Today’s Links: September 7, 2011

NEWS

TAXES – Top 50p Tax Rate Damages UK, Say Economists
“Twenty high-profile economists have urged the government to drop the top 50p tax rate, which they say is doing ‘lasting damage’ to the UK economy. In a letter to the Financial Times, they say it should be axed ‘at the earliest opportunity’ to boost growth.”

OIL DRILLING – Chevron Hits New Deepwater Oil Reserves
“‘The Moccasin discovery underscores the importance of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico as a source of domestic energy for the United States and as a focus area for Chevron’s worldwide exploration portfolio,’ said George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron Corporation. ‘Moccasin is an important addition to our queue of high-quality opportunities around the globe.'”

CONGRESSIONAL SUPER COMMITTEE – Super Panel Chiefs Have Not Met, Ever
“For Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the job of leading a congressional search for $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next three months is tough enough. But that task is further complicated by a little-known oddity: The two Capitol Hill veterans have never met each other. Not in the month since they were tapped to lead the vaunted “supercommittee,” nor in the preceding nine years that they jointly served in Congress, aides to both lawmakers say.”

OPINION

Jagadeesh Gokhale: “President Obama’s Jobs Dilemma”
“Tomorrow’s much heralded jobs speech by President Obama before a joint session of Congress will contain many proposals — including new spending on infrastructure and education, tax credits for job-creation, jobs training for workers displaced by the recession, tax breaks for employers to hire workers among particular voter groups, and so on. […] The President will focus on just one topic — federal policies meant to foster job creation. That means the President’s list of proposals will be long and, according to media reports, will cost about $300 billion. But for an economy debilitated by policy uncertainty, this is exactly the wrong thing to do.”

Veronique De Rugy: “Taxation Without Representation”
“Amazon.com wants to make a deal with the state of Texas: no sales tax collection during the next four and a half years in exchange for 5,000 jobs and a $300 million investment to open distribution centers where those employees would work. South Carolina recently accepted a similar, smaller offer from the online retailer.”

Blake Hurst: “Why I’m ‘Ginned Up’ About Regulation”
“President Obama recently informed a farmer in Illinois that rumors of increased regulation of farming by his administration are ‘unfounded,’ with said rumors ‘ginned up’ by Washington lobbyists. […] “The president encouraged the farmer to call the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lay those rumors to rest. Obama seems to be unaware of any regulations that would concern farmers and equally ill-informed as to the source of those regulations. For all its faults, the USDA is hardly the main reason for aggie apprehension. The Environmental Protection Agency is a different matter.”

Anne Jolis: “The Other Climate Theory”
“In April 1990, Al Gore published an open letter in the New York Times ‘To Skeptics on Global Warming’ in which he compared them to medieval flat-Earthers. He soon became vice president and his conviction that climate change was dominated by man-made emissions went mainstream. Western governments embarked on a new era of anti-emission regulation and poured billions into research that might justify it. As far as the average Western politician was concerned, the debate was over.”