Newscoma

Here is your money at work in all it’s glory.

The following are some of the top tax sweeteners in the Senate passed Bailout Bill. Not all the provisions are per se outrageous, but collectively are intended to help Congressional leadership get final passage of the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

1. Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children
   

Current law places an excise tax of 39 cents on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more. The proposal is effective for shafts first sold after the date of enactment. The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The Oregon senators were the initial sponsors of the provisions. According to Bloomberg News, the provision would be worth $200,000 to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon.

1. Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility
   

Track owners want to be able write-off the cost of their facilities on their taxes over seven years – a depreciation timetable many of them have used for decades. But the IRS has wanted to stretch it to at least 15 years and has raised questions whether the increasingly popular tracks really belong in the same tax category as amusement parks.

Auto track owners are simply trying to get out of paying more taxes – which they’d have to do if they deducted less every year. These owners have gotten plenty of tax breaks over the years from states and localities eager to get speedways. The provision would be extended 2 years till the end of 2009 and would cost $100 million. The provision encompasses all facilities including grandstands, parking lots and concession stands.

1. Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
   

Extends until December 31, 2009 a rebate against excise taxes charged on rum imported from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A $13.50 per proof gallon excise tax is applied to distilled spirits imported to the U.S. Under this provision a $13.25 rebate is returned to PR and the VI, and is retroactive back to January 1, 2008. Permanent law sets the rebate at $10.50 per proof gallon, but the PR and VI provisions have generally been in place since the first Clinton Administration. The most recent extension of the $13.50 rebate expired January 1, 2008. Cost is $192 million.

The Innertubes are fun. H/T to Monkeys for Helping.

From Random Man

Vibinc breaks it down.

Americans are angry. We’re angry that government isn’t working for us. We don’t understand why someone, or a group of someone’s with so much, would ask for, and get a bailout when there are so many that have been left behind. The whole tenor of this “crisis” has been fevered, but no one has bothered to explain it to the average person. Why, after 28 years of economic policy that has favored the wealthy, should anyone want to go further into debt to help those very people? No one wants to answer that question, and so, many people are even angrier than they were that they have been seemingly forgotten for people who have gained so much.

I really would love to see politicians come to any Hooterville, not just mine, and listen to the average American, ’cause campers, they aren’t happy. I can write that here every day, preach about it and it still doesn’t change the fact that politicians do not pay attention.

But folks are paying attention, they just don’t have the luxuries that others are enjoying and what I mean by that is that I know people who are already eating Ramen Noodles and pinching pennies. Remember, TVA rates went up on Oct. 1.

What about those folks who have been left behind.

And I realize we are not only in an American crisis, but a global one.

It’s a freight train that has spun off the track years ago.

And who loses?

Us.

Sarah Palin is not made of china. Joe Biden, and yes he’s the gaffe king, is not made of china either for that matter.

I’m going to get a bit feminist on you right now. Treat Palin and Biden the same. If softballs are lobbed tonight, then I’m going to be one peed-off woman.  The debate about this alone is infuriating because I keep reading how Biden shouldn’t “bully” Palin.

Biden and Palin just need to debate. The end.

She’s a growed up woman, as my sister Homer would say. Treat her as a vice-presidential pick and move on with it. She deserves to be treated as a candidate. To say that Biden doesn’t need to go on the offensive is absolutely ridiculous. Biden has as much, if not more, to lose as well.

I have no idea why I watch the news as my blood pressure just rises and rises.

Why am I writing this? I run a business with several employees. I have to put on my big-girl panties everyday and deal with the realities that people depend on me to make good, solid decisions. It has nothing to do with the fact that I’m a woman. I manage a business which has no gender involved when it comes to day-to-day operations. My bi-monthly check doesn’t say “WOMAN” on it.

So that ticks me off that this is being talked about. I wonder what time tomorrow the media will tell us which designer’s clothes she wore. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin both, and I say both, have done a lot for women in having to deal with so much mainstream media crap.

On the other hand, the die is cast. Democrats will claim Biden the winner. Republicans will claim Palin the winner and the debate isn’t for another 11 hours.

I’m watching the newsers this morning and they are talking about how both candidates have “lowered expectations” regarding this debate.

Guys, don’t buy it. This is an old political trick that needs to be retired effective now. What kind of BS is this?

The American people deserve a debate and not a public relations stunt.

Just call me Cranky McComa.

Umm, it’s scary.