July 21, 2008

Ankarlo Mornings today: Did Ankarlo get ripped off at a gas station? The sign said $4.03, but the pump said $4.16. Was it the credit card fee?

The IRS has released their annual tax numbers to tell us who pays what. The top 1% of all income earners is paying 40% of all income taxes and the top 10% is responsible for 70% of income taxes. Some (i.e. Obama) want to raise taxes on the rich so they pay their fair share. Seems like they already are paying more than their fair share.

DMX was arrested again in the Valley. Batman sets a box office record, but Ankarlo and Diane didn’t see it. Rob and Darrin highly recommend the movie.

The Batman Economy

Lines wrapped around theaters and extended for several blocks as Americans swarmed movie houses to see the latest Batman installment. The film grossed $155 million in less than three days and is expecting to pull in almost a quarter of a billion dollars in its first week. In fact, helped by the flick, Hollywood saw more income this past weekend than any other time in movie history.

Meanwhile, high end stereos, HD televisions and decked out computers are selling at a better pace today than they were last year. Not to mention the record setting sales of the new I-phone. These stories should be on the front page with bold-type since so many are telling us that our economy is crashing and a single bank line reminded certain people of the Great Depression.

We are not even near the same place today as we were during that time. People went without food and lived in shanty towns—few had the money for phones, computers and Batman movies at the IMAX. Yes, we are all facing a time when we need to be creative but talk of a depression and people jumping out of window s due to bank failure are just plain wrong.

Business goes in cycles and so do economies and since most of us know this we can dismiss the media’s continual pounding of their collective chests in an effort to create stories that sell more papers and garner greater audiences even if it cripples the rest of the country. Batman has proved, for most of us, we can live lives contradictory to well conceived headlines

Ankarlo Daily Links

Consumers are changing their buying habits. They are riding bikes to work, trading in their SUVs and buying store brand products. Economists wonder how long this will last?

Think gas prices are high now? Several organizations are calling on Congress to increase the gas tax in order to continue to pay for road construction.

The 2006 IRS numbers are out.  And guess what?  The top 1% are paying 40% of all income taxes.  I thought Bush’s tax cuts were supposed to benefit the rich.  The top 10% pays 71% of all income taxes.  The top 10% earns $108,904 while the top 1% makes $388,806.

Turns out, our own government has been part of the whole sub-prime mortgage mess. The FDIC took over a bank years ago and continued giving out questionable mortgages.

Would you stand up on a flight to save 50% off your fare? More than 25% of Americans said they would.

Think our inflation is bad? Try Zimbabwe. They have introduced a 100-billion-dollar note due to their 2.2 million percent inflation rate. Now, I know why Robert Mugabe is so well loved.

CNN: Woman charged in death of eviscerated pregnant teen.

Obama starts his foreign policy tour. His first stop over the weekend was Afghanistan where he met with President Hamid Karzai. Obama called the country, “precarious and urgent.” His next country on his tour will be Iraq. Sen. Joe Lieberman says Obama’s trip there is only possible because of McCain. When Obama heads to Germany he will speak at the Victory Column, not the Brandenburg Gate.

The Olympics start in three weeks and China is still worried about smog. So they have shut down factories and limited the number of cars that can hit the city streets. Nothing like trying to hide your pollution.

‘The Dark Knight’ sets a box office record over the weekend.

Al Gore says the push for offshore drilling is similar to the war in Iraq.

Supporters of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon are rallying to fight a recall effort.

Rapper DMX is in jail on identity theft charges.

The Valley isn’t the only city seeing increased violence because of Mexican drug cartels. Atlanta is seeing an increase in kidnapping and other drug related crime too.

California faces budget problems and of course they are looking at new taxes. One thing they don’t tax is dry cleaning services. Yes, that will taxed next.