Iran - nuclear tyrant?

The media elites and the war profiteers in government are practically foaming at the mouth over Iran's nuclear weapons program.  No doubt you've heard it, but is there any truth to it?  Are there dissenting opinions?

It turns out there are dissenting opinions, and the people who are stating them might surprise you:

• General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "[...] we are of the opinion that the Iranian regime is a rational actor. ... The Iranian regime has not decided to weaponize their nuclear capability"
• Leon Panetta, United States Secretary of Defense: "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No."
• Intelligence community: U.S. intelligence agencies don't believe Iran is actively trying to build an atomic bomb.
• International Atomic Energy Agency: "[There is] no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon programme in Iran."

If you recall, there was a similar buildup 10 years ago when discussing Iraq - we were made to believe that they had a highly advanced nuclear weapons program and were bent on nuclear armageddon.  What did we find?  Zilch.  We left over four thousand of our soldiers dead in the sand, over what?  Lies, nothing more.  We put the blood covered profits in the hands of the military industrial complex and made the world less safe.

Read the Truth about War website to see, in hindsight, what we should have known all along.  We can and must learn from our mistakes, and the lesson we must learn is to always question authority.

Finally, watch the farewell address by President Eisenhower.

Do nearly half of American tax payers pay no income taxes?

An admittedly brief analysis allows me to draw the following conclusions.  The 2009 IRS numbers say that (after all deductions and credits):

The top 0.7% (<1 percent) of the tax payers are paying 29.8% of all income taxes. 
The top 3.78% of the tax payers are paying 47.8% of all income taxes. 
The top 16.8% of the tax payers are paying 72.5% of all income taxes. 
The top 27.8% of the tax payers are paying 81.2% of all income taxes. 
The top 45.7% of the tax payers are paying 91.8% of all income taxes. 
The top 55.9% of the tax payers are paying 94.7% of all income taxes. 

Examining the bottom 44.1% ...

The bottom 0.3% of the tax payers are paying 0.0026% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 2.6% of the tax payers are paying 0.0488% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 8.5% of the tax payers are paying 0.3% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 15.5% of the tax payers are paying 0.7% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 23.2% of the tax payers are paying 1.4% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 30.8% of the tax payers are paying 2.3% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 44.1% of the tax payers are paying 5.3% of all income taxes. 

So it appears that it's more accurate to say that nearly half of American tax payers are paying just 5% of the income tax.

Some more in depth reports indicate that the 47% no income tax is for "single filers," while my analysis was for all filers.  The claim is not totally accurate as represented, but it's not too far off - interpolating the last data from each group gives us about 50% of tax payers paying about 93% of all income tax.

Anyway, this is just something to think about, especially for people who are carrying around the idea that the wealthy aren't paying their fair share.  (Note that the top 16.8% might be considered wealthy as that includes all filers whose taxable income is above $100,000.)
Examine the data for yourself on the IRS website.
Table 1.4:  All Returns:  Sources of Income, Adjustments, and Tax Items
Table 3.3:  All Returns:  Tax Liability, Tax Credits, and Tax Payments

The real Isolationism

Ed Markey (D. Mass) wants to stop the export of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).  He believes that exporting our natural gas will drive up the price and cause hardship for the American people. He couches his argument in nationalistic terms - saying that low energy prices give us a "competitive advantage," and an "economic edge," that will be lost if we sell our natural gas to overseas customers. 

Nevermind that the entire purpose of producing a product is to sell it and create profit. 

Nevermind that the basis of a healthy economy is the voluntary exchange of valuable goods and services.

Nevermind that the desire for profit is the motive that drives investment and innovation.

Nevermind that it was high energy prices that made Shale fracking a profitable investment in the first place.

Nevermind that the huge glut of Shale gas we now have was provided by that fracking - so despised by the Ed Mareys of the world - and is the reason we have low natural gas prices right now.

Nevermind that we ourselves import nearly three and a half billion barrels of crude oil per year (46% of our annual use) and another billion in other petrolium liquids.

Nevermind that protectionist policies such as these, widely adopted, would drive up our energy costs substantially rather than keep them low.

Nevermind that extreme protectionism is really economic isolationism.

Nevermind all of that, says Markey. To preserve our competitive advantage over all of our economic enemies (our foreign customers) we must stop sending them valuable products!  (Cue the flag waving masses.)

What people like Ed Markey don't understand is that low prices are created when a producer develops better, more efficient, and less expensive means of production.  And that only occurs when the producer invests in industry.  Further, investments are made when it is profitable to do so, not otherwise!  It doesn't end there.  Profit drives expansion. When there is money to be made, there will be increased demand for labor.  Thousands, tens of thousands, of jobs have been and are being created in North Dakota (Bakken Shale).  If the gas becomes more profitable, there will be thousands more jobs added.

The drivel I observe coming out of our Congress is really extraordinary.  Sometimes I wonder if it is stupidity or simply ignorance, but I can't help but despair at its magnitude.