America was most prosperous–across the board and growing, when tax rates on the wealthy were highest.
When I was a boy, the highest rate was 91%. Later, it was 70%. That was during the golden age of middle class progress. These are indisputable facts. Anyone can research and chart both tax rates and GDP growth. One can also add the performance of the stock market.
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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Po‘oleka: Postage stamp PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY — Pos opis: Post office HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “He is as gentle as still water.” HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics – FDR WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now! WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — President-elect Obama in Chicago NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
NATIONAL NEWS TODAY:
Barack Obama holds his first press conference as President-elect. First order of business is to stamp out Bush/Cheney policies that created the current disastrous economic conditions. Number 2 is staffing the new administration. Televised live on CNN, MSNBC at 9:30am HST.
MAUI NEWS ARCHIVES – November 7, 1851:
Maui receives the first batch of stamps from the new Oahu post office. Henry M. Whitney established the first state government post office in 1850, and became Honolulu’s first postmaster general. He immediately set about designing stamps.
Initially, he created three – the 2, 5 and 13 cent stamps – in October, 1851, and by the end of that year they were in widespread use throughout the islands. Whitney was a son of missionaries, had experience as a printer, and this group of three stamps became known as the “missionary stamps” collection.
Hawaii being even more remote to the world then than it is now, it did not offer many opportunities for these stamps to circulate outside the state. Thus, today there are not very many original missionary stamps, and those in good condition are extremely valuable. About three years ago, the Honolulu Advertiser, which had a small collection of missionary stamps, put them up for auction. Three stamps garnered $9.5 million.
In 1900, the United States Federal Government took over the Hawaii State Post Office. Some say it’s been downhill ever since. Many Maui residents still don’t know that if you mail a letter to a town resident within that town, the letter stays in town. However, if you mail a letter from, say, Wailuku to Kahului, it gets flown to Honolulu first for processing, then flown back to Maui for delivery. How about that for efficiency?
EVENTS ON THIS DAY – November 7
1805: Lewis & Clark first sight the Pacific Ocean
1811: The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought (gives Harrison a presidential slogan)
1865: The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is founded
1918: Robert Goddard demonstrates tube-launched, solid propellant rockets (he thereby becomes known as the “father of modern rocketry”)
1989: David N. Dinkins is elected New York City’s first African-American mayor.
1991: Basketball star Magic Johnson announces he has tested positive for the AIDS virus and was retiring.
1998: House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigns following an election in which the Republican House majority shrunk from 22 to 12.
2000: Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York, becoming the first first lady to win public office.
2006: Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, became the first Muslim elected to Congress.
BORN ON THIS DAY – November 7
1879: Leon Trotsky, Russian Communist theorist/Bolshevik
1903: Konrad Lorenz, zoologist/ethologist/writer
1913: Albert Camus, novelist/director
1922: Al Hirt, jazz trumpeter
1942: Johnny Rivers, singer
1943: Joni Mitchell, singer
1972: Clive B. Barnes, actor
DIED ON THIS DAY – November 7
1573 Solomon Luria (Maharshal) talmudic author (Yam Shel Shelomo), dies
1837: Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy is murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois
1962: Eleanor Roosevelt Former 1st Lady, dies at 78 in NYC
1978: Gene Tunney former heavyweight boxing champ, dies at 80
1980: Steve McQueen, actor actor, dies of cancer at 50
1984 George Matthews actor, dies at 73 of heart disease
October Revolution Day