Archive for October 4th, 2010

High taxes? … At least you don’t live in New York or Hawaii …

October 4, 2010

 According to Bloomberg …

High-income residents of New York City and President Barack Obama’s home state of Hawaii would have the highest marginal tax rates in the U.S. if Congress adopts the president’s proposal to increase taxes for top earners, a study found.

State, local and federal levies would result in a top 50.8 percent rate on high-income New York City residents. Affluent Hawaiians would pay 49.7 percent. Residents of California, Vermont, Maryland and New York round out the five states with the heaviest burdens, with top federal- state rates of 49.4 percent, 48.8 percent, 48.6 percent and 48.4 percent, respectively.

States rounding out the top 10 are Maine, Minnesota, Idaho, North Carolina and Ohio.

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Separately, IRS data shows 80 percent of those facing higher taxes under Obama earn between $200,000 and $500,000. An analysis by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation in August concluded their taxes would increase on average by $532 a year.

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Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-22/new-york-hawaii-top-earners-face-highest-tax-under-obama-plan-study-says.html

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Playing chicken with the economy …

October 4, 2010

According to the WSJ …

If he Bush Tax Cuts are allowed to expire at year-end per current law, after-tax income for every working American would be reduced.

According to the Tax Policy Center, the average reduction in after-tax income would be 3.3% .

Do the math:

94% of income goes to consumption, and consumption is 70% of gross domestic product.

All else being equal, if the Bush tax cuts don’t get extended, that’s a 2.3% hit to 2011 GDP.

In other words, a certain double dip.

The Trade and Tax Doomsday Clocks, Oct. 4, 2010 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521822940983434.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

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"Young People and Minorities Are All the President Has Left"

October 4, 2010

That’s the headline on the National Journal’s new poll of Americans, conducted with the Pew Research Center.

Digging into the details:

  • Obama still retains support among voters under 30 , but even there his excellent or good job rating is only 45%, as opposed to 47% who rate him fair or poor.
  • His worst numbers are with voters aged 50 to 64, only 34% of whom rate him positively.
  • Minority voters are still solidly behind the president, with 76% of blacks expressing approval. A majority of Hispanic voters also still approve.
  • Among non-Hispanic whites, the bottom has dropped out. Only 30% score Obama positively, with 66% rating him fair or poor.
  • White women who are college graduates give Obama a 39% positive job rating; 31% of white men with a similar educational background do.
  • Only 31% of white women without a college degree rate the president well; only 22% of men without a college degree .

WSJ, For Obama, Even the Good News Is Bad, Sept. 30, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522160145340470.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

 

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Spend Real Money on…Fake Money?

October 4, 2010

TakeAway: Starting September 5, Target will offer Facebook Credits gift cards. 

With 500 million members, Facebook expects many to purchase the cards and use them on their favorite social games, applications and virtual goods. 

Target jumped on board, expecting the markets for online gaming and digital music to continue to grow.  For some potential cross-promotion, Target also has more than 1.5 million fans on its Facebook page.

What ever happened to good old conversation or handwritten letters, anyway?

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Excerpted from USA Today, “Target to sell Facebook Credits gift cards” By Jon Swartz, September 2, 2010

The new Facebook gift cards will be available in values of $15, $25 and $50 at all of Target’s 1,750 retail stores and at Target.com. Two or three more national retailers will start selling the cards in coming months.

This will be the first time Facebook has had any presence in a retail store. Facebook already has an arrangement with online-payment services PayPal and MOL to purchase Facebook Credits.

More than 200 million people play free social games on Facebook each month, according to Facebook. And many of them are beginning to spend money on premium goods and services associated with those games.  By year’s end, Facebook expects to have gift card credits available for its thousands of games. At least 19 games on Facebook have more than 10 million active users a month.

 Facebook’s entry into the growing prepaid gift card market could prove lucrative. The domestic prepaid gift card market is expected to reach $86.2billion this year, compared with $80.6billion in 2009, according to Mercator Advisory Group.

Edit by AMW

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Full Article:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-09-01-target01_ST_N.htm

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Posted in Mktg - Promotion, Social Media & Networking | Leave a Comment »