Bill offers preferential trade between Turkey, American Indians

Let me cut to the quick. Forget our unemployment numbers, let’s just bring in Turkish Contractors to build “1,500 to 2,000 houses, roads, water and sewer systems and a shopping mall” for Native Americans on their sovereign lands. Great. We have become the un-united territories of the whatever.

Whenever an old post of mine from last year starts getting hits again, it always peeks my curiosity, and I wonder if their is an update. Especially, when they are coming from foreign countries.  Here is a recollection of an earlier post: Native American Tribes seek trade ties with Turkey:

McCurdy said Thursday that the Native American tribes belong to sovereign nations that can strike their own trade deals and offer special tax incentives.

Moving forward  this month:

ISTANBUL-  Hurriyet Daily news

A draft allowing Turkish companies to trade with American Indian tribes without requiring a federal approval was recently submitted to the United States House of Representatives

During the meeting, also joined by McCurdy, some housing and infrastructure projects were discussed, Çağlayan had said.

The tribe wishes to build 1,500 to 2,000 houses, roads, water and sewer systems and a shopping mall, the minister said.

The move followed Turkey’s fresh bid to enliven trade with the country’s indigenous population as Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who was at the time the state minister responsible for foreign trade, met with tribal chiefs in July last year.

McCurdy told the agency that “partnering to build sustainable economies in American Indian regions will make this relation even stronger.”

Following the July visit by a top Turkish mission, a delegation, representing 17 tribes from at least 10 U.S. states visited Turkey in November. During the trip organized by McCurdy, the group met with the Turkish Contractors Association in Ankara.

John Berrey, chief of the Quapaw tribe in Oklahoma, told Anatolia news agency that the interest by the two nations to learn more about each others’ culture was increasing. “This act is offering the American tribes new global partnerships and contributes to creating ground for pursuing long-term economic benefits.”

Recalling that Turkey’s companies are strong in the construction business, he said, “This act offers Turkish companies a unique position in encouraging the growth of the private sector and creating jobs.” Note this is from the Turkish perspective.

Talking about the two countries working to “encourage democracy in the Middle East,” McCurdy also thanked Cole for his efforts.

 Turkey has long been seeking preferential trade treatment from Washington. Two-way trade stands at $11.8 billion Full story here  Hurriyet Daily news

P.S. In case you are wondering why Turkey and the Indians, the comments over at the newspaper indicates they have a “genetic” similarity as well as native language roots.

Will Uncle Sam be pushed off a cliff?

Time out for something on the lighter side. Well almost. A takeoff of shoving Grandma off the cliff.

The dollar is going down, and if we don’t change our course, “America the Beautiful” will soon be “America the Bankrupt”. Now, Some people say that the conservative plan to slow the growth of government is akin to shoving grandma off a cliff… But who is really shoving who? A response to “The
Agenda Project: America Is Beautiful”

 

Gang of Six plan wants $3 Trillion in new taxes

As  Commie Blaster so politely says:

Scum Bag RINOs Tom Coburn (R-OK), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Mike Crapo (R-ID) Propose $3 Trillion in Tax Hikes Tar and Feather Them, Then Run Them Out the Country on a Rail.

What is the matter with these guys. They take away the thunder of the House bill passed yesterday, and give a chance for Obama to preen.  Bill Bennet this morning indicated that Home Mortgage deductions was included as well as cuts to Medicare. On the other hand, what has the House GOP done to promote and explain their bill to the American people? I tried to read it but another morass of legal mumbo jumbo. One can find the text of the House bill in the post Vote tally Count of House Bill “Cut Cap Balance”. Here tis:

The Gang of Six “Bipartisan Plan to Reduce Our Nation’s Deficits” claims their tax reforms would be scored by the Congressional Budget Office as a $1.5 trillion net cut. But no details are provided on how they arrive at this number other than saying they will abolish the Alternative Minimum tax. So how can this plan claim to be a “balanced approach” (which means higher revenues), yet also claim to be a $1.5 trillion tax cut?

This probably means they are using a CBO baseline that assumes the AMT continues as written today and that the current Bush rates expire. Last August, the CBO said those policies would amount to a $4.8 trillion tax hike. Which means the the Gang of Six plan probably raises taxes by about $3+ trillion over current rates.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: Washington Examiner