In the News

1) Sheriff's Department confused
2) The Democrats Want Your 401(k)

1) (From the LA Times) "A West Hollywood Halloween display showing a likeness of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin hanging by a noose has caused a furor among some residents who reported it as a hate crime, authorities said Monday.
Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said the mannequin sporting a beehive hairdo, glasses and a red coat does not rise to the level of a hate crime because it was part of a Halloween display."
Then we get a very telling comment from the sheriff's department's mouthpiece: Whitmore (spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department) said that potential hate crimes are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If the same display had been made of a Barack Obama-like doll, for example, authorities would have to evaluate it independently, Whitmore said.
Translation: While the sheriff's department would be really uncomfortable with anybody around here hanging a black man in effigy for any reason, we're perfectly fine if you want to string up a white lady in effigy - as long as you call it a "Halloween decoration".
Someone needs to inform the West Hollywood sheriff's department that civil rights are for everyone. Murder in effigy is either a hate crime against anyone or it is never a hate crime.

2) (heard at lunchtime on Rush) "RUSH: George Miller, who runs a congressional committee, Democrat in California, came out with the first notion of just getting rid of your being able to deduct for your income your contribution to your 401(k), that the government is "losing" $80 billion and we can't afford lose that so they want to take that away.Then they had a hearing last week ... Teresa Ghilarducci, who is a professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, and she testified before a House committee, Democrat committee last week on how she thinks the government should basically take your 401(k) and administer it, take it away from you."
"Yesterday [Monday Oct 27] in Seattle, Kirby Wilbur had this exchange with her.
She said, "Your plan, as I understand it, would end the tax deferral status of 401(k)s. I have one, and I put in a certain amount every month and that deducted from my growth so I don't pay taxes on it 'til I pull it out when I retire. So it would end that and it would bring about a new government retirement plan. Is that correct?"
GHILARDUCCI: Not quite.
WILBUR: Okay.
GHILARDUCCI: You know, Rush Limbaugh said that's what it was.
WILBUR: Okay.
GHILARDUCCI: Whatever you have in your 401(k) now will keep its tax break. So everybody who has their 401(k) plan will be grandfathered in. But what I proposed, instead of getting a tax deduction -- like a decrease in your taxes by whatever your tax rate is, so if you're at the very high income, your tax rate is 39%, and if you're at the very low, you're at 15%, and 40 million people make so little they don't pay any taxes at all. Instead of the deduction coming from your tax rate, so if you're high, whatever you put in your 401(k), like a dollar, let's say, or a hundred dollars, you get back 39 cents, or $39, if you're the high rate; 15 dollars, or 15 cents if you're at the low rate, or nothing if you're at the low rate. I proposed that we just transfer the deduction to a credit so that everybody gets $600. So I'm not taking away the tax break. I'm actually, um, giving everybody a flat amount so that it's more equal.
RUSH: (laughing) Where am I wrong about this? Everybody is going to get...? Socialism. Everybody is equal now, whether you've got a 39% tax rate and you can deduct that amount, you get that equivalent deduction. This is all gobbledygook. Basically I'm just going to give everybody 600 bucks and you give me your IRA, and I'm going to buy government bonds with it at 3% a year. I'll just give you 600 bucks and that's how we'll take care of this. So Kirby says, "Now, wait, there will be a new plan. All of us who bring in a paycheck will put 5% of our income into a retirement plan administered by Social Security -- guided by the pension folks who do Congress and the Federal Reserve and then you're gonna guarantee at least a 3% return. The government would supplement that with $600 annual payment to the plan?"
GHILARDUCCI: The government would guarantee 3% plus inflation.
WILBUR: Okay, 3%, okay, plus inflation.
GHILARDUCCI: Yes.
WILBUR: So the bonds would be adjusted. As I understand the $600 would be adjusted as well, right?
GHILARDUCCI: It would. It would.
WILBUR: Okay.
GHILARDUCCI: And what's amazing about this is that it's actually, um, doesn't cost the government anybody. (sic) I'm just rearranging the tax breaks that are available now for 401(k)s and spreading -- spreading the wealth.

I don't know about you but the reason I contribute to my company's 401(k) plan has nothing to do with "spreading the wealth".