Politicians Are Looking to Raise Prices at the ... - Yahoo! Finance

The Federal gas tax is currently $0.18 per gallon and has been since 1993. Factoring in varying state government taxes, the national average for gas taxes and fees is $0.49 a gallon, making the U.S. the lowest gas taxpaying industrial nation.

With soaring debt, rising government spending and the Fiscal Cliff looming at the end of this year, there's growing speculation that State governments could target the gas pumps to gain some revenue to go towards infrastructure funding. It's a battle that no politician wants to take on directly because even the smallest increase tends to ignite the driving public.

"We're not paying a little extra, we're paying a lot extra," says Patrick DeHaan, sr. petroleum analyst at Gasbuddy.com about the current gasoline tax levels. "As CAFE standards are increasing fuel efficiency, we're having to find tax revenue from additional sources. Raising the gas tax may be something the politicians look at doing here."

The more Americans opt for fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota (TM) Prius, Nissan (NSANY) Leaf, Chevy Volt, and new Ford (F) Fusion, the less they're spending on gasoline. Consequently the revenue hit the government is taking is two-fold. Not only are the taxes generating less revenue, the production of fuel-efficient cars is subsidized and incentivized by the government.

"Not only are governments hurting for revenue, but they may be divvying up the portion that is for roads and putting it in a general fund," he explains. "We've seen [State] governments now interested in looking at different avenues for gas tax."

One option garnering attention is adding a mileage-based user fee.

"Several branches have talked about now charging per mile based on how much you drive; instead of gasoline tax, a usage-based system that would penalize those that use roads the most," says DeHaan.

This seems the fairest of them all; the more you drive, the more tax you pay that goes towards fixing roads and infrastructure. The drawbacks here are that drivers would likely face larger lump sum tax bills and it's difficult to track mileage accrued. The government can track your odometer, but that would likely invite an uptick in odometer tampering. Plus, they can't track whether you're traveling within your home state or across borders, unless of course there's a GPS monitoring your every move.

"You may see sales tax being added to gasoline because in some States that's easier than increasing a tax; just slapping a sales tax in addition on gasoline," says Dehaan.

Some states charge an actual sales tax, while others do not. Right now, state fees and taxes vary widely. Accounting for Federal and State taxes and fees, New York leads the country imposing 69.6-cents onto each gallon of gasoline, while Wyoming has the lowest 32.4-cents, according to gaspricewatch.com.

"The States got a bit smarter, they are charging a percentage-based sales tax," says Dehaan. "Whenever gas prices go up, States win. It's their cash cow. Look for the Feds to try something similar, but it's not going to go over very well."

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Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/politicians-looking-raise-prices-pump-says-gasbuddy-com-131821195.html

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Has US economy bottomed out? Census suggests yes (Providence Journal)

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Syrian rebels seize crossing on Turkish border

AKCAKALE, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian rebels seized their third border crossing with Turkey on Wednesday, a Turkish official said, after fierce battles with government troops overnight that sent bullets flying into Syria's northern neighbor.

Television footage showed a rebel tearing down the Syrian flag on top of what appeared to be a customs building at the Tel Abyad frontier gate. Minutes earlier sporadic gunfire could be heard and black smoke rose from parts of the building.

"I can confirm that the gate has fallen. It is under the complete control of the rebels," a Turkish official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

There was no sign of any government troops at the crossing from television pictures broadcast live on CNN Turk.

The clashes, which started late on Tuesday, were the first time insurgents fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have asserted their grip over a border zone in Syria's al-Raqqa province, most of which has remained solidly pro-Assad.

Rebels hold two other crossings on the northern border with Turkey. A third border point will strengthen their control in the north and put more pressure on Assad's army as the two sides battle for control of Syria's largest city Aleppo not far away.

The governor's office in the small town of Akcakale, on the Turkish side of the border post, ordered all schools in the town and the neighboring villages to close for the day and banned all agricultural work in the area.

"A heavy hail of bullets is landing here. We are scared. We had to stay in another house last night. We don't know what to do," a man in his forties told CNN Turk hours before the post was seized.

"Teachers, everyone have left the school next to us, they have fled the area," he said, standing only meters (yards) from the fence separating the countries.

Some 300 Syrians had fled over to Turkey around Akcakale to escape the fighting, the Turkish official said. Twenty-five rebels wounded during the clashes were also receiving medical treatment in Turkey.

Syrian jets bombed the Syrian town of Abu Kamal near the Iraqi border on Wednesday, Iraqi security officials and the mayor of Iraqi frontier town al-Qaim said. The two towns are meters away from each other on the banks of the River Euphrates.

TWO WOUNDED

A Turkish woman and her daughter were wounded on Tuesday night by stray bullets and an official said other bullets had smashed windows in several houses in Turkey along the border.

Ankara has yet to give a reaction to the fighting along its frontier but a similar incident earlier this year prompted a sharp rebuke from the government.

Turkey officially reported to the United Nations an incident in April in which at least five people, including two Turkish officials, were wounded when cross-border gunfire hit a Syrian refugee camp in Kilis further west along the frontier.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan then floated the idea of invoking NATO's Article 5 over the incident, saying the alliance had a duty to protect its members' borders.

Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one of its members will be considered an attack against all members and allows for the use of armed force.

Erdogan spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama late on Tuesday, his office said in a statement. The two leaders discussed the crisis in Syria among other issues. The statement made no reference to the border incident.

Once an ally of Assad, Erdogan is now among his most vocal critics and has called for him to step down. Turkey actively supports the anti-Assad rebellion, giving fighters sanctuary on its soil and allowing opposition members to meet in Turkish cities.

It is also sheltering some 83,000 Syrians who have fled the violence in camps along the border.

The 18-month-old revolt, which began as peaceful street protests cracked down on by Assad's military, has escalated into a civil war in which over 27,000 people have died. Daily death tolls now approach 200 and the last month was the bloodiest yet.

(Additional reporting and writing by Jonathon Burch in Ankara and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rebels-tear-down-syrian-flag-border-post-turkey-074404366.html

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Daily Tips for Business: Resumes Cover Letters

Writing a Resume can be a labour of love, but all too often in today's uncertain economic climate that love can go unrequited when it comes to job applications. If I had a dollar for each time a client said they had not received a response to a job application, I would be considerably wealthier.

Source: http://dailytipsforbusiness.blogspot.com/2012/09/resumes-cover-letters_18.html

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi open to easing of US sanctions

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is signaling guarded support for the easing of the remaining U.S. economic sanctions on her country.

Suu Kyi was speaking Tuesday after meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the start of the Nobel laureate's landmark visit of the U.S.

Suu Kyi said that she did not see a need to "cling onto sanctions" unnecessarily.

But she said that Myanmar would not have genuine democracy until all its political prisoners were released.

She said that 90 such detainees had been freed in an amnesty on Monday, but that according to her party, more than 200 were still being held.

Clinton also voiced concern over prisoners still held, and military ties between Myanmar and North Korea which she said persists.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/myanmars-suu-kyi-open-easing-us-sanctions-173146528.html

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IHS iSuppli: PCs no longer command biggest share of DRAM market

Times change, this is an indisputable truth. But nothing reminds us of this fact as well as a landmark statistic. If there was ever any doubt about the shift towards of mobile computing, then let this be it: personal computers no longer account for the majority of demand for DRAM chips. With 49 percent of all new memory still headed for PCs, it's hardly time to book the hearse for desk- and laptops just yet, but the statistic from IHS iSuppli remind us of the increasing market share that mobiles and tablets are taking. In fact, even though total DRAM shipments for PCs continues to rise, it's estimated that the total share will slip another 6 percent, to 42.8, between Q2 this year and the end of 2013. Of course, this is good news if you have a vested interest in both, not so good if you don't.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops

IHS iSuppli: PCs no longer command biggest share of DRAM market originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As Muslims rage, churches hit Pakistan blasphemy law

GENEVA (Reuters) - As a film insulting Islam prompted Muslim leaders in many countries to call for a global law against blasphemy, a major Christian grouping said just such a ban in Pakistan was used to persecute other religions.

Abuse of Pakistan's Blasphemy Law put the Islamic country's Christian, Hindu and Ahmadi Muslims in "a state of fear and terror", the World Council of Churches (WCC) said on Monday.

Representatives of those minorities told a conference on the law organized by the WCC - which links Protestant, Orthodox and evangelical churches - of mob lynchings and widespread mistreatment of those accused of blasphemy.

"In Pakistan, we are fighting against the blasphemy law and its abuse," said Mohammed Tahseen of campaign group the South Asia Partnership.

The recent arrest of a Christian girl who faced a possible death penalty for what later appeared to be false charges of burning a Koran was just one of many such cases, he said.

However, Pakistani Muslim representatives told the gathering that not only should the law stay but another was needed covering the whole world.

Their stance echoed calls from key Islamic religious leaders across the Muslim world for an enforceable international pact through the United Nations criminalizing insult to Islamic and other religious symbols.

VIDEO FURORE

The calls came as Muslims around the globe protested against a U.S.-made video portraying Mohammad as a fool and a womanizer. The U.S. government has criticized the film but made clear it stands by the constitutional provision for free speech.

Several protesters have died, and four U.S. diplomats, including the ambassador to Libya, were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in an echo of earlier Muslim protests over books and cartoons published in the West.

The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been pushing for years for some kind of global law against on defamation of religion at the U.N. Human Rights Council, currently meeting in Geneva.

Every year for more than a decade until 2010 the council - where Pakistan speaks for the OIC and often accuses the West of "Islamophobia" - passed resolutions proposed by the Islamic grouping.

But there was no chance of converting such non-binding declarations into a legal pact due to opposition from the United States, Europe and some Latin American countries which argued it would violate free speech and the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Following diplomatic negotiations spearheaded by the United States after the administration of President Barack Obama joined the council, the OIC dropped its campaign two years ago.

"It certainly looks as though they (the OIC) might use this furor over a video that everyone recognizes is stupid and pathetic to try to relaunch the 'defamation' campaign," said one Western diplomat who asked not to be named.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/muslims-rage-pakistan-scrutinized-churches-125327766.html

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