give it to the IRS which they say needs it so much?